Thursday 17 January 2013

SOS (Save our Shops)

Way back when this whole recession started, we lost Woolworths. This, to me, wasn't too much of a big deal. There were plenty of other places I could go for Pick and Mix, or toys, or music, or DVDs, or whatever else they were selling in there. But now, with the likes of Comet, Jessops, Blockbuster and HMV going the same way, I'm starting to realise the impact this is going to have on my life.
Shopping, for one thing, won't be the same.

My boyfriend and I ALWAYS make a point of going into HMV when we go shopping. Without it, we have to go in search for other places to buy our DVDs and CDs from. This is fine, but Tesco doesn't really have the range we're after. It seems to me like so many people have turned to Internet shopping that normal shopping has become obsolete.

I don't think it should be this way. I love the immediacy of normal shopping. You can buy a DVD and watch it the same day. Yes, you can do that on the Internet, but only if you download it. Otherwise you have to wait a few days for it to arrive in the post. That's great news for the Royal Mail, but it's not so great for you when you realise you have nothing to watch that night. And with clothes, the same thing applies. If you're in need of a dress for that night, you can just pop down to the shops and grab one.

Another reason for me not to shop online is that I have a huge aversion to paying by card. You see, I manage to keep my bank accounts in check by looking at how much I have every time I get money out to pay for something. If I pay by card, there's no checking my finances when I do it.

With these more niche retailers collapsing, I will have to turn to online shopping, and I really don't want to. Jessops is the other example of why I don't want to do it. I love photography. I love my fancy camera and I really want more lenses. When I have a problem, it's Jessops that I go to. Thankfully  there are other places I can go to for buying fancy camera bits and getting prints done, but they aren't in the same place. And I certainly don't want to risk the life of my camera lens by getting it delivered to me from Amazon or eBay. I would much rather take it away with me and cradle it all the way home. A little overprotective maybe, but it keeps it safe.

So, to the main point of this blog. To all my readers (of which there are thousands (pffft)) PLEASE keep going shopping in the town, especially for niche items that are breakable or difficult to come by. The last thing I need to for Waterstone's to go down! Where else could I enjoy the feeling of browsing actual books, of flicking a few pages over and smelling that new book smell?
Certainly not on the Internet.