So speaking of toy stores...

[whoisjohngalt]

We stopped at a local small toy store bc I am a sucker for small businesses and especially toy stores.

The prices were insane!!  My kid found a toy that he couldn't live without.  It was 46.99.  Within 5 seconds my husband told me that we can buy it at Target for 19.99.

I looked at some other items and they were also higher than prices in big stores or on Amazon.

I have no idea how the owner stays in business.

It was in a "touristy" kind of area, so may be that's why.  I REALLLY wanted to ask her, but it would be way too rude even for me

[Deleted]

That's pretty sad. I suppose that when suppliers are squeezed dry by bigger players such as Wal-Mart that they can't afford to lose, they try to make it up with the smaller stores. And, to be fair, the smaller stores my order a dozen of an item every year instead of hundreds of thousands, so the economics just aren't as favorable.

The fact that they're in a touristy area is good news and bad news. Bad news: you can be sure the rent reflects it. Good news: tourists may be less price-conscious, as we noted in the earlier discussion on vacation spending.

[tloonya]

Lemonade slush in Wildwood is $4.99 and normally $1.99

Everything is overpriced in those areas, why surprised?

[Deleted]

I thought you didn't shop anywhere that didn't keep your CC on file in the system, so you could return items later without finding receipts?
Thought of your & Dark's responding comments when the whole Target hack meltdown began!

Small toy shops should be carrying different products than the super stores if they want to stay in business. For all you know they bought their stock from Target, just to have something that was commonly asked for

[NastyWoman]

I believe that small toy stores ( or any small speciality stores for that matter) will only survive if they carry unique inventory.  I believe that's what Dark does and it would be the thing that could make his store a success.

[whoisjohngalt]

There was nothing unique about the toys in that store.  Unfortunately

[truthbound]

Supporting local businesses means spending more money. You are either willing to do it or you aren't.

[tloonya]

May 26, 2014 4:53:06 GMT -5 truthbound said:

Supporting local businesses means spending more money. You are either willing to do it or you aren't.

Is it only true for toy stores? Because in my neck of the woods businesses lowering prices in order to 'be supported' by our brilliantly smart
cistomers who are driving around a whole day from store to store trying to find cheapest prices. They are seems have a free gas for their cars.
Because all of us, stores, are differ by .10 - .20 cents so they are basically cruising the neighborhood coming in, checking prices and buying
whatever is cheaper here and there.
So 'supporting local businesses by spending MORE money' doesn't seem like a true statement to me.
No one wants to pay MORE just to support me. Customers want to spend LESS.

[truthbound]

It is true for all local stores. And if you spend all day driving around looking for a .20 cent discount you will waste way more in gas. The uneducated sheeple can''t seem to figure that out.