Tammy Ratcliff: You shop- where??!

Tuesday, May 12, 2015

You shop- where??!

A common misconception: you are saving money when you shop at a big box type store.

I love my downtown and downtowns everywhere I have visited. Over the years I have heard (since the introduction of massive shopping/ parking areas on the outskirts of the downtown) that shopping downtown at small independent businesses is simply choosing to pay more for everything. In some instances, I wouldn't mind if this meant I was contributing to my city and helping to keep downtowns viable, helping to foster art communities, awards to schools and art organizations, etc. If the bottom line is all you are interested in, I believe that cities with healthy downtown centres have higher real-estate values. Everyone loves saving money, but eventually the cost of that dollar or two saved here and there is the loss of what we love about where we live. I feel pretty strongly about this having spent much of my formative years in a place called Bramalea that did not have a downtown.

So I went to our local big box art supply store to see what the deal was and was seriously shocked at what the deal wasn't. I had heard about big stores inflating the 'manufacturers list price' or 'suggested retail price' and then offering huge discounts only to have the final 'special' price remain still higher than the small independent store. I had not seen the bottom line in some time. Sometimes it helps to go see how bad it is in person. Here (below) are a few of my photos from my shopping trip at our local big box competitor. I was there for almost an hour. I saw one sales help, no one offered to help me and I really cannot understand why anyone would shop there if they were aware of this situation.

These are just a few examples. They have stretched canvas that go on sale occasionally but the quality is very poor. Our canvasses and panels are all made in Canada, competitively priced and still very well made. At Wyndham Art Supplies we will always choose a Canadian made product over another of equal quality when available.

I hope this information helps you next time you are thinking of heading to a large parking lot shopping area over a downtown. Be sure to look very carefully at the end prices.