Favourite shops, online and off

Never heard of wish. Temu are I've found a bit dearer than E-bay and Amazon. 

Last week I wanted some more deodorant and I usually buy in bulk from Amazon. They had offer 6 x 200ml cans £15  E bay was the same and so was Temu. Morrisons 6 cans worked out at £10 so I put 3 cans on my weekly shop. Speaking of Men's smellies I like Brut aftershave and places like B&M and Sainsbury's and boots etc don't sell it. Good old Amazon comes to the rescue again lol. 

I've never heard of Wish, but i can't be doing with Temu, half their stuff is totally different to how described and they dont' care, just tell you to keep it. So I have their crap to deal with and am still in need of the thing I needed to buy.

I know this is a bit strange, but I've never bought anything from ebay, I've had a couple of things bought for me from there, but I find it a very unattractive and difficult site to use and another that dosen't give me the things I've asked for in a search.

I've taken to using co-pilot as a search engine for things now, it's so much easier, I tell it what I'm looking for and it asks a few questions and then comes up with suggestion and places I'd never heard of and are probably on page one million and three on google. I then have to deal with the website though to buy something, which isn't always easy, it has also explained to me why I find internet shopping such a hostile environment, which confirmed what I though and why I keep getting airfryers and other things I don't want advertised at me and not what I searched for.

Well I have to admit that since Covid came in my shopping habits changed and I bought things online from such as Amazon and Ebay to name but a few. I guess it's kinda stuck with me now though I do sometimes pop in to a high street store mainly B&M or Sainsbury's or the Coop. Even my food shopping is done on Morrisons online shopping. I guess it's the convenience of letting someone else lug my shopping to my door. 

I like Temu and Wish.

We oldies love these shops , which are increasingly rare. It means you don't get exhausted traipsing round a lot of shops to find what you want.

Homebird said:

the owner cut the screws to size for me.

Wow, I wish I had access to a shop like that!

I love generalist DIY shops. I love browsing in them, especially the very rare ones which sell screws and nails by weight.

If the shop's still there. So many shops are being priced out of existance and burried under sponsered and paid for placements online.

I find so much online shopping a really hostile environment, I bought some ear loops on saturday and it was nightmare, the site was so unfriendly and made things so difficult. 

Old thread now, but for basics I keep going back to the places that stay consistent. Nothing worse than finding something that fits perfectly and then they change the sizing six months later, lol.

You have reminded me of hardware shops, those run by individuals. There is one in our town that goes back about 4 rooms and if you look hard you can find all sorts of interesting things.

I like to recycle things, not necessarily using them for their original purpose. I had a set of drawers I wanted to paint to match a room and the paint was wearing off the old knobs, so I got a new set of gold coloured ones, but the screws were too long. I measured the length I needed and went to a hardware shop. They searched through all their screws and none were the correct length, so the owner cut the screws to size for me. That's what I call service.

You have a  beautiful way with words, about 2 weeks ago I was taken to a place called Trego Mills, I imagine it’s very similar, it’s massive and sells everything, I thought it just sold old people, they seemed to have a lot of them in the shop. 

You'd love it here, we have a glory hole called stermat, it's part DIY with drill bits big enough to make a hole you could crawl through, to teaspoons, gardening stuff and all sort of totally random stuff, it makes Home Bargains look like it was made for children. My dad had to make an excuse to go there at least once a week and knew where everything was better than the staff, he was like a little boy!

Roy said:

Screwfix and Toolstation

Yes, we've got both near here. Very useful shops and very good prices.

I’m a bit boring, my favourite shops are Screwfix and Toolstation, I use them quite a lot. I’m able to browse with their apps and make an order at home.

I often don’t know the technical names for electronic or plumbing items. I also don’t have to try and explain and then get stressed, Everything has a photo of it and an order number.

I check in on arrival with the app, just get called and given a bag with my items in it, minimal interaction, stress or anxiety.

i like amazon also but i dislike the delivery charges 

Wordsmith said:

Cult Pens

I found a new piston for an old pen from this supplier.

I do like Adidas continental for trainers, but they have stopped making Velcro trainers for women. For a good amount of time now I only buy Velcro everyday shoes as I find them more practical. I have to look round where they are selling them as they seem to phase of being sold by manufacturers. I have bought some from Cotton Traders in the past, Fit flop and also John Lewis. Currently I am looking at these-not there but they are on sale elsewhere.

https://www.hotter.com/wave-trainers-white-2220

I buy Adidas leisure wear as I like the 3 stripes and have stuck to Burberry for evening wear for decades. I often end up getting something on sale or eBay If i need it. I have bought jeans from Tommy Hilfiger and I like Ralph Lauren cardigans which I can buy on ebay as well.

A group started a physical bookshop in a large town I know in Merseyside but try as I would I couldn’t buy much from them. Their range was limited, generalist and mainly geared to the college students. They never updated the poetry section in my numerous visits. Their days are numbered 

I don’t blame them though as the financial costs of holding wide stock are in the long term impossible for them as a community interest company. 

One of my go to online shops is Cult Pens – a wonderful range of stationery at very reasonable prices, fast delivery time, and on the one occasion I had a problem with a pen they replaced it without question.

For photographic gear, I tend to alternate between London Camera Exchange and MPB. I’ve had some great secondhand bargains from both of them and I have resold my unwanted camera gear through MPB at a very fair price.