Future of retail?

 I ran across this story on Metafilter the other day, about "Bin Stores". It's a business model where stuff - random stuff - is resold, sort of scratch-and-dent format. The post was based on a Defector story about one of this (this is a link that's direct, with a limited number of stories you can view without subscribing, though the OP recommends the site)

  this is a gift link from someone on Metafilter; not sure if it'll work with a repost: Seven Days at the Bin Store

 

I dunno. I have VERY mixed feelings about this. I do remember from my childhood Rex Salvage in Akron, which I guess operated on a somewhat similar (if earlier) model: instead of unwanted or returned stuff from online shops, it was overstocked stuff or stuff from stores that went bust.. For some reason, my dad loved the place (I suppose it was that Depression-baby-loving-a-good-deal-and-also-wanting-to-get-things-they-might-"need"-someday) but I remember getting dragged there some Saturdays when I could have been playing outside or watching cartoons.

And we have a modern version of this in my town - they post "Amazon/Wayfair/Overstock returns and overstocks!" I've never been in there but they sound the same. 

I find these places a little unappealing, and I admit part of me wonders if it's pure snobbery on my part - like, a lot of the stuff these places sell, if it's the typical restock/overstock from some of the cheaper online places, the stuff is probably low quality. I won't shop at the dollar stores here, for example (especially after a news story some years back about how some of the cosmetic and OTC medication stuff was "grey market" stuff that wouldn't strictly meet US standards - like, toothpaste with too much fluoride that might stain your teeth).

But also: if I am buying something like a lamp or a kitchen appliance, I want the best quality one I can afford. I want multiple brands/styles to compare. I don't want to spend weeks staking out a resale shop in the hopes that one of some brand I've never heard of* comes in

(*Someone joked elsewhere about "oh, my favorite brand on Amazon: Random Keysmash and yeah, some of the products on there now are from companies named just like that)

I don't do a lot of "I don't need anything but let's see what's there" shopping - Oh, I will do that in bookstores and craft stores and I used to do it a lot in antique stores, but the things these resale places sell are not the kinds of things I like finding by serendipity. 

But as I said, I wonder if there's a bit of snobbery that plays into it in my part. I know people who spend lots of time thrift shopping and they buy anything and everything whether they need it or not. (I know someone who has a hoarding issue, and I admit, I teeter on that myself with books and yarn, but I've become more careful of late). 

I guess I'd rather have FEWER things but of BETTER quality, is what I'm saying. Like, one good functional purse instead of ten cheaper ones where the strap might break. And now I have to be VERY careful about the shoes I buy, so I don't trash my knees worse with poorly-made "fashion" shoes that aren't made to hold up. I'd rather save my money up and get a good thing, than have to buy a cheap thing five times. And yes, Vimes' Boots Theory and all, and I get that I have the privilege of being able to spend $100 or more occasionally for a pair of good shoes instead of having to buy the cheap ones, but. I guess I wish everyone could have the GOOD stuff, so they don't have to keep buying the cheap stuff again and again 

But the other thing I dislike - it feels like those places are a sort of giving-up. Like a "we can't afford any better, instead of paying in money for a thing we will pay in time by having to go week after week and hope the thing we need shows up" and I think there IS also that same old attitude a lot of "depression babies" had of "I don't need it right now and never might need it, but look! it's cheap and it's available now!" and I also suspect the whole "limited availability" thing has a psychological effect on people where they will buy things they otherwise might not have if they weren't told "this might be your last chance for this particular thing!" 

But also, I do look at it, and look at the mushrooming of thrift shops in my town of late, and I get nervous, I think "maybe they know something. Maybe we ARE headed for Great Depression II and very soon the only goods on offer will be the stuff at thrift shops or that richer communities rejected and sent downstream to us in a "poorer" area"

But on the other hand: yes, it does keep the stuff out of the landfill. I admit I don't like to think about the sheer volume of resources that go to make stuff that is essentially made to be disposable (many clothes now: fast fashion, for example. I try to take care of my clothes and also buy the best made I can afford, because I do not want to have to buy new ones every couple months). And also that there's a lot of times where people buy stuff, keep it a little while, and then just dump it - I have known people who changed out most of their home decor every six months, and either threw out, sold at a yard sale*, or donated somewhere the stuff they had had.

 (*Yard sales are an AWFUL lot of work for what you get, and an awful lot of interacting with strangers, some of whom can be unpleasant; I remember doing one at church to raise money for the youth group and we tried to price the donated stuff low but not ridiculously so, and right as we opened a couple people - probably resellers - came and took the few vintage/antiquey items we had out and immediately told us they would give us 1/3 of the (already low) price on them. And they were unhappy when we explained this was a fundraising effort and we'd already priced stuff low.) 

I think my other objection to the bin-store model is the aesthetics. I do like going to antique shops (though I got a lot less than I did before the pandemic) but in those, the stuff is displayed in a way where you can see it, and there's decent light, and there's some attempt to make the stuff seem appealing. It seems like the bin store near me - I've never actually been in, I will confess - looks like it's kind of drab, and all the windows have boxes piled up in them, so I suspect it's dark in there. 

Because for me, part of that kind of shopping is the time out, and seeing stuff you MIGHT buy but probably won't, and maybe happening on something that makes you happy or completes a collection or could be useful. And most of the things I buy most often at antique type stores - cookbooks or other books, old linens or craft supplies, maybe old toys, very rarely some decorative item - aren't on offer in the "return/overstock" shop. 

 

And yes, I get that some people really like them. I get that some people function as resellers (we are heading towards a "scavenger" economy in this country, it feels like, some times) and make money off their finds, but....they're just not for me. (And I wish there were more things for me right in my vicinity - yes, I have a yarn shop and I'm going to their "grand re-opening in their new space" Saturday, but that's an hour round-trip drive for me, so it's not a frequent thing. Sometimes I think how it would be nice to have a close by place to go where I could just go in and shop a little and it wouldn't matter as much if I bought something or not because I didn't burn a gallon or two of gas to go there)