Goodbye high street clothes shopping. Hello Amazon.

Has anyone tried onbuy.com? It has set up as a British rival to Amazon and they pay taxes. I have had a couple of orders with them which were fine. It's a similar set up to Amazon and has similar categories.

Let's not forget who set up Amazons wonderful tax evasion
( sorry I meant avoidance ?) scheme.
Jean Claude Juncker ( ex eu president) when he was Prime minister and finance minister of Luxembourg.

Urmstongran

Wow! Just like Brexit.
Pick a side ladies!

I’m with Amazon.
?

so that means you are happy that our towns and villages will die and just become ghost towns? With all the local jobs and taxes going- whilst Amazon rips our way of life and pays no tax.

Because town centres will not survive if we don't go to them and use the shops, and will never recover from Covid.

You reap what you sow- and again, it is your children and grandchildren that will suffer when you are long gone.

You want Sovereignty, and destroy quintessential England and Great Britain with it. Bravo.

You can forget about tourism with it too.

traditional cafés, butchers selling British meat, fruit and veg stalls and markets, independent boutiques and shops and so much more.

How sad.

Looking at the pro Amazon posters- they are all our Brexiter friends- those who have been saying how we must save Great Britains and keep it individual and different and wonderful (and I agree with this- which was of course totally possible as well as being in EU) - and they want to destroy it all by supporting Tax Avoiding Foreign super powers like Amazon.

It truly beggars belief.

Biba you are funny!

How on earth do you know how I voted in the referendum? (clue: you don't)

Why do you think so many people on GN are reliant on companies like Amazon? (tip: use some empathy)

I dislike buying clothes or white goods etc online. Most of the clothes need to be returned because they are not what they appear in the pictures quality/colour/size/design. I have a limited number of online companies I do buy from; Lands End for trousers - and that is about it. I like Woolovers but you cannot tell from the pictures how thick some sweaters are. I bought what looked to be identical products two years running - but they werent. one was much finer than the other.

Ditto with things like kitchen appliances, you need to finger the goods, open and shut the doors get the feel of whether you want drawers or shelves.

This doesn't mean I do not shop online, there are lots of items I buy. In the past week I have bought tin snips, an alarm clock, floor clothes, a hand bell and a chopping board, to name but a few but those are things that are exactly what they are and canimmediately oressed into service.

I too have used Amazon during the past year, but I have also used small traders who have developed websites. It’s all very fine to criticise those of us who use Amazon, but if you are unable to use shops as a result of sheltering and/or have had medical advice not to go in shops, what are you supposed to do?

It's fine to use Amazon.

And I didn't vote for Brexit, biba70

perhaps it will come to pass- that those of us who you accused of 'hating the UK and even 'slagging it off' - will be shown to be its real admirers and lovers- and indeed criticised the actions of this dreadful Governement, Johnson and ERG, their strings pulled by the oligarchs and billionaires like Amazon hellbent on destroying true democracy - because they truly love it. I have said it before and was derided and mocked, and told I was not even allowed opinions or feelings-

it will be shown to be true, too late.

I know topics of conversation go all over the place on GN biba, but the majority of people on here were talking about clothes shops, not butchers or fruit and veg shops. You can't send those items back after 7 days!

I rely on Amazon for quite a few things, but I can’t see myself ever using it to shop for clothes, books or food - I get far too much sensory pleasure buying those in person from my favourite shops or farmer’s markets. For things I need quickly like cat food or DIY stuff it’s useful, but I like the intimacy of an actual shop.

I wouldn’t mind the high streets being used for more than just capitalism, mind you!

I am a remainer biba. The high street is dying because it is not offering what people need. I dont want to spend my leisure time driving to a town finding somewhere to park and paying high parking fees. Going around department stores that have just had their day. I can do all that in 5 minutes from home and do something more interesting with my leisure time.

I won't touch Amazon with a bargepole, ever since it tricked me twice into Prime, from which I eventually managed to extricate myself.

Didn't know that all the Brexiteers shopped at Amazon; amazing what you learn on here.

I do think there’s been a shift to either mass-market cheap stuff OR small brand higher quality stuff. Let’s get more bookshops and art galleries and community spaces on the high streets and let the big brands battle it out online.

And actually many of the shops on the high street old bhs, top shop, sports direct have practices that I am uncomfortable with

Me too Urmstongran.
They employ thousands and i`m pretty sure they wouldn`t get away with not paying what they owe.
And with covid still lurking it`s safeer than the high street.

It's just society changing as it always has done.

I remember my father saying how very sad it was when the supermarkets started to take prominence. He wouldn't go in one for years. Said they were taking away the small shops and traditional butchers etc etc.

He did eventually cave in.

It is sad in a way but it can't be stopped.

It's not Amazon's fault. It's the Internet's fault. If we want to apportion blame

Amazon just came along with a good idea and grew and grew.

For me it's a blessing. I hate shopping at the best of times.

Hello again - I’m no fan of Amazon though I use it for branded items required quickly if it’s the same price as the original store.
This year I bought Levi’s and Vans online via Amazon as well as a bra which was exactly like one I already have but out of stock everywhere else.

It is not my first choice but I’m prepared to use Amazon now-and-again. Most of the “high street” stores now also sell via Amazon. So, for example M0nica, I did check this page out (below) just before Christmas when the item I was interested in was unavailable...
www.amazon.co.uk/stores/Lands%27+End/page/B27C6862-6239-4D73-BB52-9831B6F7AF7A?ref_=ast_bln&tag=gransnetforum-21

Amazon has a choice to work ethically or make more money than Jeff Bezos can literally ever spend in a hundred years...

You are right about the high street Amber

I agree with Galaxy that they high street is dying because it no longer supplies what we want. You can go into any high street in any town and find exactly the same shops selling exactly the same things.
I haven't bought anything from Amazon for years because
- I dislike huge corporations
- they are a host (knowingly or unknowingly) for a number of scam companies
- much of what they sell is really cheap because it is cheaply made and won't last, ending up in landfill
- and other reasons.
I do buy on-line (little choice these days) but source things from British companies where possible.

I think we need to see it as an opportunity to reshape the physical space at the heart of our towns and cities. What are our real priorities? They could be youth centres, art hubs, used for social gatherings when we can have them again. Let’s have crèches and GP surgeries!

I use the Smile branch of Amazon which donates to a charity of my choice. I have listed my charity and the log-on is exactly the same as normal.

I don't approve of the Amazon tax situation but I have very limited energy/stamina with having M.E. and several other illnesses. I can't tramp round the shops so my only option is to buy online. I bought books for family Christmas presents from a small local bookshop but they cost me a lot more.

As Fanny says, critics need to think about why someone might not be able to get out to shop on the High Street.