Does anyone have any good alternatives to Walmart, Amazon, or Target? I’m looking for a general store that sells household products and preferably isn’t owned by a billionaire or a company that adds to our surveillance state… So does anyone have any online, or physical, alternatives?
go outside and shop local
I have to admit to using Amazon pretty heavily so I rarely need to shop anywhere beyond my local grocery.
But I more focus on buying less, buying choices that last, rather than where it comes from.
I’ve begun to think that the concept of the large general store is part of the problem. In the before times, we would shop around for individual items and discover new small businesses.
Now when I need something, I make my first search off of Amazon. I usually find a specialty shop that is more than happy to help. Sometimes a large retail store is the only place to find something. Sometimes I don’t find what I’m looking for and decide it was an impulse buy anyway. Sometimes I find a better option than what I was looking for.
I’ve found that individual items typically cost slightly more but overall I’m spending less; I’m skipping more frivolous purchases and averaging better quality choices that require fewer replacements.
Yep I think so too. Once companies get so big they have more money than they know what to do with, so why not expand into tracking customers and selling their data for a few extra cents?
a company that adds to our surveillance state
Put the tinfoil hat down.
Target partners with Flock Safety and famously has one of the most sophisticated security systems to where they’ve partnered with the FBI to help them solve crimes. https://thehorizonsun.com/features/2024/04/11/the-target-forensics-lab/
Amazon is one of the biggest companies in the world and they build profiles on users and track people across other websites, plus they own tons of smaller companies to help in this regard. They also own Blink and Ring which have partnered with Flock and ICE to identify and track people in the real world as well as report them to the police if they are believed to be here illegally or potentially involved in a major crime. I will add Ring cut its partnership with Flock and ICE because they ran a dumb Superbowl ad telling people about it, but they will do the same type of thing again, just more secretly next time. https://hrnews1.substack.com/p/ring-cameras-join-flock-and-amazon
Amazon is also starting to make delivery drivers record everything with smart glasses. https://www.tomsguide.com/ai/amazons-delivery-drivers-are-getting-ai-glasses-and-thats-the-least-unsettling-ai-in-the-job
Amazon is also rolling out drone deliveries at the same time, which will be more cameras in the sky. https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/transportation/amazon-prime-air-drone-delivery-expansion
Walmart partners with Flock, and therefore ICE as well, but I don’t know as much about them. I’m sure they also do some data tracking online like everyone else. I know I don’t want to give them money so I don’t bother looking up new stories on them. https://www.gadgetreview.com/fact-checking-the-whistleblower-what-walmarts-official-alpr-notice-actually-says
Hard to do with one singular place, but aldi is great for groceries, pays workers pretty well and doesn’t donate to political campaigns. Harbor freight also doesn’t contribute to political campaigns.
IKEA is an okay option for furniture and household stuff if you have one nearby
Harbor freight never stops winning <3
One general online retailer I’ve found useful for good deals is Mercari. It’s more like eBay than Amazon I think.
I’ll be honest I heard of mercari but it just seemed like an eBay clone and I didn’t want to make another account just so it coulf leaked in a data breach, but I never bothered to look into them. Thanks for the recommendation, I think it’s finally time I check them out.
Depends on what you need. My local Ace hardware has a surprising selection of household stuff and decor.
Grocery store for other stuff. I’m a big fan of Costco.
I didn’t realize Ace hardware is a co-op, I’ll have to check out the one by me. Thanks!
The only downside is Ace, at least the ones near me, are ridiculously expensive…almost prohibitively
We have a contractor price thing through work with our local Ace, it’s like 20% off their markup. Only then is it an OK deal lol.
as far as “national” chains go, Costco is pretty good if you have space to buy things in bulk. You can stock up on essentials that last forever, and if you have freezer space you can save a ton on various food products by purchasing bulk and freezing. They also have some pretty killer deals on electronics and other stuff. Yes it’s membership based, but it’s not too hard to get your value out of that if most of what you buy and use is from Costco.
Costco seems like a good option. I don’t need a ton of choices and I’m sure I can find space for the extra bulk. Thanks!
Costco’s Kirkland Signature line of products is pretty good, too. I switched my dog to their dog food, and the savings over the course of a year more than paid for the cost of membership.
Look up “hardware store” I looked some up near me and there are a few locally owned small businesses that are pretty helpful.
Aldi has some good stuff for food. Not sure specifically what you need.
For Amazon, I use eBay a ton and find most electronics and other random items from there.
Just gotta be careful on eBay. I have had two instances where I bought something new on eBay, and it shows up in an amazon box, with an amazon packing slip and shipping label in it.
Remember, kids. Use Port Authority extension to block eBay’s use of LexisNexis port scanning tool so they can’t analyze what’s installed or running on your computer, what other tabs are open, etc. It’s a “security tool” but we all know it’s data mining and invasive AF.
I quit eBay roughly 2 years ago bc of this.
God dammit I’m tired
Depending on where you live, there may be second hand/thrift stores you can check out. Especially places like a Goodwill or arc Thrift stores in Colorado.
People constantly donate stuff they don’t want to throw away. If you’re in a bigger city, they’ll have just about anything you can get at a Walmart or Target, minus the consumable products: furniture, kitchen supplies, clothes, books, lamps, small appliances. The price is better than bougie thrift stores, bonus if the store/donation station is near a wealthy area.
Luckily there are some thrift stores around here, and one nice thing is they’re always small enough they have real people working instead of some AI robot. Although you never know for sure what they have so shopping takes longer. I’ll just need to plan for a day when I’m less busy.
I have no idea about their ethics or whether the money is going somewhere shit. But BH photo has a good digital store and comparable pricing for electronics
Thanks for reminding me about them! I remember shuffling through their catalogs a long time back.
Not sure this is an option in the USA, but I’ve reduced ordering online, instead I support physical stores in the city center, to purchase locally produced products. In addition I simply consume less.
That’s my plan: consume less, support physical stores, and use more cash.
all the plastic tat on amazon comes from aliexpress anyway, so just go to the source. You might be adding to a surveillance state, but it’s not your state.
Heh I’m sure you’re right but I’m also hoping to stay away from the cheap plastic stuff. With everything getting more expensive, I’m trying to slow down and only buy things I actually need.
Local is 100% on you unless you want to divulge information, which I would advise against.
Online, just find what you want on Amazon/Walmart, and search for that item in a general search. You can often find way better deals elsewhere, at least if you can manage free shipping.
Anything globally relevant is going to be another Amazon/Walmart wannabe, so asking in the general sense is a bit silly.
Polite reminder that Prime is not free shipping — it’s prepaid shipping.
I didn’t think about using amazon to search for an item to buy on another site, that could work well! Like the other user said, Costco might be my best bet as far as chains go, and for any other physical stores I’ll just have to try harder to find local ones.
Oh yea. Amazon is basically the average price these days. The trick is finding the places with free shipping for orders that aren’t already crazy expensive. Which … might be a lot harder these days with the price of diesel vs when I was shopping a lot.
Yeah, plus Amazon uses dark patterns to get you to sign up for prime, and then prime isn’t even fast shipping anymore…it bothers me enough I can stand to pay a little more somewhere else.
If you search on Amazon, and then buy elsewhere, Amazon still makes money because of that search…
I assume they get paid for serving me ads, and is that the case even when I don’t click on any ads?
lol no. That is absolutely not how click through contracts work.
While true, Amazon makes most of their money these days from AWS.
Main alternative to Amazon that I’ve found is Ebay. Physical retail is fine for regular household stuff but if you need a weird or specialized item, you can’t buy it in person any more. You’re stuck with online. Like I needed some clear heat-shrink tubing recently, and it’s impossible to find retail as far as I can tell. I guess digi-key has it but I was able to find it way more affordably on ebay when shipping is considered. I need an inner tube for my bike in an apparently unusual size and it’s the same thing, have to order it. Bah.
EBay is not ideal, but like you said sometimes they can’t be avoided. Bah indeed.
