Dear Incoming New Student....

[Juggler]

It's called "showrooming".

I'm willing to bet real money that the people who do this will be the first to complain when the real stores close.

There was this great office supply store in my neighborhood. They had maybe 1/5 the floor space of an Office Hut yet a much wider selection, and their prices were maybe 5% more than the big box.

Far too many people would spend $5.00 and waste an hour to save $2.00 on their purchase. It's now gone because of dumbfucks.

[Opalin]

My university has gotten around this by printing their own books for each of the semesters. You can only buy the required text for about 40% of the general courses at THEIR store. What bothers me most about this is that if you're going to make me pay 200$ for a book... I'd expect YOU to do the binding, not force me to go find a binder that's sturdy enough to carry it so that it can't be re-sold later.

But honestly, it isn't that hard to go online, I don't think I'd EVER go in just to get the numbers from the book. I do however, use our main bookstore to get regular books (which they sell at good prices) candy, pillows, and various other housing goods, which tend to be cheaper and also within walking distance.

[NoMoreRetail]

Wow was this kid a freshman or something? At my school in Texas, the professors put on their faculty pages what books are needed for the coming semester. All you have to do is write down the title and go find the book under the course section in the book store. Everything is labeled and neat and organized for you complete with big signs hanging from the ceiling that say "HISTORY" "MATH" etc. Wow I really weep for the future of America, what a jerk!

[Mr Hero]

I think this might be the equivalent of customers who want a room but not at the price we ask, so they tell us to call the other hotels and see what they're charging. Not happening.

[raudf]

"I'm sorry, I'm only here to help actual customers with their issues. If you happened to be a customer, this answer would be replaced by the answer you were actually looking for." Unfortunately, the showcase shoppers are actually getting smarter, because I've heard one customer say after the fact, "Well, I WAS going to buy from here... but now I'll buy online!" Never mind that they said they were intending to buy online anyways and had said as much to their shopping buds..

It's people like this that give us bargain hunting "shopping around" types a bad name. Usually, I already know how much the item I'm looking for is gonna run, thanks to my online prelim shopping. I go to the stores to see what their prices are and what kind of deals I can get, which is how I got a high dollar TV for a price within my budget. So it was an open box. It works just fine and I couldn't afford a new one, even at online prices