Something like 50-70 cents of every dollar spent on gifts is wasted.
For whatever reason I go to wal-mart now because I can't honestly think of where to buy stuff anymore. There used to be so many small shops that I did frequent say, in the 90's. They were quality shops. All the little stores of local legend
http://www.yelp.com/biz/baynesville-electronics-towson
That is one of them around here that is still open. I always pass all these little stores that -used- to be open when I was younger.
http://www.nolimitbmore.com/
That place however is still rocking some good business go figure. Look at those cars in the gallery.
Numerous small computer stores are gone, card trading stores, coin stores, paintball gun stores, paintball fields, golf ranges, lots of places I used to know as places where they taught swimming/piano, etc. All also gone. I guess people have fewer kids now? I don't know. Pretty crazy. I don't even know if younger kids really get alot of experience swimming like we used to as kids. Half the club pools/parks I remember look pretty rundown too.
Other than big box stores there is almost nothing I can think of anymore. Even the diversity in bookstores is closing down with borders going out of business. Most malls have that "fragrance de out of business" smell. I guess its the constant smell of paint and cardboard as stores move in and out going out of business over and over each store that follows it is a little more shody than the previous one. Take a turn down the wrong hall at the mall and phew smells like out of business stores, stuffy cardboard, half-applied paint, etc etc. Its almost like I can walk through the half-empty mall when compared to how I remember it in the 90's and I can practically
feel everyone just sitting at home on facebook, amazon and shit instead.
I guess I'm calling bullshit on the "I go to small stores screw you guys" because the malls and small stores near me anyway seem mostly shuddered. There are like 3-4 stores I can think of that fill cool niche markets. MovieStop is one of them, a total gem of a store. Really good classic movies used for cheap, keep them forever. The car place (of course) and the most legendary electronics hobby store around here is like, the last one standing.
I do know my local shops, none of them carry everyday items.