Otley vs Amazon: Why buying online will never beat the shops – David Behrens

Even with most of the shops locked and shuttered, it has been easier this week to buy things on the high street in Otley than on Amazon.
The pendemic has kept most people at homeThe pendemic has kept most people at home
The pendemic has kept most people at home

It was with some reluctance that I began browsing the online listings for an anniversary gift, a ritual that is an annual precursor to Valentine’s Day in our house. If you were planning to do likewise, I can save you some trouble: they’re full of more junk than all the jumble sales in July.

In fairness to Amazon, it is quite upfront about this. Each new piece of tat is accompanied by negative reviews from people who have already been stung. It’s like having disgruntled customers milling around a real shop and telling anyone who will listen “I wouldn’t get that if I were you, mate”.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The problem with buying online – and this is why it will only ever co-exist with physical shops, not replace them – is that you can’t see what you’re getting. Looking at a photo is nothing like touching and feeling the actual thing.

The high street has suffered from enforced closuresThe high street has suffered from enforced closures
The high street has suffered from enforced closures

Nor is there any curation of the stock. A real proprietor would not allow his shelves to be sullied with stuff that might tarnish his reputation; Amazon has yet to grasp this basic tenet of shopkeeping, in much the same way as it has to understand why no-one thinks £293m is a fair amount of tax to pay on sales of nearly £14bn.

The good news was that it was not, as I had feared, the only option at the moment. In common with most other towns in Yorkshire, Otley is full of retailers whose windows remain open even when their doors do not. You can browse as usual and when you see something you like, you can phone them up and they’ll wrap it for you and pass it through the doorway.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

This not only provides instant gratification, but also avoids the inevitable problem of having to be at home when goods you have bought online are delivered. This remains an issue even now, when we have nowhere to be but at home. It’s because delivery firms seem to work on the reverse principle to London cabbies, expecting their drivers to have as little knowledge as possible about the areas they serve. To these people, house numbers might as well be bingo balls; they’re just as random. For the last package I had delivered – by Hermes, not Amazon – I went to the trouble of putting up a blackboard outside the house with a big white arrow chalked on it. Even then they went next door.

Buying clothes online is a whole other kind of hell. People used to do it all the time, from Brian Mills catalogues that let you pay in convenient weekly instalments. But if something didn’t fit, an agent would collect it from your house and cancel the payments.

In today’s impersonal world I’ve seen Inland Revenue forms easier to understand than the returns policies of some online retailers. Amazon should take note of this – paying more tax may be easier than they think.

I feared that I might have to resort to buying footwear online when my walking shoes began letting in water. Since I can take only one walk at a time, I’ve always felt that a single pair for the purpose was all I needed – I hadn’t factored in the possibility of not being able to buy replacements. Happily, there were plenty in Otley.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The same was true of garages. The spanner symbol that appeared on the dashboard of my Fiat was clearly either a reminder to get it serviced, or a satirical comment on the driver – and assuming the former, I found it was pretty much business as usual at the local dealerships.

This is not to suggest, of course, that firms are not having a hard time of it right now. But the fact that so many are struggling is all the more reason to support them. The ingenuity they are showing in finding legal ways to continue through lockdown makes it easy to do this; easier than buying online in many cases.

What’s more, there are signs of hope between the empty shops. Across from Otley’s market square, where two units had long lain empty, a branch of Cooplands, the Scarborough bakery chain, is rising like a new loaf in the oven. This may be bad for the local Greggs, but it is welcome for the town.

And though we won’t be clinking glasses in the pubs this Valentine’s Day, many restaurants are still dispensing takeaways, so I shall be heading to one in the newly-serviced Fiat to collect our anniversary dinner. It may lack the ambience of a romantic night out, but it’s less of a lottery than waiting for Hermes to deliver it.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Support The Yorkshire Post and become a subscriber today. Your subscription will help us to continue to bring quality news to the people of Yorkshire. In return, you’ll see fewer ads on site, get free access to our app and receive exclusive members-only offers. Click here to subscribe.

Comment Guidelines

National World encourages reader discussion on our stories. User feedback, insights and back-and-forth exchanges add a rich layer of context to reporting. Please review our Community Guidelines before commenting.