Dan makes an excellent point about shop rents; and I'm amazed that nothing has been done about this- as it is a parasitic practice that ultimately hurts the economy as less business is done and less people will take the risk to set up new businesses- and that an otherwise popular self-supporting business is still liable to collapse because the building owners were more greedy than the business could afford to uphold.

But to reply to the thread- I too am thankful for online shopping- it means when local retailers get too greedy- we aren't forced to either do business with them or do without.

Dan-the-Man Rental prices exist in a market.... if fewer people wanted to lease space in Shopping Malls and Street Strips the prices would fall... or the investor will go without the benefit of rent....

don't blame rents for high prices, they may be a minor contributor. A major contributor is, with 23 million people compared to approaching 300 million in USA, the market economics of local variations (eg 240 volt power supply and different regulations) are real barriers to price viability (- I know we have to check any time we buy electircal that the transformer is multi-voltage)

Books online are a winner for me, if I'm prepared to wait. I like the Book Depository - free shipping and great prices, though a bit slower than Amazon (or so I have found).

Not that long ago, the patriot in me would have paid the high prices in Australia. Then a few things happened.

I discovered that I can count the number of proper bookshops (and by 'proper' I mean offering a range of books - not just specialist books, second-hand books or Christian books, of which there seems to be an abundance) in Townsville on one hand, and the number of decent bookshops on one finger. Even that decent shop only occasionally comes through with the goods.

I also needed two books for a course I was doing earlier this year. I shopped around and discovered that I could get them for a total of $95 (give or take a few cents) plus shipping from Australian suppliers, or $40 (give or take a few cents) with free shipping from overseas. Being keen on having a couple of dollars left in my account at the end of each pay period, I took the latter option. I haven't looked back.

The only downside, I've discovered, is time. Ordering books for birthdays requires plenty of forward planning, as I've discovered they can take up to a month to arrive. I suspect the delay is at this end, too: things seem to move rather slowly up the Bruce Highway to North Queensland, and even slower within Townsville. I'll tell you another time about the letter from my real estate agent that took 6 days to travel less than 20km across town ...

I would also recommend The Book Depository. After placing an order, I have my book(s) in 7 - 14 days, around half the price we pay here and free postage. Also, they take more care than Aussie online book shops ie the books arrive properly packaged in perfect condition, not like Angus and Robertson.
Another recent item was a spare battery for my Sony handycam. Sony and Ted's wanted $199 while ebay had it for $13.87 from China. Considering Sony probably sources its batteries from China, why the difference?

With a Kindle I get new books in a few minutes and at about half the paper copy price (and with a much lower carbon footprint). If purchased through Amazon I can download the book again in the future if I should ever need to and storage is a breeze.

R0bert