. . .  read some of Buying in a Post-Store World and sent a note that included this question:

Lee, would you consider yourself a shopper or not?   Do you like stores, hate stores, etc?

I love finding a great store, but there are so few.

I drive further to buy produce and meat at Central Market, and further to North Haven Gardens, a nursery with knowledgeable, helpful staff. I enjoyed REI’s flagship store when I was in Seattle. I still have fond memories of the Georgetown University Shop, a men’s clothing store located near the Georgetown campus where I shopped when I lived in Washington, Gimcracks, a store with unique crafts and decorative items located in Evanston where I bought several gifts when I lived in Evanston, and the Cameron Trading Post, which we discovered this winter along a desolate section of road on a Navajo reservation.

While this varies greatly by product category, my biggest frustration with stores is frequently the difficulty in finding useful information upon which to make a buying decision.

How many times have you asked a clerk about a product, only for them to fish around and begin to read the hang tag (in the case of a garment) or the box in which the product comes? I once explained to a clerk, “Literacy isn’t the problem here; I’ve already read the box. Do you know anything in addition to what’s on the box?”

I’ve given up on mass marketers reversing the tide and investing significantly in staffing and training, but even if they did, the Web is unparalleled in its ability to deliver a large amount of objective (or at least, more objective) information on products, from reviews in traditional media and insights from hobbyist and fan sites, to newsgroup posts and comments on shopping sites (Amazon, for example) from people who have bought the product.

In addition, the Web can also usually delivers more product details, including technical specifications and how the product is installed, set up, and used. Many sites are wisely making their product manuals available for download, which can be a great tool to make sure you know what you’re getting yourself into before you buy the product. Thankfully, product manuals are written in a more detailed and accurate manner than most of the blurbs on boxes or in the short product descriptions in catalogs, all which are typically written by copywriters under the direction of marketing and advertising folks.

My second biggest frustration is figuring out if they have the item I want. Rather than driving all over town, sorting through racks and walking down aisle after aisle, then searching for a clerk to confirm that they don’t have what you’re looking for, the Web cuts through all of that.

On a recent trip to Borders I had some clues to the specific book I wanted, but the information I had was not well-suited to the only search tool that they provide, and the computerized search at the information counter returned hundreds of results when I tried to search for the cookbook I’d read about.

After about 15 minutes, I finally called a friend who I knew was probably near a PC. Within a couple of minutes, thanks to her Google search, I had the title of the book.

“Do you have it?”

The clerk didn’t know, and pointed me in the direction of the aisle where it would be if they had it. After searching through the stacks, I couldn’t find it.

When I got back I did a search on the Web, read the reviews, and learned that there was another cookbook that would probably be better.

Total time at the store: About 30 minutes; with drive time, about an hour.

Total time online: About 10 minutes.

(Note: Give Target Stores credit for investing in an integrated inventory management system that enables store employees to scan the shelf tag with their handheld scanner and then, after punching a few buttons, tell you whether they have anymore of that item in stock. This improves the consumer experience and employee productivity. )

My third is feeling confident that I’ve got the best item for me (i.e., the right product with the right features at the right price). Again, the Web’s ability to compare products is unparalleled.

So given my typical goals in product acquisition . . .

• Will this product meet my needs?
• Is this the optimal product (given the price-feature trade-off) to meet my needs?
• Is this the optimal merchant (given trade-offs between price, return policy, shipping and handling, taxes, and delivery schedule, and overall confidence) from which to buy this product.

. . . I frequently find that the Web is the best way to maximize these, and then seek other avenues for entertainment.

For things that are difficult or expensive to ship, items where fit, texture, color, or finish are critical, items where there is a high value placed on local service,  perishables, inexpensive things I need right away, and staples I usually head to the store—the one down the street, that is.