Amazon! What’s not to like? Cheap books, bargain CDs, amazingly weird reviews of Armando Iannucci tote bags. They even deliver right to your house. So why have we decided not to buy from them any more? Yeah, it bothers us that Amazon sells one in every four books in the UK but, more importantly, in the process of achieving that ubiquity they’ve paid no tax on £7.9bn of sales. That’s doing nothing to support the infrastructure of the country at the time we need it most. And it’s not just Amazon, it’s Top Shop, Vodafone, Boots and many others.
It’s little wonder that shops like Rounder – closing after 46 years – can’t compete. That’s what this is all about really, supporting the shops in Brighton that you feel offer something to the culture of the place. Not just shops like City Books, Resident and Jump The Gun, but also the clubs and pubs, cafes and services that you feel Brighton deserves to have. The August issue of SOURCE offers up some great indies to buy records from, and plenty of people doing good stuff for the city that you can support, as well as our thoughts on the state of the city. Let us know what you think on Facebook and Twitter.
