I’m not the only one who is looking for alternatives to Amazon. A person in Canada is way ahead of me with the launch of Not Amazon.
Not Amazon is a website that acts as a portal to local businesses in a city. So far, Vancouver, Toronto, Calgary, and Halifax are listed. When you choose a city, you see its page. You have the option of then choosing one or more shopping categories, such as Home Decor, Baby, Jewelry, and so on. Or you can pursue all the stores that Not Amazon lists for that city.
Each store has a “storefront” image, so browsing feel like walking through a mall and looking at a store window. If you like what you see, click the storefront image and you’ll be taken to that store’s website. Essentially, Not Amazon is an aggregator of local, independent stores, with a focus on BIPOC, queer, and women owned businesses. Most of the stores appear to be brick-and-mortar as well as online. If you are planning to travel to, or you live in one of these cities, browsing Not Amazon is a great way to get to know businesses you might not have found otherwise. But you can order products online too, so I assume Canadians who don’t live in those cities can order online.
The founder of the website, Ali Haberstroh, provides Not Amazon as a free service. She has a full time job, but took on this labor-of-love project to help local businesses survive the pandemic. Businesses can get listed through submitting a form on the website. New cities will be added when someone from that city requests it and comes up with an initial list of about 75 stores and a image for their web “store front.”
What a great idea! I want Not Amazon in the USA.