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>... a suction cup thingy that mounts my smartphone to a car dashboard.

Try your local phone store. Most carriers have brick and mortar locations.

So for another example, I wanted to get a stainless steel pasta strainer. I checked four different kitchen/cooking stores and the ones that had them them only had ones that were too deep, and they were all priced as ridiculously luxurious items, over $90. Then I checked a local hardware store and they had exactly what I wanted and it was only $12. I only thought of that place because I passed it on the way home and was desperate.

Sure, sometimes things take a bit of work and might not be instantaneous or easy. It all boils down to whether or not one values immense convenience over not supporting Amazon.

Right, this is why I'm suggesting it would be awesome if someone were to make a retail search engine, so we could have both at the same time.

How is patronizing your "local phone store" better than just going to Amazon?

My hardware store is locally own and carries phone mounts. I realize this is an outlier though.

Similar to the other response, I have locally-owned options in my area that sell them. I'd imagine many areas do.

Beyond that, if it's a national carrier brick-and-mortar spot, it could be argued that it's a case of the lesser of two evils.

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