Before getting ready for going to bed, Senior Angela Lekosiotis opens up her laptop and opens Chrome. She goes to Tobi.com to see their newest arrivals. She finds a shirt in her size that she couldn’t find in store and hurries to order it using the 15 percent off coupon code. Online shopping is becoming more and more popular among people who don’t have the time to go to the store or can’t find what they want in-store. Most products that are sold in-store can also be found online for similar prices. There are many advantages and disadvantages to online shopping.

Angela Lekosiotis likes to shop in-store, but can’t always fit in the time to do so in her schedule.

“I like in-store shopping more but I online shop more [frequently] than I in-store shop because I have more time to online shop,” Lekosiotis said. “In store, I go shopping once a week. I try to go on the weekends when I don’t have work.”

Language Arts teacher Mrs. Jennifer Schrems is also a fan of online shopping because of the convenience it offers.

“[I have been making purchases online] more so lately,” Mrs. Schrems said. “I like to use Amazon because the return policy is so easy.”

Sophomore Dena Pappas also prefers online shopping for specific items.

“My preference is probably online because I know [the items are] new,” Pappas said. “I would buy groceries in a store and I would buy clothes or little [items] online.”

Senior Leslie Nguyen doesn’t buy some things online because she can’t try it on before buying it.

“I usually don’t buy pants online,” Ngueyn said. “I do buy shoes online. I buy dresses online for homecoming and I buy weird looking stuff online.”

Mrs. Schrems likes to shop for a wide variety of things online.

“I like to buy shoes in a store,” Mrs. Schrems said. “I will buy almost anything online and in the store.  Shoes are tricky for me. I like to be able to try them on.”

There are advantages and disadvantages to both forms of shopping.

“Advantages- You find different items that you wouldn’t in stores,” Nguyen said. “Disadvantages- You don’t  know if it’s going to fit you and then you have to return it and that’s a hassle.”

Lekosiotis also has some mixed feelings about online and in-store shopping.

“Disadvantages- If it fits weird, you don’t know until you get it,” Lekosiotis said. “The advantages of online [are] a lot more discounts and more sizes. A lot of times in store they’ll be out of what you need. Online, they have more of it.”

Pappas also appreciates the convenience of online shopping but agrees that it comes with some drawbacks

“The advantages of making online purchases are that it’s totally brand new and the disadvantages are that you have to wait for it to come in and paying for shipping,” Pappas said.

Mrs. Schrems believes that it’s too easy to overspend online, but still thinks online is the better form of shopping.

“It saves me time because I am able to narrow down exactly what I am looking for by size, color, brand, etc. instead of having to go from store to store,” Mrs. Schrems said. “Disadvantages-almost too easy that I find myself spending more money. [I prefer] online due to the time it saves. It saves me time because I am able to narrow down exactly what I am looking for by size, color, brand, etc. instead of having to go from store to store.”

Dena Pappas feels that reviews are key to any online shopping website.

“[The] key to a successful online shopping website is you need to make sure it’s reliable [and] check the reviews,” Pappas said. “People put pictures of the product; look at the pictures.”

Mrs. Schrems agrees that reviews can make or break an online shopping website.

“Reviews from other customers [are key to an successful online shopping website],” Mrs. Schrems said. “I tend to trust the majority of the reviews. If several people say the material is cheap or a certain item runs small, I tend to believe them. I always figure why would they spend the time writing a review if they weren’t being honest.”