Imagine that it is your best friend’s birthday tomorrow, and you only just realize this fact this evening after dinner. You definitely can’t afford to fail to give him or her a gift, and it would arguably be worse if you were to confess that you just forget about their birthday outright. You need to purchase something for them, and to purchase it fast. When caught in this sort of situation, the only solution is to go to your nearest retail store.

Here, you can find an adequate gift for your best friend almost instantly. Even if you were to hypothetically find a great gift for them online, there is absolutely no way that you will be able to get the gift in time. Granted, places like Amazon are beginning to implement free one-day shipping, but even that only applies if you make the purchase earlier in the day rather than later in the evening or at night. Plus, there is no guarantee that you actually will receive the package on-time, meaning you could be caught even more flat-footed expecting the gift in time for their birthday later that day, only to be waiting at your door for hours and hours until you get a notification that your package will be delayed by another day. Then you would really be stuck in a pickle!

With retail stores though, you will have total peace of mind knowing that as soon as you make your purchase, the product is in your hands ready to be delivered the next day. Heck, you could even purchase a last-minute gift on the same day without any worries!

While this definitely makes the retail store look like a backup option when your other online options are not feasible, it is definitely something that comes up time and time again, and thus is a highly valuable commodity overall. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve forgotten to purchase gifts for my family and friends and had to run down to the nearest Walmart or Target to get something that day. Most importantly, although these purchases may be last minute, it doesn’t necessarily mean you are sacrificing quality as a result, since there is always an abundance of great products at retail stores.

And this ability to purchase last-minute products applies outside of the world of gift-giving. If you need to cook something for a party and are missing a key ingredient, simply go to the grocery store, buy it instantly, and be back home within minutes to finish making the dish. If your son or daughter just tore up their basketball shoes and need new ones in time for their game today, go to the nearest Sports Authority and purchase a new pair. The only constraint is if the store in question is not open when you need it to be. But given the fact that so many stores have long business hours, plus the multitude of retail stores overall, it won’t be hard at all to shop for any and all of your last minute shopping needs through the power of retail stores!