For some countries (Japan comes to mind), there -are- dedicated stores to a degree. Usually for luxury goods though where it's tough to gauge real-world quality/value vs aesthetic strengths.
Also, this doesn't directly address your question, but the interim solution I've used is to build a research habit with each successive purchase for the home.
With time, it gets a lot easier and more intuitive to track down vendors. Vendors is actually a key word--typically you're looking for one of a small number of authorized importers for a given brand. Often they'll be B2B focused, e.g. buying EU power tools or USA-made N95s from industrial supply companies.
This strategy has netted out a (simplified) distribution like this in my home:
* Home Appliances: German, French
* Food Storage: French (lunchboxes even!) or vintage US
* Whet Stones: Japanese
* Wooden Goods: Local, Canadian, or Eastern European
* Food: Local mills, garden, area farms; preserve seasonal foods
* Health & Beauty: Canadian
* Safety Gear: Canadian, US
* Garden: German, Italian, US; seeds from open-source genetics
You still have to be intentional, since plenty of foreign stores have global supply chains like the US does, so just because you're bringing it from Canada doesn't mean it's Canadian-origin, etc.
Also note: I'm absolutely cherry-picking what I listed. I still buy plenty of arbitrary things from big-box stores. In general, the research LOE scales with how important the purchase is to me, and you really need the research to become something of a hobby since you'll be spending hours on it. :)
> you really need the research to become something of a hobby since you'll be spending hours on it
Exactly, that's my point. In most cases I do extensive research before purchasing by looking up online reviews, forum discussions, and even company/seller background.
My problem is that as a consumer I shouldn't have to do this. I should be able to trust retailers to do this quality and safety vetting for me, so that I don't purchase something harmful, that doesn't work or will break soon after purchase.
But, as you know, it's not in e.g Amazon's interest to give consumers this assurance. Their main clients, after all, are the same dodgy vendors that sell counterfeit garbage, buy fake reviews, and change their "company" name on a whim. Amazon has no incentive to protect the consumer.
I think that a consumer protection agency on behalf of the government should step in, and force retailers to do better.
The other problem is that most consumers don't see this as an issue. They'd rather buy the first cheapest thing they can find, and don't care how well made it is, as long as they can quickly buy it again if needed.
Also, this doesn't directly address your question, but the interim solution I've used is to build a research habit with each successive purchase for the home.
With time, it gets a lot easier and more intuitive to track down vendors. Vendors is actually a key word--typically you're looking for one of a small number of authorized importers for a given brand. Often they'll be B2B focused, e.g. buying EU power tools or USA-made N95s from industrial supply companies.
This strategy has netted out a (simplified) distribution like this in my home:
* Home Appliances: German, French
* Food Storage: French (lunchboxes even!) or vintage US
* Whet Stones: Japanese
* Wooden Goods: Local, Canadian, or Eastern European
* Food: Local mills, garden, area farms; preserve seasonal foods
* Health & Beauty: Canadian
* Safety Gear: Canadian, US
* Garden: German, Italian, US; seeds from open-source genetics
You still have to be intentional, since plenty of foreign stores have global supply chains like the US does, so just because you're bringing it from Canada doesn't mean it's Canadian-origin, etc.
Also note: I'm absolutely cherry-picking what I listed. I still buy plenty of arbitrary things from big-box stores. In general, the research LOE scales with how important the purchase is to me, and you really need the research to become something of a hobby since you'll be spending hours on it. :)