Is there any way to reach shopify support by email anymore?

if you need a paper trail, say for a billing dispute, screenshot the admin pages involved before you start the chat and save the transcript after. that pair is what you'll end up pointing to anyway. Plus stores get more direct support, on the normal plans chat really is it.

not really, as far as I know they moved most merchants off email a while ago. log into the help center with your store account, go through the virtual assistant and keep asking for a person, it'll eventually offer live chat (sometimes a callback depending on plan and region). at the end of the chat ask them to send the transcript to your email, that's the closest thing to an email thread you'll get.