Originally Posted by Machka

I've mentioned this before but ...

Where we lived in Australia (and we are returning to that area at least temporarily), the nearest LBS was about 100 km away. We would drop in if we happened to be in the area getting other stuff (like groceries or hardware stuff), and if the place had something we wanted in stock, for the price we wanted, we'd get it.

But otherwise we were presented with two choices ...

1) The LBS would tell us that they did not have whatever it was in stock, and they could order it. It would take roughly 6 weeks to get in, and we would have to travel 100+ km to go get it.

Or

2) We could order from one of several online places we use, and within a week, it would be delivered to our door ... cheaper than the LBS and free shipping.