Originally Posted by
coachboyd
That being said, there is a big increase in people going into a bike shop, trying out equipment, and then ordering it off Amazon or some other web outlet to save a few bucks. That is something that I would be pretty upset about as a business owner.
When I go to any local business, my decision whether to full-on "showroom" their stuff and just buy from Amazon is directly tied to the level of service. If I go into an LBS or any store and they are aloof, unhelpful, or seem uninterested in helping me, hell yes, I will feel free to do it. I may do it pretty openly depending upon how bad. I've even told people at a couple of local stores (not LBS) that I'm just going to buy from Amazon because they weren't helpful. Welcome to the free market. But if I get good service, I'm happy to pay what I know is a premium over buying online. And in that case I often do let them know that I decided to buy at their store rather than go online because their service was good.