My household is still a fan of Amazon (and Prime), primarily for the free shipping. Being in a smaller community, we do not have a lot of local retail options. And, not having a household vehicle, tracking things down from a brick-and-mortar store would involve (a) me getting on my bike and putting in 25 miles to still not find what I'm looking for, or (b) renting a vehicle and driving several hundred miles RT to a real city.

Yet I agree that Amazon is not great for cycling-specific items. I'll use them for bike electronics (like my poor Cygolite Hotshot that didn't survive yesterday's gravel ride) and, if the price is right, name-brand cycling clothing. The latter is usually cheaper through other vendors, though. For bike parts, I generally use UK vendors (Merlin, Wiggle), or ebay for my vintage/beater bikes.

I'll support local businesses when I can - particularly if the owners are not jerks and they have products that I want (as is the case with three of our local bike shops).

Target.com has been doing this for a while, and seems to have better prices on household goods than Amazon. I've been ordering dry goods, TP, kitty litter, etc. from them since the winter. They actually delivered two 35 lb. buckets of cat litter to my back door - for free.

I've disliked Whole Foods ever since they bought out the Boulder, CO based Wild Oats stores - and subsequently removed the bike racks from some of those locations, or moved them way to the back behind the dumpsters. I distinctly remember several times when I was followed by security around the parking lot and into the store at a Whole Foods location, and it gave me a bad feeling about the establishment. Perhaps their business has changed, but I will never know because I now live 90 miles from a Whole Foods.

I was thinking about that the other day - does Amazon even sell real books anymore? Back in the day, Amazon saved us college kids a ton on textbooks. Just like Newegg used to sell computer parts...