It might be... at certain pricepoints and types of bikes, the ones at the dept. stores are pretty much the same as the ones at the LBS. For really simple bikes, I don't think buying from a dept. store is that much an issue. However, what you do give up is the service you'd get from the LBS. For anything other than a kid's BMX style or single-speed cruisers, I would advise going to an LBS on the technical points. But again, that said, I've seen LBS bikes be pretty price-competitive to the dept. store bikes for those bikes that are worthy of consideration.