Originally Posted by greatscott

Price is indeed king, especially in the last 5 years as prices have skyrocketed in cycling stuff; for example I bought a Voler semi clear rain jacket 4 years ago with a regular retail price of $18 I got it for $12, that jacket was a closeout, the following season they put out a new jacket, looked exactly the same except a zipper instead of velcro closure, the new price was $68 (now they've dropped that jacket and gone with one with a longer tail and it cost $108). Also tires. for example, at an LBS are crazy expensive, one Vittoria Rubino Pro G+ at my LBS is $90 I can get it on line for $31! Then a lot of LBS's will carry never heard of brands for pumps etc, stuff you can't find on the internet to find out if the reviews on the product is any good, or they'll carry inferior products like Portland design Works that can't get a road tire past 60psi. I don't care about price if they're close, but I'll be damn if I'm going to pay 2 or 3 times the cost for a product just so I can keep a LBS in business; I live in California, it's expensive to live here, but any fool that knows how to budget isn't going to pay 2 or 3 times more for a product just for fun.

Regardless of what the internet, the stats I mentioned in my earlier post shows that LBS's aren't doing bad at all, they still have a commanding lead of the dollar percentage over anyone else.