There are good shops and not so good ones. How do you know the difference? The guy that manages the one closest to me has been flying for 20+ years. I had a question about how to modify the wing on my Kadet kit to add ailerons. I took the plans in with me, and he walked me through how to modify them. I can walk in there, look around, spend 30 mins to an hour shooting the bull, walk out without purchasing anything and come back the next day. The good ones know they need to either match Tower's prices, or get them close that the cost of buying from Tower with shipping is higher than buying locally.