Coming from a real small town where my dad owns a business, and now residing in a big city, I think I have a unique perspective on this. Growing up, we tried to keep all of our purchases local (kinda like "I'll scratch your back if you scratch mine"). Sure other towns had a bigger selection and lower prices... but the town had what we *needed* and we didn't have to drive anywhere.

Now having been brought up in that manner I certainly appreciate the need to shop at the LHS. As I'm just starting out in this hobby, I have bought everything locally. What I can't find at one LHS, I can usually find at another. Some of the people that work there aren't that knowledgable, but some have been flying for several years. If I have a question about something, I can just pop in the door and ask around. Most of the time I'll buy a couple of small dollar items that I don't need right now, but will need in the future (glow plugs, a new prop, etc.) - mainly for the fact that they scratched my back.

Once I get more into this hobby and know what I'm doing, I'll probably order some stuff off the Internet. I currently check prices and if I find a discrepancy, I bring it up to the LHS in a round-about way.