A couple of thoughts...

Many years ago, I worked in a small mom & pop computer store for a couple of years. I cannot count the number of people who came in the store, asked questions for hour, and left without buying a computer. Some of them you would see a few months later and they would almost brag about the great deal they got from some vendor in Computer Shopper. It never seemed to phase them a bit. We also had a group of people who would go buy a computer at Wal-Mart and come in and drill us with questions all of the time because no one at Wal-Mart could help them. I'm sure this behavior happens a lot at the LHS. People come in, play with a couple radios, ask a million questions, make a decision, and go home and order it from Tower. Meanwhile, the LHS spent all the time with the person but didn't make a dime.

Often times, a small business owner will get fed up with this and will only start supporting things he sells. He'll ask the infamous "where did you buy it" question and follow it up with the "go ask them" solution. Although, he is totally correct, it ends up killing him because he gets a bad reputation. People will actually say "that guy is an a**hole" because he won't support it if you bought it from somewhere else. In the end, this ends up killing his business. Ironically, the good guys have to suck it up and try to win the customers over with superior service even if the store can't get paid for it. Except, the bankruptcy roles will show that this plan isn't necessarily successful either. It's tough out there!

The other thing that is going on in this country is that the big box retailers and mega-corporations are putting small businesses out of business. The effect that this has on our economy is yet to be determined, but I don't feel that it is going to be good. This is another issue in itself.

So it is pretty simple for me. If I go in a store and pepper them with questions for information, I buy from them. If I'm going to buy mail order then I don't bother them. So I would advise everyone to do the same. If you want the local support, buy from the local guy. If you don't need it, send your money to Champaign, IL.

Again...just a couple of thoughts