Shopping online or your local small business?

I own a small business and I shop online.  I support the 3/50 project with my business and in practice with several small local businesses and I shop online.  I am an Amazon quick fix junkie for some things.  I can have a quick shopping fix right from my desk or my favorite chair if I choose.  I know.  It’s a problem.  Sometimes it’s a budgetary problem.  Sometimes it’s an “I live in rural America and this thing isn’t available here” problem.  I’d rather this item of the moment was available at my local department store, but it’s a specialty item.

When I work on a project, I love the touch and feel the craft materials I use.  I have not had success choosing materials from a catalog or an online site because I am so tactile and sensory about the process.  If I order something crafty, when the desired item arrives it’s the wrong color, the wrong size, and the wrong shape.  It goes to a dusty shelf and I reorder or try something else. 

When I travel with the family, we specifically search out yarn and fiber shops.  I gather their addresses in advance on Google, KnitMap or SweaterBabe.  I plan out the time to visit.  My family usually goes for ice cream after they drop me off at the LYS.  It’s a long adventure and they know it.  And I get something there that I cannot get at home in my favorite chair.  I pick out a random skein of beautiful yarn or a shop pattern.  I have a nice chat with someone who lives in another part of the country.  They usually don’t know that I own a yarn shop because I don’t share that.  I am seeing what other yarn shops feel like and that is best done incognito.  I want to know the atmosphere and character of the shops I visit.  I soak it in because each shop has a different feel.  And I write down something interesting about each one.  I look for ideas that I can take home and that are worth using another time.  You can’t get that on Amazon.