Our brick and mortar stores are the backbone of this country's retail/wholesale market. Buying on-line and shutting these online only stores is hurting the country while putting people out of work. Order online from the giants and if you get an item that does not fit or is not what you expected, you must repack, send it back, wait for another one to arrive.
Do your country a favor as well as the employees of these stores that have families, stop this destructive cycle that is simply a silly craze..

Usually I buy from stores-but if the store doesn't stock or won't stock what I need or want-online I go.Example here-the two Lowes stores tool selections are lame-they are not carrying the full line of tools.So--I order online.Stores have greater competition because of online sales-they are gone to have to STOCK UP!Normally I don't shop online-but lately being forced to.

I do buy locally if can. But as mentioned sometimes its a specific part you need that isn't going to be stocked due to no demand for it. Or else a lot of what I want isn't available anymore, so buy it used or new old stock on eBay.

Plus, a lot of times I can buy things much cheaper online if I don't mind waiting a bit longer. Sometimes a reseller will get an overstock of something to liquidate and you can save a large percent over what it costs locally. Especially for items that have been discontinued recently or aren't big sellers.

I am a little torn on this subject -

There are a couple small brick and mortar stores in my town that i used to shop in, but it came now to a point where everything they stock is the most crappiest generic and sometimes even fake parts. There is literally nothing of good quality which you can get there, be it electrical devices, cables, lamps, or anything

With all desire to support local businesses, i am not going to buy "China Export" certified breakers or cables that you can strip with bare hands because of how crappy the PVC on them is

And they seem to be doing alright income wise, given that the attitude of their customers is generally to moan about how their electrical panel melted on the wall and then go and buy again the same stuff, and install it with the help of the cheapest electrician in the phone book



Lucky for me i found a bigger brick and mortar in the next town (an hour ride) that does stock the good stuff, but not everyone cand find one like that within reach

I "window shop" online, and buy at brick-and-mortar stores these days.

When I'm in a b&m, I will often use Google or Amazon to check user reviews of an item, maybe people think I am price checking, but I'm not, just need reviews.

In the last 2 weeks I picked up in person:

LIFX bulbs from BestBuy
Office chairs ordered through Lowe's, even though Amazon had them. F- Amazon!
Laser Printer from Office Depot
Samsung external SSD and USB port hub from BestBuy
Office Furniture from Home Depot

Everything could have been from Amazon. I RARELY buy from Amazon, my favorite thing from Amazon are vinyl LP's that come with a MP3 download.
Most often my online purchases are from eBay because eBay doesn't have such predatory retail practices and eBay has used stuff along with new.

I do shop at the local stores, but for the most part its the big names... Walmart/Target/HomeDepot/Lowes/PetSmart I'm not sure how big 'BigLots' is as a company, but there too. I do occasionally go to Hobby Lobby, but in general its a company I'd rather not support.

Most of the time when I buy something online, its from eBay. The other times its almost always been various lighting companies...for fluorescent lamps you simply don't find in the stores, and if they show up on eBay its at outrageous prices.

I don't even have an Amazon account, and have no interest.

We have become a throw away society. Just buy it cheap, use it as long as it will last, and then simply gop buy more cheap junk. 

Yep.. that's how it is these days.
I'll admit that I too buy some cheap stuff... when it dies I'll upgrade to something newer & different (but likely still cheap.)
But simple fact is I am also old & worn out, so maybe that cheap light(or electronic or whatever other thing) will still end up outlasting me .lol.

The streetlights of today are a good example. Many of the 40's-70's are still solid fixtures while the thin walled junk is in worse shape after 5 years.

One thing that'll be interesting to see is how well the new LED streetlights will hold up to abuse from weather - say for example a hailstorm (which here is a matter of not 'if' but 'when'). The old lights are built tough & can take such abuse.

Here in Colorado as you already know, is a great test of how things will hold up to high heat, low humidity, and high UV exposure. 

Yep.. that's how it is these days.
I'll admit that I too buy some cheap stuff... when it dies I'll upgrade to something newer & different (but likely still cheap.)
But simple fact is I am also old & worn out, so maybe that cheap light(or electronic or whatever other thing) will still end up outlasting me .lol.

 One thing that'll be interesting to see is how well the new LED streetlights will hold up to abuse from weather - say for example a hailstorm (which here is a matter of not 'if' but 'when'). The old lights are built tough & can take such abuse.

There are a lot of cooper OVX'S here by freeway overpasses that are so corroded it's a miracle they don't fall off the pole !

Here the problem isn't with the fixtures so much as it is the metal poles they are on, they are rusting out at the bottom!  We already had one blow over because it failed at the bottom due to rust.  Had only been installed for maybe 13 years too.