[Lmackattack]

we have one LHS left in my area of Chicagoland. It sucks because before I had options on where I wanted to shop now I'm limited to one. I will say that it seams the LHS are now more stream lined to the masses and people just getting in to a specific hobby. I worked at my LHS when I was a kid and we would match prices from other shops or magazines.
when the internet became popular it was almost impossible to match prices because of the overhead of owning a store front.

the smart owners will try to sell you a RC car, Boat, Ho scale Train etc...at a reasonable price and then make the extra on other stuff that goes with the hobby. These are the ones that will last. Most Hobby shops will tell you they cant just rely on selling glue and sheet styrene to stay in business.