And the reality was that, as information become more widely available, the local options really weren't very good. They had their limited inventory to move. I frequented various non-big city camera stores over the years and, with hindsight, they were what I had at the time but, other than as a nostalgic small town thing, I have trouble really missing them on any rational basis.

There can be value to local merchants. But it's harder to make the case for local distributors of mainstream manufactured equipment.

Yes pretty much the only such shops left where I live are the ones where the product manufacturer refuses to sell online or at Walmart -- certain brands of vacuum cleaners as an example. The local camera and computer and office supply and hardware stores (excepting big-box national retailers like Best Buy and Office Depot and Lowes) are all gone.