This is where I'm at with shopping these days. The price delta is often negligible, but for something I don't need right this minute I'll choose online shopping for all the reasons you've listed. One of the items I bought Sunday morning was purchased online after checking a couple large local retailers and getting confused looks when I asked for what I wanted. Wasting time and money running around to stores to be faced with unhelpful clerks is something I'll happily do without.