I feel that's partly a generational thing. I've been brewing almost 11 years and I'm 33. When I first got into it I used nothing but Northern Brewer because there were no shops in my area. After I moved to a place that had a shop, I met a lot of people and visited, etc. Maybe my 20's mentality, I saw the price of stuff in store and decided online shopping was better for my situation. Though, everyone is all about shop and buy local. My favorite thing about going into the shop was actually talking and asking questions because in 2011 or so the forums were only so.. informative.. and everyone thinks they are right or they will flame you and call you a troll. So, I started getting some stuff in person, some still online. Years later, I know people that still go to shops that do not have good prices IMO because they don't trust the internet or stuff like that... Crazy for me to think of but hey, you do you. Relationships could have been built there and they don't want that to go away. Not just with brewing, there are a ton of businesses that just seem like they should not thrive or survive but they are doing just well. Long John Silvers, for example. I know everyone says it but right now is the time to give them any support you can consider. A lot of shops have closed and others aren't doing well. With e-commerce, maybe most will fall but only about 10%(maybe a little more) of all cash exchanges actually take place online.
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