The nearest shop to my house has closed there doors after over 20 years in buisness. They were the only true fly fishing shop left in knoxville. Luckely the Little River in Townsand is still around. They are the best shop I know of in our area. But It is about a 40 min drive from my house. Just wanted to let others that visit the Knoxville area know of this closing. I will miss the Creel. John
Heard a rumor that the only shop in the Roanoke Area (Blue Ridge Fly Fishers) was about to go out of business although hadn’t seen any signs or advertisements noting this. Stopped in earlier in the week to pick up a few tying materials and found that most of the stock was already depleted. There were no signs denoting the demise although it seems to be in full swing. Guess the big box stores, Internet sales and the bigger companies are making it too hard to compete now. One more good local place about gone.:sad:
Here in the upstate of SC our local fly shops last day was yesterday. I think that with the internet and big discount store that we love so much have put most of these places out of business.
I have always tried to buy all of my supplies at either the Creel Or Little River Outfitters. Just once in a while do I shop at the 2 big box stores here. Now I am down to just the Little River Outfitters. It is a great store, well stocked and very friendly and helpfull. John
Here we have The Mossy Creek shop, its just been moved to a larger location, its run by 2 younger guys (Twins), they seem to be doing very well with it, I try to support them every chance I get, I would like to see them around for along time… 
The Internet and big box stores have made life a challenge for those that don’t do as good a job competing in a diversified purchasing environment. Competition has made an easy job a lot harder. Those that do a good job usually can survive; those that don’t, struggle. Ask any local auto mechanic how the “mega service centers” have effected their business and what they do to survive. It’s usually all about service and trust.
Case in point; Little River Outfitters. I live in PA and have shopped with them via the Internet when MY local shops didn’t have, or could care less about special ordering. When your options are limited by inventory choices, business decisions or just plain stubbornness by the buyer or seller; you end up at someplace other than Tony’s Fly & Tackle. So maybe I was helping your local guy while hurting mine but the reasons for local business failures isn’t always about the big guys.
NOT all small business can survive. Right down the street from me I have seen numerous specialty shops come and go at the local strip center with not so much as a tear shed by the local shoppers. There were cigar stores, bead shops, a hot sauce store, a bagel shop, an incense & weird candle shop and some crummy restaurants. The reason most of them failed was lack of customers in a specialty market, lack of inventory or just plain lousy service.
Considering a local fly shop is a specialty store is it any wonder so many close their doors?
As fly fishers we only have so many crumbs to toss. We want to support our local guy, maybe help out the FAOL sponsors, but despite our best efforts we sometimes end up at Cabela’s.
Unfortunately sometimes there just ain’t enough crumbs to go around.
Last year we lost the only fly shop in Tacoma, WA, the third largest city in the state. 
We do have one we can go to up north towards Seattle but the traffic can really be a bear.
Larry —sagefisher—