I have 3 local shops within about 20 miles or less. I generally buy 60 - 70% mail order however as I know I can get what I want and it will be in stock and the price is good. I try to shop my local shop when I can, but no assurance they will have everything I want.
Dr Bob
We lost our Orvis shop and an upscale backpacking/flyfishing store two years ago leaving us with nothing within 40 miles of home. But when I needed supplies for a trip I did blow a morning to forage for new waders and some local expertise. I also shop online - I am just not gonna pay $3 a fly for something I need in bulk (I usually make generous donations to the streamside bushes) and can get for much less. That said I note that the gent who got me originally outfitted here at home has an apparently successful ebay store selling flies at reasonable prices - I guess he saw the writing on the wall.
jimstocks
tyler,tx
I buy what ever I can from the local shops…and some not so local but shops in places I travel to. Here’s a hint. I you want a fast track to the local info…buy stuff from the local shops. I try to support them as much as I can. Like I tell everyone else (members in my local club) …if you want to do the touchy feely shopping then you better put down the bucks at those shops or you’ll simply loose them. What I DON’T do is go to a local shop…seek out what I want, then go looking for the cheapest price elsewhere or online.
One recent example: I purchased a dozen ECHO practice rods, and I could have purchased them via the internet and have them sent to my moms in Michigan, saving about $9 per rod, but I chose to give a local shop the opportunity to import them (I live in Canada) and I would be willing to pay the higher price, just so I can give them some business. Get my drift?
I used to work retail at an outfitters for many years, so I know how it feels to spend, in some cases hours with a customer, building a bond, then have them go make their purchase at another shop where they might have saved a couple of bucks. (Figure in the gas and they didn’t.) They never failed to come back to tell me they got whatever at so and so’s for a few bucks less. What that did was cause me to NOT help them any longer when they came back for more of my “expert advise”. After several years, the store finally folded, and a lot of the loss was because of the touchy feely types that looked at the goods in the shop and then ran to the internet to find the cheapest price. It costs more to have a store front. Warehouse space is a lot cheaper. One can’t compete with that.
Does that mean I don’t buy from the internet? NO. I do. But I try to keep those purchases to things I would have trouble getting up here…and I keep them to businesses I want to support and not necessarily the cheapest, like Lafontiane’s Bookmailer as an example. I know that helps his family.
It’s really easy to save a few bucks but at what cost to a local economy.
As I sit watching my home state fall to ruin. (Michigan) I can’t express how upsetting it is for me to see it. Do what you can to support you local shops and then if they can’t get something for you, choose who you deal with online like you would in you community. For instance… the shops that support this site you all like so much. If you want this site to continue, Buy from the sponsors or buy their products. I just checked the list and I can say I have supported 27 of the sponsors on this site in the last year alone. 
I am very fortunate to live in LA where we probably have THE BEST full service fly shop in the West. That would be Bob Marriotts. I have been patronizing The Fisherman’s Spot in Van Nuys (SF Valley) since 1975, Dean Endress can usually find the “it” I desire . They are great and will order just about anything I want. If I need something special, I can usually get it through Craig Matthew’s shop in W. Yellowstone - Blue Ribbon Flies. I use the phone because I like jabbering with those guys.
I’ve only ordered online once. That was about 5 years ago from The Fly Shop in Redding,CA.
PT/TB
I say anyone has the right to shop & buy how they see fit.
But if someone finds the cozy quarters, advice, and free coffee to their liking enough to buy his/her stuff there, then it’s not really ‘subsidizing’ - it’s recognizing the value of those things to you and acting in your own self interest. On the other side, it’s up the the fly shop owner to serve the customer at a level where the customers value the ‘full service’ enough to pay the slightly higher prices the shop needs to account for the overhead.
Capitalism all the way.
Anyway, that’s how I see it. Just one person’s opinion.
Thank you Mato Kuwapi. I’m sure not all of them will read your post; but they all have benefited by your support. We too are originally from Michigan and agree with your analysis. We too are sorry to see some of the things happening. And we too try to support the sponsors whenever possible.
i agree with you completely mato kuwapi. i also think whining over a couple of dollars here and there is just plain cheap. we used to have a very nice fly shop here in mississippi. yes thats right in mississippi! great stuff, wonderful owner. every time i went in there were guys from the local fly fishing club hanging around sipping his coffee casting his rods using his bathroom, taking up his time. i never saw them buy much more than a token leader here or there. he let them use his shop for their meetings free of charge. then bass pro shop came to town. they all left. moved their meetings to their big conference rooms. bought their inexpensive rods made in china. i heard them complain that they could not get advice or service there ( they got spoiled at the fly shop). well in the mean time the fly shop decided it could not go on anymore so it decided to close. he had a big going out of business sale. they all came back like vultures. bought everything he had for pennies on the dollar. i overheard a couple of them at the next club meeting say he went under because he was not a good business man and he should have lowered his prices. they were the same as some of the best fly shops in california that i
have shopped at. after hearing this and witnessing this abuse of the fly shop owners kindness i decided i did not need to fish with these kind of folks. stingy know it all people.
I order on-line when I’m reasonably sure that the product is what I’m looking for e.g., tying threads, reels, certain accessories. I never order hackle or certain feathers or hairs. Too many variables. With the price of fuel and travel time required, it just makes sense to order. I live in NY City and much of the time it’s a matter of stores keeping up with inventory because of demand. It can be frustrating to need something only to find out a certain store ran out after I arrived. I have called mail order suppliers with toll free numers or with email inquiries to find out if they have stock before placing the order.