Retail is hard, hard work. Dealing with the general public is even harder. There is nothing nicer than walking into a quilt shop for the first time and being greeted warmly and told to enjoy yourself and let them know if you need any kind of help. Smelling freshly brewed coffee and seeing spouses and significant others hanging out in a comfy chair while you browse to your heart's content. Nothing like seeing and touching the fabrics. Love looking at shop samples for fresh inspiration. This is something online shops can never provide. Still, I do enjoy being able to poke around fabric sites any time of day or night in my pjs. Sadly, I fear the brick and mortar quilt shops will join the dinosauers within the next 20 years. Remember when even a small town could support one or more yarn shops? Sure you paid more but the quality was excellent and the owner was there to help you through a difficult pattern or even fix a major mistake.