Company I recently worked for had four customer bankruptcy filings over a period of about a year. Big chains, every one retail. Most were reorganizations, closing all if not a significant percentage of their stores (90% or more) and focusing all future sales and marketing efforts online. In many businesses, brick and mortar is done. It's a major issue especially to small businesses. In our industry as Capt. Ron points out, there's a personal service involved and that can't be replicated with the same level of service on line and certain products would be difficult if not impossible to purchase online if these stores weren't around. Making a conscious effort to support them year round and even more so this time of year is something that benefits us all. Every little bit helps I'm sure. They're there year round working crazy hours for our benefit, I'm sure they'd appreciate a conscious effort returning the favor. I love the information the internet provides but hate what the Amazon's of the world have done to local communities, small businesses and retail in general.