The web has changed the way we do business, many people still fear the web, guess it's the old "afraid of the unknown" syndrome.
Some people juts gotta have it in their hands right away, where if I can save a good chunk, I'll get it off the web any day!
another tupe of store I like are stores like "excess cargo", who sell factory seconds merchandise. Many don't know this, but factory seconds in most cases does not mean anything anymore. In most cases it's where a big box store received a shipment that got damaged in transit, they flat out refuse the entire shipment, the manufacturer then ships it to a breakdown center where the skid gets ripped down, the damaged goods thrown away and the remaining 90% of undamaged goods go on an auction block to the highest bidder such as excess cargo - sometimes they go straight to the auction and they'll bid on a guestimate of good items left in that set. Usually it's bought for cents on the dollar. Sure, that item may have a couple more shipping miles on it, but well worth it to you and I the consumer.
The reason they can't resell to another big retailer is because teh goods were allready considered sold once, so a discounter gets them.
I purchased a 400 digital camera for 90 bucks that way - never once gave me a problem, same with my camcorder and a few other things.
That's probably how half of ebay works too.