I agree with most of what has been said to a certain extent, and while i am slowly becoming more of fan / more trusting of online shopping, i still love browsing and checking what other stuff is around... To take an example, we were looking for some slime, grips, a frame and a cycling top over the weekend. As we had time, we drove around a bit - Mike's Bikes in Greenside, Linden cycles, Sportsmans Warehouse, Northcliff Cycles, Cajees Cycle Corner and Cyclelab. At some of these we ended up just browsing as they stock less of what we needed, but we got slime for much less than we could get it online, grips at a steal, saw and fitted a top i that i loved, which i probably wouldn't have found / considered online, saw a few cool frames and a few that we also would not necessarily have thought to be possible buys by checking it online. We went for these items, but browsed through the rest of the shops and that's going to have me go back and buy a helmet that is on sale from the one (i checked last night, this specific markdown is advertised on their website as well, so good on them) and possibly a 29er from the other. I love considering my options after seeing everything and fitting everything that is on offer, so i like the physical shop and having a chat with the owner. I find Mike's Bikes extremely helpful when you need to find something not widely stocked (ordered an earo / TT bottle a few months ago hrough them) and when it comes to basic bike setups, advice and i just generally like the friendly service you always get from them as well as all the oddities and cool stuff in their shop. Linden stocks what seem to be quite a nice selection of reasonably priced new bikes, so if i hd been looking at buying a full bike, it's not a bad place to go have a look. Sportsmans is sportsmans....they've got the basics, but for a retail store it's not bad and i have found stuff there quite regularly. Northcliff....i love that place! While their full bikes are mostly above what i could spend at the moment, i love the rest of their stock and have found many bargains there over the last few months. Found an inline seatpost amongst their older stock for a 3rd of the price that i could get it anywhere else (online or shop), we got some proper discount on Oakleys a while ago, slime was less than half the price of most other places and they are having great deals on helmets... Have had only good experiences there and it's advised to spend some time browsing - some items are not marked with prices, but Alex gives very fair prices on these items, especially if it is from their older stock. Cajees stock a lot of stuff, but i found it quite a mission to wade through what to me felt quite a disorganised setup, having to climb over some items to see what is hidden behind, while still charging a pretty penny for a lot of it. That said...they have some pretty cool frames, even if most of it is older. And Cyclelab...saw a very good deal on a 2nd hand mtb from a shop that i mostly perceive to be a little overpriced. But the experience is and always have been very pleasant in a well setup shop with pretty stuff on display. So that was going through from probably one of the smallest to some of the biggest shops....all have their place and overall i like going round to see what they have hidden in the corners. I do quite a bit of research before buying anything, so compare these vs the internet and the shops do not always come out too badly priced, so i have mostly opted to go back to them and getting my goodies there