in a house purchase there's generally only 2 bites, funnily enough i bought my 2012 Audi R8 from out of Europe and was sent here for about $15k less.
Hobbyshops are dead anyway, unless they own a track i will not support them. online shopping clearly is the future, the jobs are just in different sectors now.
Look at Amain, originaly a online only store run out of a garage but now its massive online and small shop fronts but they have multiple tracks that a nice to be at.
Indy has got it right, nice facility, good atmosphere... a shop run track and people support it well because of that reason.
however if something is $150-200 cheaper i will get from overseas(things like a radio) and still spend the savings on tires, i run proline so supporting anther overpriced item.
tires are dumb, they dont need to be so expensive, When i spoke to a Pro driver who i wont name said the amount of tires he goes through he cant believe the tire Company's make money, which i would assume is part of the reason for the high price.
Im a strong believer in a control tire and making chassis design and setup way more important(this is why we buy the latest and greatest isnt it? but yet tires are the #1 item...)
its just my opinion on it, Im in a high up management role and you should see the profit margin and how many people take a bite of some of those pies.