The world has changed and retailing has been changed by the internet, and for the better.Once upon a time we bought what the shop had,new releases were a rare event,you would read about them on the pages of military modeler,small scale scene, then wait ,sometimes for many months before seeing it on a shelf.If we had to shop like that today without the internet Hat and others would not have sold the volume that has driven this golden age of the hobby.For some time 100% of my hobby purchases have been made on line, if one on line seller does not have stock I can usually find it on another,doing that the old way ie visiting the shop in person would have cost time and money with often with unsatisfactory results at the end of all that effort.by all means lament the demise of model shops and those fond chilhood memories of visiting them,the internet age has made our hobby what it is today with hundreds and hundreds of sets to choose from and lots of places to shop from ,and you can chat to like minded people from all over the world and never once have to leave the comfort of your home to do so, this truly is the golden age and we have to thank the Internet for making that golden age possible.