The comment about retail falling off is a good one. As long as you have a presence on the web all you need is one storefront and a warehouse.

47th Street Photo was into the mail order thing long before there was a web, and even thought they went through some rough times during the late 90's they are still around. A place I used to buy from, The Camera Shop in Fort Worth, closed over 20 years ago and lots of other camera retailers have as well.

ShopBots (are they still called that?) are also cutting margins on internet retailers. It really just comes down to how much service can you give over the net because you cannot compete on price unless you can get a really big discount from the distributor.

And with so many places offering free delivery..... That saves you additional time and money.

I think the answer to surviving in retail is to provide killer service. It is really the only thing retailers have to sell.