I know what you're saying. My issue with online is, you mention "and no tax" which is highly unlikely if you follow your state laws. The brick and mortar local doesn't have much choice but to follow state law and collect the sales tax. The online retailer? Who is gonna check. And if like most states with a sales tax you have a use tax for online purchases, who is going to check if you pay the use tax?
It's unfair to the local to expect them to reduce their price when the item is in stock and available for immediate pickup vs waiting for an online retailer to get it shipped from a warehouse or supplier. I can kick the sh.t out of most guys in my business if I can work off of the inventory of my suppliers rather than having a million$ in inventory.

I'm guessing you don't own a business. Not saying that as a criticism but if you did, think about how annoying it would get for people to ask you to reduce your price of your in stock item that can be picked up today because they found it online for less but it will be shipped later. Worse than that, locals will get people coming in to see an item to make sure it's what they want and then go home and order online. I don't envy local small businesses in the internet age not to mention in a day where saying a few bucks is more important than supporting local businesses.

Like most things in life...there has to be a balance imo. I'll support a local place first, but only up to a certain point. A lot of it comes down to the "attitude" of the place too. Poop doesn't smell... BS does :D

And another thing.... don't make fun of how I tawk ;)

I owned a floor covering business for over 40 years. I’m retired now. I used to have a store front but established a clientele of realtors and contractors over the years so that I didn’t need a walk in store front. When we did have a retail shop most people were comparing prices. Yes, we would discount prices to get the job. It was something we had to do when Home Depot started selling floor covering. We could usually beat their prices with a better product and way better installation.We never got insulted if someone asked to lower our price....it was part of the game.

But even at minimum wage, he can be polite to customers.

The store owner would want to know if an employee is chasing customers away by being rude.

I can understand having to compete locally like with Home Depot...who charges sales tax just like you did. Now imagine having to try to compete with "Floors Galore!" in BFE that sells from supplier inventory rather than from stock AND doesn't have to charge sales tax on an out of state sale.

Don't take what I'm writing here wrong, I totally get why you went the route you did. It's just that internet sales to me is an unfair advantage unless that internet seller stocks the same item. I've bought appliances from online retailers only to find out that the item was coming from a supplier. I've bought appliances from locals. I asked if the items were coming from stock or from their supplier. If the answer is from a supplier, I expect them to negotiate as long as the item I wanted isn't on the floor. Again unfair to the local to go look at it and then go buy online.

I get what you are saying. I did compete against internet carpet sales. People would deal directly with the mill. The thing with carpet is, most people could not take delivery of a roll of carpet. Trucks won’t go into neighborhoods. I had a warehouse so I would get the labor end inflated because of my ability to receive the goods. Like others have mentioned, if the carpet has flaws then that is between the customer and the internet seller.