For me it all depends. They all have pluses and minuses. I try to buy most of my stuff from my local gun store or archery shop, or something simular. Especially if it is a larger item or something I want help picking out or think I will need service in the future. I have bought one gun from cabela's and it was a pain. It just took forever, they treated me fine and everything went ok, just had to do lots of waiting.

Now if I can't find what I want at a smaller shop or I can find it considerably cheaper at a chainstore I will shop there. I do look around first. If I can get ammo or other stuff cheaper at gander mountain or wally world I will do it, but not to save a few cents or something. For instance I am going to go shoot some clay pigions next week with some co workers. I was looking at buying some bulk ammo. Most stores around me sell if for between 35-50 bucks. I found some federal ammo at Dunham's (local chain store) for 19 bucks. Guess where I will be getting shotgun shells for next week. Another plus for Gander Mountain and Cabela's, they have a ton of ammo choices in stock.

The biggest apeal to me about the larger stores like gander mountain and cabela's is selection. They have a lot of inventory and varied products. There is a good chance I will find what I am looking for. And with those two it may or may not be cheaper than a small shop. I don't really consider cabela's as a place to save money, some of their stuff is more expensive than my local shop is. The down fall for me is the people, I don't care much for crowds or waiting in line. Sometimes I would just assume pay twice as much for something not to deal with it. I have issues.

Another thing I look at is the return policy. If it is something I am not sure I want or will be happy with then cabela's or walmart will get my purchase. They have very liberal return policies. Heck Cabela's will enourage you to try something out and bring it back if you don't like it. I went through about 4 scopes on one of my guns before I found one I liked. I could not imagine doing that with my local gun store.

I will not get stuff from the internet. I just have a pet peeve about that. If I can't see it and touch it I have trouble giving money for it. I might do it if it was the only way I could get something and had to have it. But so far I have just done without if I couldn't find it locally. If I were to decide to buy some target archery equipment it would pretty much be my only recourse since most of the shops around me cater to hunters. They could order it for me, but they are ordering from the same places I would on the net. Might as well do it myself.

I have a pet peeve about that as well. You go in a store, any store, looking for something and they don't have it but say "Well, we can order it for you." Dude, it's like 2006 and I have a cable modem I can order it myself, and possibly cheaper than you will sell it to me for! What I will not do though is look at something in a store and then go home and order it to save a few bucks. I just don't think it is fair, I do have one or two morals left in me.

Those are my opinions any way.

Paul