I think it all comes down to what people want and what they are willing to pay extra for (or not). Where I live, at least observing when people are shopping, I don't see that many people who are intensely looking at prices on everything or who appear to go to multiple places to shop based on which place has what cheaper (obviously there are some that do), the local supermarkets do run specials and they are obviously aware of what the other guy charges, but I don't think people are intensely using apps to find the cheapest grocery prices per se in my area. The reason is the time involved in finding the prices and schlepping from store to store just takes too much time to be worth the savings involved. The reason is the same one why hobbies have declined, people just have less and less leisure time, with both parents working, and working longer hours than people in the past did and having much longer commutes (9-5 with a 20 minute commute is nowhere near the norm), and working at home too, then all the family activities, taking care of the house stuff, means the weekends are packed as it is. Other areas could well be different than the burbs where I live, economic necessity would dictate a lot, too.
Getting back to the LHS issue, because trains are a discretionary item it depends on how much extra people are willing to spend on things like the ability to see things in person, to get help when needed, advice, recommendations and so forth, and a lot of people want the absolutely lowest price, so it isn't surprising hobby shops are disappearing, and sadly a lot of the people who are "price is everything" resent that the local hobby shop is closing because they got 'good service there', the owner was 'a friend', yet they buy anything big online, they want their cake and eat it too and it just isn't possible. If we want to see the LHS survive, assuming they are a good place to shop otherwise, then we may have to be less price conscious to support them, as they say you don't get much for nothing.
