Online retailers vs local speed shops.

When I lived in FL I used to visit my local speed shop American Motorsports frequently. Now that I've moved I don't have a local shop and most of my purchasers are online. This makes me sad. I miss my local shop. I've even considered opening one. 

Do you have a local shop?

Do you prefer shops or online for your builds? Why?

What would be the ultimate speed shop in your opinion?

I'm spoiled rotten in that Summit Racing has been my local speed shop for my entire life.  They're so close that if I don't feel like driving for 30 minutes i can order something friday night at 10pm and it shows up before 10am Saturday morning.  

Yeah my local guy is pretty amazing. Big shout out to Paul at TIM, I go out of my way to find exceptional service it really pays in the long run. I hate re-buying this for the better. Also my other "local" guy moved about 3 hours away but I still call him to discuss ideas and get stuff drop shipped.

It depends what, where, why, how many, and when. If I need it RTHN or need an informed recommendation, and price is secondary, I'll drive Surf Side, Toyspeed or Grand Prix Auto Sports.

I have nothing near me, and even when I did, it was only worth it if he could get me parts that are only available in Japan, otherwise his price were outrageous (not his fault, blame the economy), then I learned to speak Japanese. Guess who I don’t need anymore. 

I have three local shops and they are terrible.

Two are basically catalog only stores and the people that work there know nothing about cars or performance, just how to order from a catalog. The third one is a real oldschool shop that looks like it's from the 70's with hard parts littering the store's shelves, floor and counter. But unless you're building a small/big block Chev powered car they aren't interested. I tried to buy a header there for a quad 4 once. They had no idea what it was and weren't interested in finding out. The catalog store didn't know either but at least they ordered it for me once I found it for them in their book.

Anyone remember Super Shops??? And Eddy Hill's yellow Top Fuelers?

I buy all my domestic and stock car stuff locally.  I have two shops that cover those two specialties, and they do a good job.  For my roadrace and Japanese stuff, I find what I want, then ask the locals to check.  About half the time, they can get it.  Otherwise, it's eBay or Summit.

Being in Canada, freight, exchange and brokerage is a very big deal.  If I can buy local, from a Canadian warehouse is great.  Example: a set of Hooker cast LS manifolds is about $399 from Summit.  My local shop sold them to me for about $499 cdn all in.  That is a bargain.

If you have a decent local speed shop, support them.  It's awfully nice to have a good one in town.

I get all my stuff from a local speed shop called "Flyin' Miata" 

There aren't really any other options, unfortunately.

I used too but when i quit drag racing every weekend so they quit offering such great service. Now i avoid them if possible. Unless i decide to build a car to drag race again. There the only local source for nitrous fills.

I don't personally buy much of anything from local shops or "import tuner" shops, but then again most of them don't actually carry parts for old BMWs and Porsches, and I haven't modded my WRX in years. I do go out to OG Racing to buy race-related gear sometimes - depends on what I'm getting. But I can also order from OG online for the same prices, so it's about whether I want to spend $5 in shipping or $5 in gas to drive there lol.

That said, most of my car parts these days come either from Rockauto (cheaaaaap) or from FCP Euro (lifetime warranty on everything, even brake pads and shocks- which is useful for a rally car that breaks stuff) or Amazon. I mean, I'll go to Advance Auto or NAPA if I need a part "now" but in general both of my local auto parts stores are ridiculously overpriced for pretty much anything. I only go to Advance if if have speedperks rewards. And even using them I usuallhy pay more than Amazon prime...

Unlike other local businesses, I've never really felt that my "local car shops" have much to offer me for parts other than general maintenance items. I don't need shiny Cusco parts or high-end BMW //M parts or pricey gauges and bling forged wheels. And that's all that most of these shops seem to carry for my cars.

I have a 1st-gen RX7, local speed shops literally sell almost nothing I can use that's not "universal" like gauges or mufflers. I do live near Pegasus, so when I need Weber parts or weird metric adapters they have me covered. Funny story, I found their website and was about to place an order, when I saw their location and said, "what the hell, that's right near me" and drove there instead.

I would like an enthusiast operated motorsports store to visit once in a while, sure. Or even a non-harley, non-dirt bike motorcycle shop. But all the local "speed shops" are glitzy showrooms for mall rated truck parts or tuner shops baffled by any request that isn't labeled with the word "Stage" or Booooooooost. There are no motorcycle "shops" here. Only Harley shops.

When I am building something I only get to discuss it with the UPS and Fedex guys when they wheel the hand truck into my garage.  

My problem is, what I drive and what parts your typical speed shop stocks are two way different things.  In the PNW it always seemed like my choices in shops were limited to "American V8" or "Fast and Furious".

My recent discovery of Group Two in Seattle changed that a bit, but they're more of a "garage".

I do order 99% of my parts online now, but now a days I try to do it through "people".  One guy in Vermont is responsible for 80% of my Alfa parts purchases.  Fluids come through FLAPS and go fast goodies I get through Performatek or similar.  I like ordering through "people" because I generally find people understanding and helpful.

Do you have a local shop?

Sort of, I have a local kart shop, but the closest car shop is over 100 miles away.

Do you prefer shops or online for your builds? Why?

Although I do talk to the local kart shop, their primary focus is international and national events, so I don't have the coin or setup they can help me with. Occasionally I ask them for used tires and smalls. They aren't really setup for local folks. Pretty much everything I do is online. I can easily call someone on the phone if I need to talk to someone. Other then a helmet which sucked buying online, pretty much everything else went well.

What would be the ultimate speed shop in your opinion?

If I was younger and didn't have a family, indoor kart track that was local and sold both car and kart parts. Had a general area for meetings and a hang out would be ideal. If they regularly held car shows during the summer (no motorcycles).

There's one real speed shop on my island, and a few car parts shops that bring in some of the stuff you might expect at a speed shop. They're okay for what they are. People generally order their own stuff here, the speed shop is useful because they stock high-end fluids, and they handle big and complicated orders that are too much of a PITA for the everyman like wheels and tires. None of them have much inventory on the shelves.

I've been to a few speed shops in Ontario and they're rather un-grassroots places mostly full of costly bits for wealthy old dudes to bolt onto classic muscle cars, with a smattering of high-end racing stuff. Karbelt in Ontario has a great selection at least, if they don't have a part in the shop they'll send you to one of their warehouses nearby that does - or they'll know which other shop would have it.

My ultimate speed shop would go out of business because I only make major parts purchases every 3 years or so

OG Racing is here, on my way to the track.  They have massive inventory and it's great.  Mach V is another great local shop, but they mainly support brands that I don't drive.

Living in the heart of stock car country, there's quite a few race parts warehouses around here to choose from. I still order 90% of my stuff from Summit. Their prices are hard to compete with.