Hobby shops are rapidly going the way of the dodo bird, and this is part of the reason why... Not that online retailers never have problems, but they usually have a lot more flexibility and seem to deal with them much better... Plus, I have yet to see ANYTHING at a LHS cheaper than you can find it online. Basically it boils down to a tradeoff-- price versus convenience... If you want to hold it in your hands, flip it over and take a look at it, see if you like it or not before you buy (without having to try and make all those judgments from a usually poorly-worded short descriptive bit of text and a thumbnail-size pic from one angle, sometimes of the object in the bag or package and barely visible) then the LHS is probably the ticket... and the "take it home with you right now" aspect. If you want to save a buck (usually) and are willing to wait for the post office or delivery company to mangle or lose your package, then online vendors are just the ticket... LOL
Course, that's *assuming* (and we all know what happens when you ASSUME) that your LHS has what you need or want anyway... most don't. I know from my personal experience of going to every LHS that deals with rocketry items in the greater Houston metroplex area, it's lucky if you find one with more than one back corner of the shop dedicated to rocketry-- anywhere to 4x8 feet of display area for all their rocketry products, to usually at most 8x8 feet... vary rarely a half-aisle of rocketry merchandise. Most of their floor space is taken up with RC planes and cars and helis-- that where the REAL money is! Even trains are going second-string and losing floor space... model railroading isn't as popular as it once was. With the proliferation of foamy park-flyers and RTF outfits, RC has literally really taken off... and with lipoly technology and better electric motors supplanting the need for gassers and glow motors, RC is easier than ever... What irritates me most about LHS's, beside their ridiculous markups on rocketry items, is that usually the employees are very disdainful when you ask a question-- they either don't know (and don't care), or act like you're TOTALLY wasting their time (even if they're just standing there BS-ing and polishing the display case with their butt) because they know that a rocketry sale is not going to be a high-dollar sale, at least not compared to the typical RC related sale...
For these reasons, I RARELY buy anything at a LHS... I OCCASIONALLY will visit one, if I'm "in the area" on other business, and have a little time to waste... it's nice to look around and actually "lay hands on" something you're considering buying. BUT, I kinda keep track of things I'd consider buying, and know the prices online versus the prices in a shop-- and they have to be pretty darn close for me to buy from the shop-- IOW, the "convenience factor" of laying hands on it and buying it on the spot and taking it home "right now" has to be "worth it to me" for the additional cost that the hobby shop will inevitably charge over the online vendor... and the "convenience cost" of having to do it online and then wait a few days to see how well the postal service or delivery service managed to mangle your package, if they didn't lose it first... Most of the time, the LHS charges SO MUCH MORE for the item that I simply cannot justify blowing the extra money versus just ordering it online and waiting and hoping it arrives intact. I'm all for supporting the local hobby shop, but sometimes their prices are like the item was gold-plated after they got it... Sorry but I can't afford to support them THAT much!
As for the club thing, well, it's a mixed bag... depends on what you like, I guess... Personally I like the more "laid back" approach... I don't like operations that are SO anal-retentive that they'd have a sh!t-fit about a little kid launching the rocket... (I personally like the misfire alley system-- I want to use my own gear, not be stuck with the club's stuff, doing it when THEY want it done-- BUT, it takes a SELF-DISCIPLINED group to make that work safely, and self-discipline is an increasingly rare commodity nowdays, especially in larger groups... hence the more centralized club launcher setup is probably better for a lot of clubs/situations). I can also relate on the "dogs running around without a leash" type thing...
YOU may love your dog, but *I* don't, and I don't want the slobbering, wet cold-nose thing sniffing around or running around or jumping around on me and my stuff... IOW, keep the d@mn thing on a leash or leave it at home IMHO... Course kids *can be* just as bad if not worse... depends on the group I guess... I don't want other people's brats running around messing with my stuff or running after rockets they shouldn't and stomping on them in the brat stampede either, which I've heard some folks complain about with certain clubs/launches... I know if I had to deal with super-anal-retentive overbearing types, or dogs/brats running around unsupervised and with no sense whatsoever, *I* wouldn't be launching with a group like that... but that's just me... YMMV...
Anyway, sorry for your problems... *most* of the club people I've met have been very helpful and friendly, and are more than willing to go out of their way to lend a hand (or anything else you might need) to help you get your flight off and done right. But, people are people, and unfortunately a lot of people SUCK! There's always some people who get off on playing dictator and wanting to run everything like a little tin god, or walk around with their nose so far up in the air they'd drown if it rained, deigning to respond to anybody not in their little clique, or who just want to show up like "Bubba and Shirley leave the trailer park" and turn a carload of kids and dogs loose on everybody with NO supervision whatsoever to make everybody's life a living h3ll... and raise sand with anybody who DARES to correct their little varmints...
Better luck next time (and perhaps elsewhere...)
Later! OL JR
