The same thing is happening to hobby shops...only even moreso. Unlike recorded music, hobby kits are something most younger people don't get into much anymore...they play video games now. When I was a kid there was a hobby shop or two in every town. Those stores have vanished. The people who are still into buying hobby stuff (and you can get a simply incredible variety of it now and superb quality too) mostly buy it on the Internet, as the Internet is an efficient and fast route to a global market. With that in place, very few storefront hobby shops can make a living anymore. There used to be a bunch of them in Toronto (a city of 3 million). Now I think there are about 2 left...maybe 3...and they are struggling.

If I want to buy music, I don't go to a record store anymore. I go to the Net and buy from Amazon or directly from the artist. I don't download, though. I still buy CDs.