We buy most of our clothes, appliances, books, etc. online. The US concerns LLbean and LandsEnd now both have warehouses in Canada, so shipping is not too costly, and their prices are much lower then for similar items found locally.
For music and videos, if one has more than about $26 in a single order, shipping is free from Amazon.ca.
Shipping adds to the cost, but so does car maintenance, gas, and parking, and the time involved is considerable.

Even some firms I buy from locally have added online shopping, so I don't have to go in person.
For many items, old ways of shopping are obsolete.

Back to the thread topic, buying old books and 'out-of-print' cds and dvds, we still have UK and Europe to fall back on, if no local dealer is found at Abebooks.

And why is a registered letter from Europe only about $6.00 and the US charge about $11.00?