I don't think one need feel "guilty" about shopping online. I don't. I still do buy stuff locally, but the major stores where I live (MEC, Coast Mountain Sports, and Campers Village) for the most part do not cater to the lightweight crowd. MEC can sometimes do ok, (and sometimes they make some really nice gear that is very inexpensive) but they have a nasty habit of "herblocking" it, so something that starts out as a nice well thoought out piece of lightweight gear gets "yuppiefied" and has a lot of useless junk added on or changed.

In spite of the fact that a few (I recall mugs's "keep it pure" rant fondly) of us bemoan the fact that lightweight backpacking is becoming more and more mainstream, You still need to face the fact that most of the Big Box stores make their dollars doing two things:

1) selling heavyweight gear to people who come in and want to go backpacking, and want to carry everything "just in case"

2) Selling outdoor looking clothing to city dwellers who don't want to look like they are golfing when wearing casual clothing.

So me personally, yes I still buy stuff at the local stores, but I'm pretty vocal to them about it if they aren't meeting my needs. and things sometimes change - just bear in mind that doing that will require you voting with your feet on some purchases, and if the store is expensive, don't feel bad about it. The availablility of cottage industries on the internet is also a blessing, so support both.