I don't think anyone should get in a rut with there purchases. I have by favorite places to shop, but I do a very good search before I purchase anything. It truly does pay, there are many places available to us with the web, some offer free shipping, there are web only specials to watch out for, and some just have very good prices.
Case in point: A few recent purchases Autometers new C2 cobalt 5" tach. Highest price I found 339. 95. average price was 289. 00. lowest 229. 75 which is what I paid. I always go back to my favorites it there is no big price difference, but I never buy without checking. This latest project had be purchasing several high end pieces and for fun I keep track of the highest and lowest prices to see the difference smart shopping can make. I bought at the lowest prices, and the range of items went from high performance brake upgrades to MSD DIS-2 ignition system to gages. I found that on three items alone I saved 255. 00. I arranged free shipping on all purchases, and I spent 2145. 38 and saved 973. 00. Maybe this isn't to much to some, but I like to make the money goes as far as possible. I also found a site that sells A-pillar gage holders that are color matched, I thought it was interesting. I guess it just pays to be noisy, and look Little deeper.