Where Do People Buy Their Coins?

Unfortunately coin stores are a dying breed...

The small city I work in had 4 - one closed, one is now a gold buying place, one was never a storefront (rarity buying agent - so strictly mail order) and the last one is open 2 or 2.5 days per week. This in a county of 235K pop. The large city up the highway (200K itself, 800K in the county) has one real storefront in the outskirts of the mall, one 'collectables' store with a few coin albums and some supplies for sale and maybe 1 or 2 other marginal operations.

Where I live it's the same thing - a few high end 'galleries' in the big city and mostly bullion buyers scattered seemingly at random in the burbs.

I don't like to shop for coins at shows etc. I find that ebay and the internet are great just because you can search for the dates you need and for the price range you want. Only downside is you have to do additional research and make sure you get clear scans.

When checking out ebay sellers, look to see if they have an online store outside ebay. You'll find many who charge less for the same coin in their online store than at ebay. There are hundreds of dealers with online presences; it's almost easier to find one and ask opinion here than to get an inclusive list.