Many of my online purchases are made simply because I cannot find the items in local stores. Very frustrating.

it sounds like you were able to find bed skirts at a couple of stores. What was the color selection like? You know of course that a California King size bed is pretty freaking rare. It's not uncommon for retail establishments to abjure "never sell" items. Did you ask at Customer Service to see about ordering your item? That's what we did in the olden days. Even places like Sears never had everything in stock.

I was looking for a light brown bed skirt to complement the bed frame.
Ross bed skirts were all gray, regardless of size, & they had about 6.
Walmart actually had bed skirts as well in Black, White & Gray, but none in Cal-King, each color had about 4-6 units.
Cal-King actually are not rare. The salesperson at Kohl's told me that whenever Cal-King anything arrives, they are gone in a day.
I did go to the Customer Service at Target & Kohl's but nothing overnight. Everything 3-5 days delivery.
I didn't want to keep the bed unmade for. 3-5 days, so I put the ripped, ratty bed skirt back on, probably for about another 6 months when I flip the mattress.

We used to have a Sears Catalog Store only, when I was in college, until an actual store moved into town.

a real " wish book" but It was so much fun! My mom always bought us Easter dresses that, as Jews, we didn't celebrate but it was the only new dresses we got every year..we wore hand me downs from friends and relatives.

Never saw a Sears store until many years later.

they were called Easter dresses!

People don't use them much any more.

I remember when they were in style but now things are more minimalist.

It is a clean modern look.

I stopped using bedskirts some time ago.

Our largest hardware chain in Oz is removing items that, shall we say, don't march out the door.

Instead the ever-obliging staff whip out their phones and announce that it can still be bought online. I want it NOW! Their competitor is only a kilometre away and I'd rather drive there.

Buy the material you want and take that and the old bed skirt to a seamstress.

I have had cushions and clothing made and been surprised to get affordable estimates in my town.

It used to be different, but the cost of patterns and the cost of fabric, alone, puts custom made stuff out of the range of most people. I haven't done any custom sewing for hire for years.

You can buy a Cal-King bed skirt online for about $20.

It's like I live in Mayberry or Hooterville, lol.

Example: Target. Item: Bed skirt.

I can see each item, price available sizes, more if I click on the link. I can see if it's available at "my store" which I've preselected, or at another nearby store. It tells me not only if they have it in store, but how many they have and in which aisle it can be found.

Running to 6 stores, that's a lot of time and gas I don't want to spend if I don't have to.

I showed the Salesperson & the Customer Service person the online bed skirts,
and none of them said they were online only.
Both were surprised.

Kohl's is across the street from Target.
Home Goods & Ross was about 1 mile away from Target.
And I back tracked to Walmart across the street from Home Goods, before heading home.

They don't indicate whether it is in-store or not. It also loads very slow and is buggy.

Wal-Mart's site is better, but they don't carry many items in-store anymore. At least they have an aisle number if they have it in-stock. But they love to advertise clothes that you need to order and that's even from their in-house brand "Time and True". One time they stated that they didn't have these pair of shorts in any local store in my size. So, I ordered them. They arrived the same day, at my door in a freak'n shopping bag. Obviously they had them in a store...they weren't shipped...they were basically door-dashed...And I paid $7 for shipping. (I bet they had them in the returns at a one of the four Wal-Marts that are close to my house)

Another time, I ordered some real cheap dresses from Wal-Mart. They were from one of their "partners". The dresses were literally shipped from China...literally. One took a month to get to my house. Shipping was not cheap for these $10 dresses. When I got them, they didn't fit. Returning them was a nightmare. Wal-Mart didn't want to refund shipping, which was about as much as the dresses itself.

I did have good luck buying swimsuits from their partners. The two piece tankini* swim suits with "boy shorts" (to cover up down there) were only $8 each, so I ordered three sizes of them, (S-M-L) knowing I would need to make alterations. That worked out, but alterating tankini swim tops, so stuff doesn't hang out, isn't the same as altering a dress.

I figured for $24, I would get a swimsuit of out my purchase and I did.

Later on, I spyed some $10 exercise skorts at Wal-mart (in the store) that will also work as swimsuit bottoms. They cover up more than the boy shorts. So, I bought them. So now, my "custom" swim suit costs $34, but that isn't bad.

Note: * A tankini is tank top type swim suit.

Yeah, shopping just isn't fun anymore.

If I need tincture of benzoin, I need to order it. Walgreens no longer carries it in their stores. 10 years ago, all of the pharmacies carried it. Maybe a local compounding pharmacy still carries it. (But who wants to chase down compounding pharmacies?) It's a "sticky" product that I can't live without. It makes band aids stick. (We used it in the hospital) If you ever need to put a band-aid on your finger or toes, tincture of benzoin is a life saver! You put it under those hydrocolloid dressings and you never have to change them.

Near Me!
It's a start and beats wasting gas.