Face time when buying your computer

I´ve purchased thousands of dollars worth of books, software and other items online. And I´ve used the Internet extensively to research the systems I´ve planned on buying. But when it comes to buying the box, I´ve always gone down to the local retail store and bought something off the shelf. Why? I guess it´s because my computer is the piece of equipment I will be interacting with on a daily basis, and there really is nothing like face-time, even for a home office worker. So when I buy a computer, I like to get to know my machine.