I'm finding more stores that thrive online by having touch and feel stores in retail locations.
Two examples are Duematernity.com and Gap.com.
Duematernity is a thriving online business for pregnant moms and their infants with tens of millions of dollars in sales. They have five small, nay, tiny, stores where they keep inventory on display. Duematernity.com operates with the full appreciation that many shoppers want to see and touch the merchandise and later buy online.
Gap has backed into a similar situation. It appears that Gap's online sales are now over $billion reaching one third of their total sales. The newer Gap stores are smaller and getting more and more like touch and feel outlets.