I've talked to a few LFS owners that will not stock the brand, because IO has made special concessions with certain on line vendors, that sell RC and IO well below Instant Ocean's suggested retail price. No margin left for local shops. I don't know if the price was grandfathered in, for certain online retailers, or what.. but there may still be some decent deals out there on the web, especially for boxed / bagged salt. It is true that all salts have gone up 10-20%