Buying Craft Supplies Online

While I know this sounds ridiculously small minded and overly self conscious of me, I've always had trouble buying anything that could be described as 'craft supplies' in person.  Yes, it's silly, but I always feel just a little bit too effeminate buying a reel of ribbon or needle and thread. 

I'm not entirely sure I'm the only one with the problem, either.  A couple of years ago I was hunting for a very specific button to replace one that had popped off my favourite pair of pants.  I'd bought the pants from a tailor in the south of England, and the cost of sending them back for repair dwarfed the real cost of a button, some thread and a few minutes of my time, so I went shopping myself.  After visiting three haberdashers around North Yorkshire I'd been engaged in conversation twice by the staff, who remarked that it was unusual to have a male customer.  One of them asked if I was buying something for my mother. 

In any case, these days I prefer to by anything I need from an online craft store.  Rather than deal with the embarrassment of explaining that, no, as a male I'm capable of reattaching a button to an item of clothing I prefer to buy craft supplies online.  Would I prefer to be able to shop in a brick and mortar store without feeling as if I don't belong?  Sure. Until the day comes when I'm not treated as an oddity, though, I'll continue to get my craft supplies online.