One of my friends was interested in buying an item at the mall as apparently it was on sale. In general it appeared to be about $5 less than what the local places charged. The funny thing I thought is that he took public transportation and the fee to get there and back is pretty much $5. So when you think about it you wouldn’t really be saving anything at all.
I notice that people rarely factor in the travel costs when they go shopping as they solely focus on whether or not the item itself is cheaper than the local businesses. The only time that it does seem to register for most is if the store is say fifty miles away. For myself I usually avoid traveling far to shop unless I know that I will be purchasing enough stuff to justify the expense in traveling.
I find that helps with the habit of always trying to make sure that you are keeping yourself updated on who has the best deals and where to go for them as well.