ThinkIndie

I have a good feeling about this.
Could the independent music industry have found a way to work in the online space?
I've been taking a look at ThinkIndie.com and I'm kinda excited about the plans they have for this site.
At the moment it's pretty much a music download site with some cool branding and nice extra touches (320kb MP3s and DRM free). It's a nice way to support the independent record industry and probably find some things you'd struggle to find in some mainstream sites.
But the plan is the really cool part. Give each real life independent record store their own virtual shop which they can customise to try to reflect the atmosphere and service you'd get if you walked through their door. I guess it can only go so far but it's a pretty good starting point. When you sign up you're assigned to the online version of the store geographically nearest to you and when you buy they are rewarded.
If it works it could be brilliant.
At the moment the virtual stores aren't available and when they are it looks like it will initially cover the US only. But surely a UK / international version would be warrented? My nearest real-life store is not far as the crow flies but in a city I never go to. I currently work a system of downloading stuff I *need* and then buying actual, tangible copies (sometimes on vinyl *gasp*), on sporadic trips to another city (not the one nearest) so this could really work for me.
My thoughts also run away to ask: Would my recently-deceased usual store be resurrected in a purely online capacity? That would be cool...
It certainly seems like a more sustainable strategy than the once a year Record Store Day (which has its place for sure) so it will be interesting to see how this idea develops.