There is definitely something to be said for owning both. We have a storefront (brick and morter) and we have our online presence. I'd say 90% of the time our clients come from the net but it's those rare 10% that really do make a difference in profit. And they base their trust in my company on the fact that we do have a storefront.
We're actually in the middle of expanding - about to open up a new site similar to elance or ifreelance. The nice thing about opening up or adding on to a business when it's online is that the risk of what I could lose should that expansion not be successful is little to nothing compared to a brick and morter shop. People are more willing to risk taking a business online because it's so cheap to get started. Or at least it can be.