So I need a belt

My old belt, which was leather, was purchased many years ago at the uniform-store as part of my Transit uniform.
I like it, because it’s two inches wide, and very durable.
But it was a 44, and has had at least four holes drilled in it, and not too long ago I cut about 10 inches off it with my tin-snips.
Even then it was feeling like I might have to drill another hole in it.
So I Froogle for another belt.
One site had leather belts that looked similar to my old belt: $7.49 plus $5 shipping-and-handling.
On the other hand, the uniform-store, which has a huge markup, has what I want — or at least -A) I can verify it’s what I want, and -B) I can get the right size.
So I go to the uniform-store.
We compare a 36 and a 38 to my old belt — 38 is probably what I would have got online.
The 36 looked more like it, so that’s what I got. It also was the same belt as my alterated 44.
So you tell me what makes more sense.... Back-and-forth with online belts I can’t see until they show up, or make a single trip to the uniform-store?
-Uniform-store: about $12; check it out before I buy.
-Online: $7.49 plus $5 shipping-and-handling; blind until it arrives ($5 postage to return).
I ain’t interested in the online merry-go-‘round.

RE: “Transit......” For 16&1/2 years I drove transit bus for Regional Transit Service, the transit-bus operator in Rochester, N.Y. We had to wear uniforms, for which they gave us an allowance which we could use at the uniform-store. (Those uniforms were frump-city.)