I was going to buy chicks at a local feed store this past October, but they stopped stocking them at the end of September. So I planned on ordering online for live chicks from MyPetChicken (since I didn't want to get 25 chicks, just 4! --uhhh, at that time, anyway). One of my co-workers who thinks I'm nuts DID suggest looking in the phone book for other feed stores.... and I found one stocking chicks through October. I now have 7 pullets and 1 cockerel, and in the spring, I'll go back to that same feed store. It has a GREAT selection of different breeds, not just the 3 or 4 stocked by the local feed store nearest my house.
Call around to feed stores. Otherwise, if you absolutely, positively, MUST have chicks before Spring, check with the online hatcheries. I still look at their catalogs every few days, trying to decide which chicks I want to look for at the feed store.
Good luck!!