HOUSTON -- No more checkout lines or waiting for price checks. Five million Americans have ditched their brick-and-mortar grocery stores to shop online. A Houston woman asked KPRC Local 2 Investgates' Amy Davis where she could go on the World Wide Web to place her order.

Rheanne Lindsey is ready for the convenience of online shopping, but only a handful of Web sites will deliver in the Houston area.

Davis checked around and found that Rice Epicurean is the only Houston-area store to offer the online grocery shopping service. It charges $7 for pickup and $15 for delivery.

The Rice Epicurean stores only deliver to 34 ZIP codes in the Houston area.

Kroger offers a limited online shopping through its Web site, www.Kroger.com.

For those on more of a budget, try Amazon.com's new online grocery store.

Currently, the mega Web retailer only offers non-perishable items such as soap, cereal and diapers. But it will ship an order for less than $5.

Maybe a craving and not just convenience is driving some to the Web.

For instance, a person moves to New York but wants Blue Bell ice cream.

Davis found that shoppers can buy it at www.foodlocker.com. The Web-based store is based here in Houston. It makes regional brand products and specialty foods from all over the world available through the click of a mouse.

In the late 1990s, Randalls offered Peapod, a grocery delivery service. But after two years, Randalls dropped the service.

Recent reports said that last year, Americans spent $3.3 billion buying groceries online.

But none of the Houston-area grocers could explain why the Bayou City does not have more choices for online shopping.