You said — Well, it does it to me. iTunes links to the Web based iTunes store.
—
It sounds like you’ve got a preference tagged on and you need to uncheck it. I say that, because I’ve simply unchecked some preferences that have links to the store, as Apple allows that — out of consideration for those who don’t want that. It’s not forced and there is provision to not do that (i.e., not be taken to the store).
BUT, as I said, if one “goes into the store” — they are going to get “sale signs”.... LOL...
Just don’t go into a store and no one will sell you anything... :-)
The problem is, from what I’ve seen and heard, is that people want to “look around” in the store and see what’s there and what’s for sale. And that is where you get the connection for doing that (along with some people not knowing what to do with their software, that is, not knowing how it operates...).
If I wanted or had gone to the iTunes store intentionally, you would be correct. The iTunes search engine couldn't find what I requested, and took me there by default. Looked for it last night, and I still can't find a checkbox to disable that.