diff --git a/ome_zarr/io.py b/ome_zarr/io.py
index eaf17850..e96df817 100644
--- a/ome_zarr/io.py
+++ b/ome_zarr/io.py
@@ -159,27 +159,45 @@ def get_json(self, subpath: str) -> JSONDict:
             return {}
 
     def parts(self) -> List[str]:
-        if self.__store.fs.protocol == "file":
+        if self._isfile():
             return list(Path(self.__path).parts)
         else:
             return self.__path.split("/")
 
     def subpath(self, subpath: str = "") -> str:
-        if self.__store.fs.protocol == "file":
+        if self._isfile():
             filename = Path(self.__path) / subpath
             filename = filename.resolve()
             return str(filename)
-        if self.__store.fs.protocol in ["http", "https"]:
+        elif self._ishttp():
             url = str(self.__path)
             if not url.endswith("/"):
                 url = f"{url}/"
             return urljoin(url, subpath)
         else:
+            # Might require a warning
             if self.__path.endswith("/"):
                 return f"{self.__path}{subpath}"
             else:
                 return f"{self.__path}/{subpath}"
 
+    def _isfile(self) -> bool:
+        """
+        Return whether the current underlying implementation
+        points to a local file or not.
+        """
+        return self.__store.fs.protocol == "file" or self.__store.fs.protocol == (
+            "file",
+            "local",
+        )
+
+    def _ishttp(self) -> bool:
+        """
+        Return whether the current underlying implementation
+        points to a URL
+        """
+        return self.__store.fs.protocol in ["http", "https"]
+
 
 def parse_url(
     path: Union[Path, str], mode: str = "r", fmt: Format = CurrentFormat()
diff --git a/requirements/requirements-dev.txt b/requirements/requirements-dev.txt
index 2931335e..499d9fad 100644
--- a/requirements/requirements-dev.txt
+++ b/requirements/requirements-dev.txt
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-fsspec==2023.6.0
+fsspec
 black
 cython >= 0.29.16
 numpy >= 1.16.0