Can I expect to pay full retail for a new system?

Has anyone notice that many high end stores seem to have these same 3 or 4 types of salesmen?

--a slight, scrawny guy with a beard & glasses, non-descript personality, able to carry around gigantic full-range speakers by himself with no problem.

--a big, portly guy, sometimes with or w/o beard or glasses, sometimes the friendliest salesman in the store.

--a Tall, pompous, snooty guy whos purpose is to insult the customer's current equipment.

--occasionally, a leftover hippie from the 60's who you can just tell ate way too many mushrooms at one point.

A friend & I once theorized that when audio stores advertise for a new salesman, they advertize for whatever type they don't have (wanted, "tall, snooty audio salesman", or "slight, scrawny audio salesman with a beard & glasses"). They need a balance of the 4 types in each store; 2 big, portly types, or 2 tall snooty types in one store wouldn't work out at all.

It's just a theory tho......

To me a good dealer is worth buying from. And I agree with the above. If you gointo a hi end shop and they you have alot on display and a fair amount in stock, thats a good sign.

Guess what, it costs money for that gear to be there, and if you are treated right and given time to listen and compare, or even borrow something to try, also a good sign, if you take up alot of store time and borrow things and bring them back, for the sole purpose of trying to buy them used on Agon....thats a BAD sign...on the customers part.

If everybody did that all dealers would go outof business.

NOW, if you walk into a " hi end shop" and they have some gear on display and nothing in stock....to me thats a BAD sign...limited display so you cant really compare or hear what you want....and then they tell you " we can order it for you"...I for one will not and do not buy or support stores like thatk, they have no real knowledge and are just order takers, quite frankly I feel they are useless.

I do support and buy from my local dealer who i feel offers real value...but ultimately it is up to the customer what they think is the right thing to do.

Great advise, but to add my 2 cents worth, information is the key. Find out the price of an item on the net, look at alternatives and work out what you think a fair price is. I think a good dealer is a great asset to us and should be treated fairly. That means not going for demos if you have no intention of buying and are going to look 2nd hand. That has cut me off from most dealers as all my stuff is 2nd hand.
It is reasonable to look to 10% and reasonable to ask, a good dealer should respond with a straight answer to a straight question, if he does'nt go elsewhere. Others have talked about dealers setting up for you, in my experience that is often the dealers operating from their home, less overheads, you should still get some discount, but that service has some cost.