I'm with Inna--I visited my "local" stereo shop last weekend and the sales guy (who I made arrangements with in 5 minutes over the phone) kept me on ice for an hour while he closed a five figure HT installation.
That said, on the plus side, I had called them and offered them a reasonable deal in cash for a display unit, and they said OK without whining. I doubt I could have done much better on A'gon, plus I got to walk out of the store with it. It did take them another hour to pack it and find the bits, however.
On the bad side, I rarely find good advice inside audio stores--even boutiques. I'm in the DC area and have only found one store owner/operator who I think is a stand up guy (I heartily recommend the Listening Room in Baltimore). Notably, I've bought several items from him and he has coincidentally done what he can--without my prompting and in one case where I was desperate and fully expecting to pay 100% of retail--to cut me a good deal. There are four other boutiques I can think of in the area, as well as three local or regional chains. One boutique I won't go into--the owner is rude and unscrupulous. The other three offer product lines that are exceedingly limited, and I haven't had occasion to want anything they offer. The local/regional chains are useless because every time they have told me something, its been wrong.
So, I do try to buy local when I can from store owners I respect. Then again, I don't really waste any time of the store owners that don't respect me anyway.
That said, on the plus side, I had called them and offered them a reasonable deal in cash for a display unit, and they said OK without whining. I doubt I could have done much better on A'gon, plus I got to walk out of the store with it. It did take them another hour to pack it and find the bits, however.
On the bad side, I rarely find good advice inside audio stores--even boutiques. I'm in the DC area and have only found one store owner/operator who I think is a stand up guy (I heartily recommend the Listening Room in Baltimore). Notably, I've bought several items from him and he has coincidentally done what he can--without my prompting and in one case where I was desperate and fully expecting to pay 100% of retail--to cut me a good deal. There are four other boutiques I can think of in the area, as well as three local or regional chains. One boutique I won't go into--the owner is rude and unscrupulous. The other three offer product lines that are exceedingly limited, and I haven't had occasion to want anything they offer. The local/regional chains are useless because every time they have told me something, its been wrong.
So, I do try to buy local when I can from store owners I respect. Then again, I don't really waste any time of the store owners that don't respect me anyway.