What do you like about your "favorite" retailer?

The massage parlor in back and all that gratuitous sex! Oh, and I like retailers that always ask me if I want paper or plastic, and who double-bag the heavy stuff and offer to carry it out to my car for me. But most of all I like the sex. Yeah, that honesty crap just pales in comparison!

Marco

His bussiness is his hobby and his passion is his hobby. In this world of e-commerce it is very difficult for a bick and mortar store to be sucsessful. To have my bussiness it take`s many different variables. Knowledge is probably the most important then price, inventory ext. ext. Anolog is his mainstay plus he stocks about 300 new 180gr records sometimes its better to touch the record`s and ask question`s why he would buy it. Try to get that from Music Direct, Elusive Disc, Acoustic Sounds, not to say I still don`t buy from them but knowledge over a land line is just not the same.Plus he has a great manufactor linecard of some hard to find manufactors.
If your in Seattle go check out Experience Audio in the U District. David

UNFORTUNATLY, I DON`T HAVE A FAVORITE DEALER right now.
Dweller is RIGHT on the money. I too deal with ALOT
of Chicago places, and the bottom line is:
IF you`re not spending a TON of money at a place,
they WON`T waste their time on you!
I remember a nice place WAS Musicraft!
BUT they went out-of-business in 1994.
Their offshoot from that store was a
NOW BIG home theater store. When they WERE A SMALL
store, they used to great me when I walked in,
and YES I spent at least $4000 in 3 years time at
their store. When they moved into a bigger store,
their service became sooo bad, NOBODY greated me
UNLESS I was spending $1000 OR MORE at a time.
THEIR SERVICE DEPT. IS SOOOO BAD THEY COULDN`T
EVEN FIX THE LAST 3 PIECES THAT I BROUGHT IN TO THEM.
Therefore, I REFUSE to give them anymore of my
money ever again! Forgive me IF I sound JADED,
but how would YOU FEEL?

I too agree with Dweller. A dealer isn't your freind; he is a dealer. Even after spending over 15/20k at their store, they're pissed because you you bought something from somebody else.
My favorite dealer closed his shop and now works out of his house.---Good for him---not good for me. I feel like an intruder under these conditions.
Of the on-line stores Underwood / Walter is as good as it gets. Just a 'professional' nice guy.---YES, still nice when there's a problem. The jumper cables guy hit me with 25% restock for returning factory stock/ sealed product. So even online dealers are different.

My local dealer has become my friend, really, not just in appearance only. Like many of the others above, he has allowed me to take items home to audition with no payment up front, treats me with respect even though I usually look/dress like a bum and did so from the first time I walked in the store, but most of all he was NEVER condescending toward me when I got back into this hobby/obsession after a long time away. I'm sure I said lots of stupid things, but he never once looked at me/talked to me like I was an idiot, even though I was. Rather, he took the time to educate me.
I haven't bought much of anything from him lately, because he doesn't carry lines I'm interested in, but I'll probably stop by there this afternoon to hang out, BS about things, maybe even talk about audio!