Why are brick and mortar HiFi dealers so bad?

Most brick-and-mortar stores sell Mass market stuff that you find in the magazines. The better stuff is usually the very small production, one-man operation stuff.

The Detroit area still has a few really good brick and mortar shops.
Audio Dimensions, in Royal Oak
David Michael Audio, in Royal Oak
Paragon in Ann Arbor 

not all mass market at all

@devilboy    ...and 'personal 'puters started in garages..;)
I remind myself of that....

& biketony, if I'm up that way I'll try to visit. *S*  Help keep them in existence in the meanwhile, and thanks...

When in SoCal, and especially if you fly into John Wayne airport (Newport Beach), do yourself a huge favor. Walk across the street, get Starbucks if you'd like, then head on over to Excel Audio. Talk to Mike, the owner/proprietor. He WILL take care of you. He has many excellent brands at many different price points and he knows how to assemble systems that sing. He is the most friendly and genuine dealer I know in SoCal. Not saying I've been to them all, but I've been to many of them. Mike and Excel are the real deal.

Regarding Seattle hi-fi shops above ... I happen to live near the old ’hi-fi zone’ in Ravenna/Roosevelt. I have bought gear and spent much time in the Audio Connection (very small selection but John is helpful and his single listening room is great), Hawethorne (outstanding selection of speaker brands but there’s a weird vibe/attitude going on), Definitive (music matters is fun but they are ALL about stupidly priced custom installs and AVR rooms - I don’t think they have a clue about 2 channel). In the past 5 years both the independent Magnolia (used to sell some fun brands like Arcam, etc) and Speaker Lab have disappeared unfortunately.

Fortunately, there are other shops in Seattle as well - Gig Harbor Audio is awesome and where I have acquired my latest pieces from (Line Magnetic & Spendor), Burt @ SeattleHiFi has tons of brands and has lent me gear for weeks without blinking (if you can track him down). There’s also Tune Hi-Fi and Olsens though I don’t know them so well. Given the demise of the brick-and-mortars hi-fi shop and what I read about other cities, I feel that we are very fortunate to have a number of shops left in Puget Sound. Some are great, some just so-so ... but many different brands can be listened to, which is the important thing at the end of the day.