Visited a Store and was shunned

@salectric that was a very nice store one block from ours. We salesmen were friendly and listened to each other’s systems. I listened to eight Sonus Blue cartridge styli to pick out the best sounding three as they were prone to collapse, and used them in my turntable until about 1983.

I can still taste the Grillswiths and ice cream fried on a donut , the name escapes me. We probably knew multiple people!

I don’t deal in the same level of gear as many people here do, but I have to say, my one and only visit to a dealer was exceptional. Audio video excellence is located North Scottsdale and Bob Koopman is the owner. They were advertising a customer returned to benchmark DAC2 and I went To check it out. Not only did he take time telling me about it, but he ended up spending a lot of time with me, talking about music, systems, and took me up to the room where they demo their highest end products. He asked what music I like and when I told him he just started playing it. It was such a cool experience, and he was so open to share information and his time. When the time comes for me to make a higher and purchase than what I have in the past, it will certainly be there.

There's nothing of note here in WNC to bother with visiting, when Best Buy and Guitar Center is the best you've got.  A couple of AV installers for the 'flush crowd' looking for that sort for the new manse.
The newest 'shop' has a decent rig that's set up more to draw a group to pay for wine and snacks, listen to whatever they opt to play, and go elsewhere after.
No 'philes or clubs to connect with.
A local MCM furniture shop owner has a DJ rig that drives paired 901's, JBL omni's, and what appears to be some nondistinctive stage units.  One vendor rehabs old console stereos, swapping out the TT for something less clunky.
There's Raleigh and the Triangle, but all seem to have gone AV....4hrs' each way.
Greenville similar; closer but why....
Atlanta is an overnight trip.

There's a good reason I'm pretty much online for even gender-benders of late.

Best sale ever...a new microwave from Wayfair.
Misordered the wrong sized one, too large for the counterspace.  They've got a good return policy which I contacted and had ordered the correct one.
They contacted back, told me to keep the one in hand, and put the money received towards the re-order.
Told me to give the first one to charity, perhaps to Habitat.

Unknown in audio....
 

Goodwin's is somewhat nearby and I've taken my turntable there for a "tune up" a couple of times in recent years...150 bucks a couple of years ago and this year (cueing wasn't working on my Akito) the TT guy named Jim Fuller (has a in-house biz called Fuller Sound...great name!) said my table was very within spec, fixed the cue lever and charged me around 100 bucks. Sent me a full write up on what he checked...maybe that's why they stay in business.

To the OP,  your entire experience is completely on those two sales guys. Because they're not here to give another side of the story, we don't know what really transpired at that moment or what kind of vibe, maybe you might have given off when you were talking to them.

I've been a sales professional, a pretty well paid one and a fairly nice guy and having an abundance of experience, I could/can accurately shortcut with my eyes and mostly never get it wrong- and if I did, I deserved the loss that came with it because I probably did something wrong myself.

When anyone brings up these subjects about being rejected at the audio salon, it immediately turns into an us against them kind of thing here in the forums where the customer is virtuous and the salesman was an a*shole. That, unfortunately is often true because there's no real standard on manners anymore, the workforce in the 21st century often leaves much to be desired or completely void of face to face relationship building skills. You have to understand, whether we like it or not, these paid for brick and mortar establishments cost a lot of money to startup, run, turn the lights on and buy the inventory- more than ever before in modern history- and so on and so on. We all know exactly what we've all done. I've absolutely done it once or twice. There are very few of us here who didn't walk into an audio shop to hear a set of hot or well reviewed speakers or a preamp.. just so we can free ourselves to go online and buy it cheaper someplace else from someone who doesn't have the investment, didn't put in the time and experience that the brick and mortar guy does.

You say you were willing to buy that day, I don't think you're lying, but everyone who walks through the door tells that bullsh*t story, I guarantee that's true.

So I cut these guys a little slack and my suggestion to you and anyone else who's reading this, don't break balls if you're not serious and don't use someone else's time & money to do it because that's what you're doing if you use the audio salon and their time to kick the tires and ultimately buy it or (most often) not buy it elsewhere.