Visited a Store and was shunned

I am retired but help out at a local audio store.  I think we are pretty good at assisting people who walk in but it also depends on who is in the store that day, meaning the owner, or the installation person.  Some stuff is not set-up and can take a little time to set up so the best sound is not always achieved in that situation.  It is hard to know form just one side of the conversation what actually happened to you.

It does rather seem that a great many stores operate with a ‘sales prevention force’. 

I definitely do not subscribe to the ‘you should have made an appointment’ view. This is a hobby over which we connect with like minded people, who then help each other.

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In my stone broke 20s I walked into a HiFi store to look. The owner engaged me and spent several hours with me listening to CD players, low power amps and small bookshelf speakers. He took me from reading What HiFi reviews to listening and distinguishing based on sound and synergy.

That day he sold me a Marantz CD player, a Creek Audio 4040, a pair of Royd speakers and some Kimber cable. It was a humble but very musical set up that saw me into my forties. I recall it cost less than £800. A lot of hours for not much profit.

Immediately after I had arrived at my selection though, he said ‘of course digital is not where it’s at, listen to this…’ He then spun the last test track we had been listening to again. This time not a CD but on vinyl on a Michell Gyro with an Ittok arm with a Troika cartridge, played through some exotic system with a total value of over £30,000 I seem to remember. As you might predict, the soundstage exploded all around me. I was awe struck. 

Why bother? No way I could have even begun to buy any part of that system. There was no money in it for him. And yet, today I own an Orbe, SME-V, and Cadenza Bronze, precisely because of that joyous moment.

That chap who owned his own shop, was an enthusiast, willing to share his passion. He set the same fire in me. Sure, someone else in his profession reaped most of the yield from his groundwork, but what goes around comes around. And even then, I honestly believe that we both enjoyed those hours together.

These are the people we should do business with. There is so much more to the experience than just hardware acquisition. 
 

* There’s another point here as well. Which I am afraid brings out the irascible old man in me. When I go somewhere to buy a premium item, I expect a commensurate experience. I do not want to be fawned upon - no sucking up required. However, I will not queue outside a watch shop. I will not see if there is a convenient date on which I can buy an expensive car. I will not establish my credit bona fides before entering a HiFi shop. There is a school of thinking that operates in America that seems to believe customers need to be made to feel that they have been granted the privilege of being allowed to enter a shop selling items one can buy anywhere. Nonsense! Genuinely top end establishments treat paupers and kings both with good manners. It’s the right thing to do, and they know that very often one cannot tell these two people apart just by looking.

I was in sales for many years and provided estimates for about a quarter-million customers. One thing is for certain- you never know who you are talking to. 

Was this Common Wave? Because that’s the exact treatment me and many others have had at that place. The people there are like shockingly rude. 
 

I do think a lot of dealers are in it for their toys and have some resentment they need to sell any of it to strangers to keep it going, so it doesn’t surprise me and I don’t take it personally.  
 

Nothing wrong with you naming the store, btw. This is free market capitalism and we’re a community to help each other. Fidelity by definition is about truth.

Can't tell you what's going on over on the West Coast, but my local guys are just different. They have the coolest audio store I've ever been to. Old mill building on Boston's North Shore that houses the most incredible collection of vintage & contemporary gear I've ever seen under one roof. I head over there sometimes on Saturday when the full bar is open. Cold Peronis and bourbon sours being handed out. It's a scene for sure. The place is 3 floors of amazing audio. It's a museum, workshop, and clubhouse all in one, lol. Maybe you're just shopping at the wrong places?