Starting my showroom again

In Santa Barbara (small town 100K, with high roller buyers in Montecito) we have two high-end stores, for one I am friends with the owner and his wife. I bought my 1.0 component system from the other, learned all the things I did not like about it, and although I tried to purchase from my friend (who also offered friends&family discount, specializing in Home theatre and home automatization) I have not bought anything in my current system from there, because they cannot provide what I am interested in. I was surprised that I could not get a Pass amp (made in California!), nor a Rega TT (MAJOR brand) in town. I tried to support my local businesses, but if they cannot provide what I am interested in, I look elsewhere.

Not one, and I mean any in the world, store has all the items I am interested in. So I purchase from assorted vendors (KTE: HoloAudio DAC, Upscale: VPI, PrimaLuna, EAT, Zesto, Rega Naia, other place: Pass amp) and direct (PearlAcoustics speaker, Dan Clark cans, Woo Audio HPamp).

A friend just asked me to help with a $500 TT selection to go with Klipsch nines (active bookshelf speakers). I don't think any are available in town (Uturn, Rega, Audiotechnica, MusicFidelity), so it will be on-line purchase, most likely. The local record store has some second hand stuff, but that is rather low end. Not sure BestBuy/Magnolia sells anything halfway decent.

my 2c from a small US town.

You have 3 big competitors in the Nashville market covering a very wide swath of products including some esoteric gear. I say, the more, the merrier, but it's not my coin on the line. You sound like you are leaning toward the more affordable and that would be a good idea to me as the present players either have mostly high end or so out of the mainstream offerings that the average person would have no idea what those products were. And the prices of some of those esoteric pieces are sky-high to the average shopper. My, not so helpful, 2 cents.

I love your enthusiasm. But it doesn't sound viable. If you want to start up a business you would have to start on the internet (maybe)... get some income from home and without expenses. Then maybe add a little showroom in your house. As I type this, it doesn't sound viable. But you just have to start with zero overhead and build a reputation. Maybe great advice / sales on internet. Good luck. I have worked in startups... you need everything working in your favor... and a small town is not in your favor.

It's so tricky now because when I first started it was a very small area of course this is 25 years ago or 24 depending on however you want to slice it but when I first started I carried MIT Denon receivers in the such with the idea of going bigger for the time I had to close the store in 2022 I was selling octave Dynaudio, Simaudio, and Audio Research YG focal Cardas cables nordost and the such I had a very large showroom so I'm trying to think simple but I also want to make sure that what I'm going to invest won't just be money that gets burned up

Have you thought of visiting showrooms in similar-sized towns?  You may be able to take the owner to lunch, to learn about what is working, and what to avoid.  (As long as they don’t see you as a potential competitor.)  Or, you may be able to identify someone who wants to sell their business; will you relocate?  Pay attention to what you didn’t like, about your past life, and how you will adapt to the retail environment today.  And your health, too.  Good luck