This might just be the end of brick and mortar

Too many folks on here and who buy from the net are never happy and keep buying and selling at either big or small loses. To me, that's a waste of time and money.....but that's just me.

To ME, mistakes are an important ingredient in gaining valuable experience and knowledge. You will never learn anything new if afraid making mistakes.

I find the journey is as important and fun as the destination. It's so satisfying when everything clicks.

I always do my homework before purchases so don't cycle through gear very often. But this is a hobby and hobby do cost $$.

Too many components don't sound good together, but a great dealer will know what has synergy. In the end, I feel that I've saved a ton of money by getting what it right up front.

This is where experience from mistakes and successes will help in building a balance satisfying system.

If you don't have any experience, how do you know what you really like and not what B&M just sold you?

I personally pay the extra to the stores to get products that not only sound great, but great together.

Not me. I find most B&M are just audiophiles like myself with similiar amount of knowledge and experience. With the internet and audio shows, I don't need B&M.

"Most" is the key word and they "do" ask questions. Taters (sudz on AA forum), Did you actually read the policy?

- Music Direct offers a 60-day money back guarantee on most equipment/accessories (excluding fluids, pastes, aerosols and special order items, none of which are returnable).

We'll require an explanation for the return (defective, damaged, etc). Don't be surprised if we ask you some pretty detailed questions about the reason for your return. Hearing first hand what our customers are experiencing will enable us to provide you with the best possible service.

Returns will not be accepted without a Return Authorization #, or RMA# which must be obtained by phone or email. An RA must be obtained within 60 days of the purchase, and Music Direct must receive the package within 15 days of issuing the RA. Note that after 60 days all sales are final. Please write your RA# on the outside of the shipping box (not the product box). Failure to do this will delay the processing of your return. Your return package must include the following: a copy of your invoice, a note detailing the reason for the return, all original packing materials, including cables, power supplies, instructions, remote controls, warranty cards, etc. Your package must arrive in resalable condition. If these instructions are not followed your return will not be accepted.

If your return package is deemed acceptable after inspection, Music Direct will refund the purchase price of the returned item. Shipping costs will NOT be refunded. Return shipping costs are also the responsibility of the customer. Music Direct will absorb the shipping costs only in the case of defective merchandise (this does not include shipping costs for defective music titles, which is the responsibility of the customer). Please note that if defective merchandise proves to be non-defective upon inspection, or if Music Direct otherwise determines the customer is exercising chronic abuse of the return policy, the customer will be charged a re-stocking fee at Music Direct's discretion. Music Direct also reserves the right to impose a re-stocking fee at our discretion for any returned item that is damaged, cosmetically dinged or returned missing accessories. Also please note, if you received Free Shipping with your initial order and you returned the non-defective item, we will deduct the initial shipping fee from your refund. Any and all packages that are refused delivery and sent back to music direct without an RMA number will not be refunded the initial shipping charge and a restocking fee will be added to the return.

Music Direct and/or its policies have little to do with the demise of the Brick and Mortar Stereo Shoppe....which caught a full tailwind without any help from Music Direct. There are simply not enough target customers remaining, who have not found other ways to buy their gear, to support B&M stores. Some will survive, because of their location in major metropolitan areas, because they have significant on-line sales, because they are extremely well run by passionate proprietors, or a combination of these. Without at least two of those three attributes, success will be very difficult.

I'm pretty much in agreement with Mitch2 (did you mean tailwind, toward demise, or headwind, to buffet their advance?)
We have short memories, I think. Even in the heyday of the 'stereo store' (before we needed to distinguish so-called 'Brick & Mortar' from its virtual counterpart), there were a lot of shortcomings with the conventional dealer 'model'- dealers could not conceivably carry every line, couldn't account for synergies among brands they didn't sell (not sure they did it effectively even among the brands they did), and wanted you to buy what they were selling, not what you thought you wanted. Forget the attitude issues, the lack of support, and the limited knowledge- most dealers could not deliver what they promised, and that's why the premium charged wasn't worth it to a considerable number of customers. Today's high end dealer doesn't need a retail store front, operates by appointment, makes house calls, provides support, loaners and takes good care of long term customers. That costs money and there are probably only a small handful of dealers in the States that are able to do that. The rest- well, remember when 2 channel stereo basically crashed as a consumer product, and most dealers turned to home theatre as a revenue stream? And now that you can buy most of that online unless you are looking for a large 'install,' they are back to where they were- yes, probably a small handful have enjoyed the 'bump' from renewed interest in analog, but I gotta believe that the business has been suffering at the middle price point for decades. (No animus against dealers, btw, just an observation, based on a fair amount of experience).

So how is it that companies like Audio Research, Wilson, Magico and the hundreds of other high-end manufacturers are able to push their product. Who are the first buyers of this class of gear? What are the supply and distribution chains?

I agree that B&M stores are falling by the weigh-side (sp?), so how are these companies getting their product to market ... and ultimately into the hands of retail customers.