Walking Into A Brick & Mortar High End Audio Store

I think that approach makes a lot of sense, Whart, and is respectful both of the dealer's time and your own.

IMO Mapman and Bcgator have unveiled the issue central to this B&M discussion. I believe that genuine and real customer service is a lost art. Typically what we experience today is only lip service. This lip service is ultimately just another marketing tactic to drive sales. It isn't service at all. Consumers know this. So, now that customer service has been effectively removed from the equation, what do we have left? Product performance and price! We live in an age of disposable commodities (which impacts the product performance), and I believe this is partially a result of this lip service. This is why the sub set of price sensitive consumers is so substantial now. We have a generation (perhaps two now) of consumers who know nothing of true customer service. Nevertheless, I firmly believe that consumers who experience true customer service find it attractive and will be willing to pay for it. I think this is true in all aspect of the market as well.

Absolutely!

you would want to stay current so when the up-grade bug visits, you will be ready. Also, some companies offer new gear every year, it is good to see and hear the updates.
Keep us posted.

To explixitely answer the OP's question, yes, it's absolutely cool to walk into any store that holds itself open for business

I don't believe anyone on here is advocating the op go in and waste the salesman's time. In my experiences with shops most of the time store is empty and if the sales staff is busy I wait until they are finished before I ask questions. Most often I want to sit and listen to something that is set up already. How is that wasting their time? When I visited the shops in Seattle every sales person told me essentially the same thing. Go ahead and look around and feel free to ask questions or let us know if you would like to hear something. Is that so hard?