Walking Into A Brick & Mortar High End Audio Store

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?

Roxy, how can you have the balls to say what you did? You should be ashamed of yourself. If OP walks into a store and says upfront, that he has no intention of buying right now and he just wants to look, what the hell else does he need to say? You think he's OBLIGATED to buy just by walking in so he doesn't waste the staffs time? Gimme a break man.

I once called a store to ask to listen to a specific turntable they carried which retailed for $1,500. I told him I had every intention of purchasing the 'table from him if I liked it. The guy actually told me that he has one but WOULDN'T set it up for me to listen to. He then said, if I wanted to listen to the $10,000 'table, he would set it up. YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!?!?!

If I had large amounts of disposable income, I would buy from dealers all day. Honestly I would. It's an unfortunate fact but, I believe brick and mortar stores will MOSTLY appeal to people with such income. Let's be real, the average guy isn't going to buy full retail price. Look, it's 2014 not 1975. There is a thing called the internet and it's a very big place. Sorry retailers, it is what it is, and I don't just mean audio. With the middle class dwindling a little bit more every day, who is going to pay full retail? Wealthy people that's who. In my opinion, you have to be out of your mind to open a brick and mortar store unless you're selling uber expensive gear. That way you can literally sell a couple items a month and still keep your doors open.

We as audiophiles have become so desensitized to outrageously high prices for equipment due to the reviews we read. How many times have you heard a reviewer say, "and at $10,000 this amplifier is actually a bargain". Come on man.

If you have a preamp that retails for $3,000, it's likely that the rest of your system totals for around $10-15K, and with all the information we read, we may not even think twice about it.

Think of it this way: What would you do if your wife came home and said she just bought a $15,000 mink coat?

I buy a lot from independant direct audio manufacturers. I do a bit of research, an audio show demo, etc

That said when I am looking for an something my local B&M sells I buy there even if it is more than an online purchase

Salesmen feel pretty shell shocked knowing someone will just go online