How would you run an audio salon?

I'd run it just like The Analog Room in San Jose, CA. It's located in a house with regular rooms, offers great gear and has an excellent selection of music. Best of all, it's like hanging out with a bunch of audio friends rather than a salesman, customer relationship.

BTW, I have no affiliation.

only sell components that i personally like. allow the customer to borrow a component for a reasonable amount of time. allow the customer to judge with his ears.
i would not attempt to influence, or give advice, except to help a customer avoid a mistake. i would not suggest that one component or stereo system is better than another. the customer would sell himself rather than a salesman selling the customer.

i wish there were such an audio salon where the customer was not influenced to buy a product.

the closest analogy i could think of is an audio store as a museum. come in and less.

my motto: we select , you decide.

i wish i was more knowlegeable about business models but i'm not. but the ONE thing i believe is that you need to find out what kind of loudspeakers the customer wants (size, style, how much air they want to "push", and how much refinement they are looking for). do they want polks or magico's? or?? ONCE you can get them to commit to a certain specific catagory and/or model, then you can determine what sources and amplification, etc. they'll need. you also might want to make a trip to their home and look at the room(s) they want to listen in. it would be nice to show up in a van, take out a pair of monitors, a really good (but small) amp, and a cdp- something that won't take up much room and you can set up in 30 minutes. play music THEY like, but bring along a couple of very well recorded cd's as well.
if you can leave them with the impression of how much more music they'll hear with gear that's very carefully designed to turn dry two-dimensional sound into music that "breathes" and has some real "life" to it, then they will be able to
decide if they want to spend the money or not. naturally THEN you will hopefully be adept enough to accomidate them if they can only invest a small amount of money at a time.
as for a store full of expensive gear sitting there waiting
for someone to like it enough (or try to get it used here on audiogon) i honestly don't have a clue other than of course to provide alot of personal service, a one year upgrade policy, etc. and of course try to sell their old stuff for them as well. i would also try to save customers as much money as possible on WIRE. not to besmerch anybody (i own transparent!) but unless THEY want/demand premium wires, i believe there are alot of excellent cables without big price tags. i also wish dealers could find good local Carpenters that could build equipment racks and audio furniture- AND help with the local economy.

A lot would depend on the cost of floor space, but a I have sometimes thought about a variation of Pedrillo's idea:

Arrange a store with all equipment on display (on wheels/rolling stands) in a large area as you walk in. Two or three different sized, but treated, listening areas sit empty in back. move gear as necessary for a demo.

As a practical matter, more affordable gear may be arranged in standard fashion in another room. I realize that this idea is space/time intensive and won't work in Manhattan, but maybe Manhattan, Kansas?

I wonder if an in home store for high quality two channel sound would work. If there were more stores with lower overhead it could be that more people could be introduced to hi end audio. Friendly personal service always is a key to building a customer base.