One big reason why brick and mortar high end audio dealers struggle.


I live in a major metropolitan area with several close by high end stores.  I never go in any of them.  A dealer just opened a new location 5 minutes from my house.  Major dealer with Magico, Constellation, McIntosh and many other serious brands.  I went by a couple weeks ago mid day on a Friday.  Door locked, nobody there.  I call today to make sure they are actually open for business.  Guy answers the phone and says that they were out on an install when I can by and that they are short staffed.  No problem, I understand.  But from that point on the guy takes a subtle but clearly defensive and pissy tone.  He states that they recommend setting up an appointment for customers to view their products.  Sure, and I recommend never going there.  Off my list.  Back to buying online.  Here's the issue.  So many of these high end dealers are only after the wealthy guy that comes in, spends less than an hour there and orders a complete home theater or 2 channel system and writes a check for $50k or more on the spot.  That's there customer base.  I get that it can be annoying to allow a bunch of lookers to come in and waste their time and not buy anything, but isn't it good for business to have more customer traffic?  If someone comes in, spends an hour there, listens to some amazing gear and then buys nothing, doesn't he tell his friends and family and coworkers about his great experience?  Isn't this word of mouth valuable?  These brick and mortar dealers almost universally are unwelcoming and unfriendly to people that want to come in and just look and listen and not buy.  Sorry, but the vast majority of potential customers are not going to spend 20 minutes by private appointment to order their new $100k system.  Why not encourage people to come and spend time with zero pressure to purchase.  I have purchased dozens of high end speakers and electronics over the many years I have enjoyed this hobby.  I might well buy from a dealer if they were actually nice, friendly, and encouraged hanging out and getting to know their gear.  But they don't.  I would never go to a high end store that required an appointment.  Because this creates a huge pressure situation for you to purchase that day.  I'm not ready to purchase on my first visit.  And neither are thousands of other potential customers.  If they can make a good living just catering to the wealthy one time buyers, then, ok, good for them.  Doesn't seem like they can though since so many have gone under.  Maybe it's time to try a different approach?  Step one, no commission sales people.  Step two, welcome people to listen and not buy anything.  Encourage it.  This will create positive word of mouth and significantly increase customer traffic and ultimately create more paying customers it would seem.  I don't get it.  Rant over. Please don't respond that you have an amazing dealer.  I'm sure they exist but they are the exception.  What I am describing is the typical customer experience.
jaxwired
tubebuffer
I have be careful with word here. This idea that store should be there to serve you is knuckle dragging liberal philosophy full of expectation ...
Nonsense. This has nothing to do with politics.
All you old Geezers here are making some great points. My Audiophile Journey is almost over after dipping my feet back into it 3 years ago. For twenty years I’ve been more into 5.1 including upmixing my 2ch stuff via Dolby Pro Logic II and now the “new” Dolby Surround on my Sony STR-DN1080 and all the wonderful variations on 2ch upmixing on my Onkyo PR-SC5530AV Preamp feeding an Orchard Audio Ultra Amplifier and BAT VK50-SE Preamp. My Speakers have always been hombrew except for my Bose 901’s and my loaner KEF R3’s.

It doesn’t matter if it was 36 years ago in my hometown of Hamilton, Ontario buying my Dual CS515 w/ the ever crappy Ortofon OM10. 23 years later and 6 different Carts, I’m done with Vinyl. 
20 years ago, in Phillipsburg, NJ, I traded in my beloved Adcom GFP-345 and GFA-545II that I purchased 8 years earlier at a Dealer in my Hometown for a Denon AVR-1802 and a used Adcom GFA-555II. That Hometown Dealer also had a pair of Mirage M3si’s that were gonna be mine but my layaway payments only covered the Amp/Preamp. My post college purchase only would cover so much. I burned the Dealer on the Mirages and am not proud of it to this day. I built a pair of Homebrews instead and saved some money there.

Fast forward to now and Scottsdale/Phoenix AZ. Plenty of Dealers here but none are to my budget.

My entire rig currently is bought online without an audition used or new. PS Audio gives you 30 days trial and TMR Audio gives you two weeks trial on their used stuff. So going to an intimidating Dealer by appointment only is a non starter for me.

I honestly feel for these Dealers who no longer can afford to cater to us budget Audiophiles and can only survive on the high ticket crap that I’ll never be able to afford and even if I could, wouldn’t on my twisted principles.

I’m that 16 year old High School kid that bought a TT/cart in 1985, went on to buy an Amp/Preamp after college, and then went 5.1 after marriage and a mortgage. As Newlyweds back then, we enjoyed watching Movies together while I fell asleep listening to two channel music late at night on the 5.1 rig 😂. Our newborn also enjoyed watching his Cartoons on that rig.

Now that I’m a non upmixing 2ch Audiophool and slowly revamping my 5.1 rig in the same room with the same Speakers (currently a blend of homebrew and consumer). I’ll never buy from a Dealer ever again. You’ve lost us Budget folks. To those in my 50+ age group that can finally afford all the high ticket stuff.

May God Bless You….but I’m out !
Audio merchandizing  has changed since my good experiences with B&M prior to internet. Online business is competitor and likely perceived as a winning competitor by B&M personnel. I suspect they assume each new visitor may be comparison shopping via internet, greater level of vetting or ignoring if busy would be expected.

I only know that my days of visiting B&M ended when I realized the internet was indeed competing in my expenditure of hard earned dollars. I came to understand I was misusing the B&M by extracting benefits with no cost to me.

I'm fine with internet business model, I have to do the hard work of determining products to purchase, I have to purchase the product to demo in my home system, finally either keep or resale to fund the next purchase, diy audio system acquisition is golden for me!
Due to the pandemic we have the same scenario here, by appointment only.  Some guys have even closed their store fronts and are actually now selling out if their homes, or out of a small office space they've rented instead, and you guessed it...by appointment only. 
The world has changed.  Several years ago I realized the retail high-end hi-fi was destine to become either the domain of the Interior Decorator or the Web.  I don't need to explain the web part, folks with some knowledge are educated sufficiently to know how this stuff works and (except for intragate wire pulling) install and even enjoy the DIY aspect of the hobby.

The Interior Decorator responds to the issue of a room as  presentation space, a whole presentation of sight and sound.  Not a sound room but a space to impress, to generate envy, and the  illusion of culture and taste.  Hi-end hi-fi is much like expensive furniture and paintings,  The goal is not a listening space but a presentation space, a small piece of theater is a larger construct to announce attributes of the owner.  In the end it is not about a  personal musical experience but a larger more public ego experience.

Both are legitimate desires using the same hardware, just different goals.