When there were dealers in my area i went to more than one to find the best stuff from all of them but eventually i went to just one and now sadly there are no dealers left that i care to go to in my area. I can say that when you find the right dealer they can be very valuable and you should not need to go anywhere else, but they have been going out of business a lot recently.
How many dealers do you use?
When buying gear retail, do you use only one dealer with whom you develop a relationship, or more than one?