How to shop for an integrated?

I live in the NY metro area, and I’m looking for an integrated. I’ve been researching and reading about audio equipment for years, and now I’m ready to buy.

The problem is, most stores don’t seem to have much inventory or carry about 2 manufacturers (leaving one in my budget). They say things like “we only carry this manufacturer because they’re the best”, or “we stopped carrying that other manufacturer because of...”. Even if it’s an amp I like, I’ll hear “but the next one up is so much better, unfortunately I don’t have it to demo” or “I only have the higher end model, but the one you want pretty much sounds the same “.

And of course you’ll find similar with the speakers, making it nearly impossible to get an idea of how different amps sound with different speakers. Some don’t even have a turntable to use to demo.

It seems like I’ll need to heavily rely on reviews because it’s very difficult to sit down and really compare in person.

Conversely, I used to live in Singapore, and that was so much better. There’s basically a multi level shipping mall filled with high end audio stores who each carry a significant amount of inventory.

I’m hoping for some good suggestions.

 Thanks