Walking Into A Brick & Mortar High End Audio Store

Tbg,

I don't know where you are in Texas, it's a big country. But Galen Carol at Galen Carol Audio in San Antonio is a great guy and is an excellent example of an exceptional brick & mortar audio dealer.

Roxy54 wrote "The problem is that people like yourself are wasting the valuable time of the commissioned sales associate who is there trying to make a living. While he is doing a fruitless demo, or just shooting the breeze with you, he is missing his next turn to wait on a client who may actually want to buy something from him/her."

Wow! Do you purchase a book every time you walk into a Barnes & Noble? I don't want to flame you for what I assume is a defense of brick and mortar stores, but I don't share your attitude about casual visitors.

I can't speak for any other dealer, but I enjoy having people come by my little store and listening to gear. You never know when someone will decide to buy a piece of gear, and I get a lot of referrals from guys who haven't bought anything but have mentioned a piece of gear I carry to a friend.

There might be a few guys who drop by on a regular basis and aren't regular customers, but many of these guys have become audio friends. Many have shared some wonderful music I hadn't heard before or just come by to enjoy the sound. I am flattered that guys would take the time to visit my showroom, and visitors have always been respectful and well behaved. If I am busy with another customer I will politely excuse myself and return when I am finished.

But that's just my opinion.

Taters, there are absolutely ways to lease audio gear. I have leased gear to corporations and movie production companies, and very occasionally to individuals. The problems are:
1- most dealers just don't know how to work with a leasing company, and
2- it's not economically feasible for a leasing company to write a "small" (under $50K) lease, and for less then 3-5 years, and
3- most buyers do not want and would not select a lease option

An installment purchase (different from a lease) is probably a better way to go. When I worked for a small audio chain in the late 70s it was very common for most retailers to offer contract credit purchases. These days, most buyers simply use a credit card for the same purpose.

Goldeneraguy, sorry my bad. Br3098 is my customer and friend and had logged in from the mac my my showroom. He didn't log off when he left and I answered without checking first. My apologies to all for the confusion.

Avgoround, I don't understand your comment. There are many B&M stores in existence, unfortunately some better and some worse.

If you have enough audio friends that have enough gear, then maybe you don't need a brick and mortar store. But if not, then how do you not only listen and discover which gear you like but how do you know what gear works best together and will work in your room? Endless purchases and trial and error?

If you don't have a good dealer that you can work with you are probably selecting your audio gear based on what someone else has heard (or thinks).