What do the statistics say about the age of Audiophiles and the replacement rate?

@bdp24 Brother Hitch, as we called him, was a dear friend, although neither a melomaniac nor an audiophile. Like Molly Ivins, living larger than life allows but leaving unforgettable shadows. 
That said, the dearth of good new music is sufficient explanation for the decline of interest in reproducing it.

Lots of great, well recorded music being made now. A great aspect of streaming music is that this is easily discoverable. The music is not the issue. 
 

With widespread income disparity ever increasing, the high end industry became drunk on ever increasing prices. That turned off lots of folks. It’s happening to the ski industry now, another passion of mine that I am getting ready to walk away from.

Thank goodness for Schiit and the like for breaking new ground in affordable high end audio.

I’m not surprised that the OP found primarily older men in the gear store.  I am more surprised that he found an actual store that sells gear

Many years ago dealer , salesman , won’t entertain young costumers on their twenties? They are after the money. Now most of the dealer are onliine the opportunity to introduce high end audio is almost gone. 

My local store, Audio Advice stated recently that the vast majority of sales are home theater, not high end audio. Audio Advice has big beautiful stores in Raleigh & Charlotte & and a large online presence.
The majority of HT sales vs audio was quite surprising to me. Perhaps expanding classic audio stores (if not done already) to include HT, & an expanded online presence is the key to remaining viable by expanding revenue opportunities & attracting a younger audience.