How would you run an audio salon?

i wish i was more knowlegeable about business models but i'm not. but the ONE thing i believe is that you need to find out what kind of loudspeakers the customer wants (size, style, how much air they want to "push", and how much refinement they are looking for). do they want polks or magico's? or?? ONCE you can get them to commit to a certain specific catagory and/or model, then you can determine what sources and amplification, etc. they'll need. you also might want to make a trip to their home and look at the room(s) they want to listen in. it would be nice to show up in a van, take out a pair of monitors, a really good (but small) amp, and a cdp- something that won't take up much room and you can set up in 30 minutes. play music THEY like, but bring along a couple of very well recorded cd's as well.
if you can leave them with the impression of how much more music they'll hear with gear that's very carefully designed to turn dry two-dimensional sound into music that "breathes" and has some real "life" to it, then they will be able to
decide if they want to spend the money or not. naturally THEN you will hopefully be adept enough to accomidate them if they can only invest a small amount of money at a time.
as for a store full of expensive gear sitting there waiting
for someone to like it enough (or try to get it used here on audiogon) i honestly don't have a clue other than of course to provide alot of personal service, a one year upgrade policy, etc. and of course try to sell their old stuff for them as well. i would also try to save customers as much money as possible on WIRE. not to besmerch anybody (i own transparent!) but unless THEY want/demand premium wires, i believe there are alot of excellent cables without big price tags. i also wish dealers could find good local Carpenters that could build equipment racks and audio furniture- AND help with the local economy.

A lot would depend on the cost of floor space, but a I have sometimes thought about a variation of Pedrillo's idea:

Arrange a store with all equipment on display (on wheels/rolling stands) in a large area as you walk in. Two or three different sized, but treated, listening areas sit empty in back. move gear as necessary for a demo.

As a practical matter, more affordable gear may be arranged in standard fashion in another room. I realize that this idea is space/time intensive and won't work in Manhattan, but maybe Manhattan, Kansas?

I wonder if an in home store for high quality two channel sound would work. If there were more stores with lower overhead it could be that more people could be introduced to hi end audio. Friendly personal service always is a key to building a customer base.

Alot of great ideas!
When I mentioned the one speaker/system in a room- I forgot to mention there would be a couple of rooms.
What I am trying to say is: since my experience has shown me that when entering an audio salon never blew me away with amazing sound when what I have at home is so much better why not have a business with a couple of rooms but in each of the room with a different flavor of course have it set up with components that match very well and produce an incredibly realistic sound like never heard before.
Just think about how the trickle-down technology has led the mid-fi equipment to sound pretty damn good. When I walk into bestbuy I am surprised at how good the lesser expensive stuff sounds, it is so good for the money, really. The audiophile salon has to really blow the peoples minds in that amazing presentaion. That is more likely to happen when the room is dedicated to one set up with no other idling speakers there to resonate when a demo is given with the other speaker playing.
And I would treat that room with acoustical traps and diffusers to get it perfect, who cares if you risk scaring off the customer with too much ancillaries, chances are they will not notice it but the music will defenitely be noticed!!
One system but amazingly impressive, downright explosive, head-turner, shockingly amazing. And all this with each room at different price points.
When we audiophiles go to expos, don't we seek out the rooms known to be as the best in the world, are we not there to hear what could be the best sound possible to discover what potential could be had.
I went to a couple shops in nyc recently, and I can only think of the one system that was set up properly, it even beat out the wilson sophias, maybe because one was digital and the other analog. But as you can see, the wilson are one of the highly recognized companies but verity fidelios sounded better to me at least. JMHO. But it wasn't just the fidelio's, shindo and gerrard may be the key players.
That's the way in my mind to run an audio salon, leave a lasting impression.
I still believe the source is significant, and if the prospective customer can't afford the $ tag of the whole system the salesman can remind them it's a steping stone, and that a temporay solution can be used such as this: the first step would be sell the speakers/amp as a package and a cd/preamp combo as a temporary source. And later on the better preamp and cd player or turntable can be purchased to bring up to snuff the sound in the customers home to match what was heard in the showroom.

The in home idea is a good one. Back in the late 70's we had a guy here in Las Vegas that set up a system in his home and sold by word of mouth. I can't remember all the components but the Sequarra Pyramid speaker system still stands out in my mind.