I do not know about the shop in question, as I live in Italy. But this discussion has turned into something more broadly interesting. Until about 2000, we had in our small city (100,000) two good HiFI shops. We lost them both in the space of ten years. After a gap of fourteen years a new one has just opened. I had to make an hours trip down the Autostrada , to demo and buy my Naim XS3. We do have a good record shop that specialises in Classical and Jazz. ( I am in the Opera loving area of Italy).
I get the impression that most of us posting here are from the baby boom generation. As teenagers music and your musical taste played a big part of our adolescence. Let’s face it there was not much to do back then and we listened to music with friends and we had hobbies to pass the time. If we wanted to learn about something, we bought a book.
My sons generation are not interested in music. The video has game killed most hobbies and has replaced music as an adolescent congregator. Who build model railways today?
My son is not interested in buying music, hardly ever reads a book. His music lives on a USB key that he plays in the car. He learns about stuff from the internet. He has got a good degree and a good job.
Internet has changed everything, for good or worse. I have a small Engineering studio. Through recommendation, by other clients, I have never met about 50% of my clients. My two biggest clients reside in another Region and I meet them rarely. My studio would not survive on local clients. This is relevant to HiFi too.
I know the guy who runs the record shop, I have shopped there for about 30 years. Once they could rely on local trade. Now internet sales keep them afloat. They mostly stopped dealing with pop and rock long ago, as the newer generations download of stream, there is some return to buying music on a physical format thanks to vinyl. But the numbers I was given for let’s say a Taylor Swift LP are a small fraction of the sales pre Spotify.
My other big passion in life is photography. The masses have been marketed into believing that the cell phone is the only camera you need, just as Apple have convinced a younger generation that your iPhone and a cheap pair of earphones is how music is listened too. Note the masses of cheap or not so cheap in ChiFi in ear headphones that are one of the growth sectors of audio. We have been convinced that “good enough” is all we need. Check out the Head Fi site. There are quite a few younger people there.
The HiFi shops that survive, survive in a much smaller market, and to survive, must have an online presence. I buy things I am certain of liking or non critical items from a shop in Milan, they discount quite heavily. They are in a back street in the suburbs of Milan. Their model is mostly a new one. The stuff I buy from them does not come from the shop. It comes from the wholesaler direct ( I see the DHL tracking). My PMC speakers came from Pisa. My Lehman Audio headphone amp I bought from a shop in Naples, came from a warehouse near Milan. It is difficult find that my local HiFi shop stocks the brands I want. The do not stock Naim. They order Rega. It is pretty much impossible to demo gear and so I mostly build a picture of kit I want by reading reviews and forum comments. It works for me at my level.
The internet has changed everything.