You raise good points. I've got a few B&Ms within reach, and most of them have excellent customer service and selection. But there's one in a "yuppie" area, near where I work, that utterly perplexes me. The guy who runs it knows nothing about his product, and doesn't seem all that interested in moving it. I try not to talk to him, for fear of knowing less than when I started. Must be a tax writeoff or money-laundering scheme