The specialty shops have all but gone. Even for groceries. A&P, etc. Good Housekeeping, Circuit City, etc. I bought my stereo system from Tech HiFi in 1979. Even K Mart had a small audio room. The catalogue showrooms were nice too. Spiegel had stores as well. I've read about Pacific stereo stores. They even had a store brand, Quadraflex.
Today there are a few ultra high end audiophile shops but no others where you can listen and compare before buying.
Crutchfield in Virginia is a big multi brand dealer online and has two stores in the Charlottesville area. You have to read review's and between the lines to choose a component. At least they have a 60 day return policy and free shipping.
When I was a young 20 something lad in 1973, I worked my azz off to save for my first car. - two jobs, day job as a QC inspecter at a factory, and evenings at Penn Electronics, a parts and hifi store.
Half the store was laid out as a "boutique audio salon", with all the popular brands of stereo equipment, as well as radios, clock radios, car radios, speakers, tape decks, the works.
Marantz, Pioneer, Sansui, Panasonic/Technics, Boston Acoustics, BIC, etc, you name it.
Turntables by Garrard, the Japanese brands, Dual, and BSR.
We even featured the "Quadraphonic" stuff, which I disliked, and was not impressed by.
Being biased that way, I tended to push standard 2-channel products, telling customers that "All you really need to enjoy music is two speakers properly placed".
At that time, I knew that "quad" was just another audio fad that would soon die off.
And guess what, I was right.
A few years later, now with my first car (a 1972 Chevy Nova) I worked for Stereo Discounters at two locations, (Pa-Nj) moved on to other audio stores.
By then, I had the finest stereo system a 24 year old could have.
Then, the rest of my life was dedicated to servicing TV/audio, and vintage restorations, until I retired in 2016.
