I get this, and I'm at this point as well now, but I suspect the quiet majority may not be there yet.

I bought a Tri bike 18 months ago, and went to the nearest LBS 1/3 mile from my house. I had never owned a tri bike even though I did my first Tri in 1985. After a layoff of 25 years I took it up 24 months ago, and I tried to read up online but I needed that touch, feel and ride experienced that I would not get online. Fortunately I have 3 LBS' within a mile of my house, and I could try them all, which I did. Unexpectedly the best experience (and successful transaction) happened to be at an Official TREK store not 500 yds from my home. Not because of the proximity or the bikes, but because of the people.

I think I was lucky, and I had a quality sales person spend the better part of 6 - 10 hours over a period of 2 days before I parted with my many $1,000's.

This is not the norm I suspect, but I'm willing to be proven wrong. I do believe that a great sales experience (face to face) makes for a long term relationship, and in my situation i needed this. My bike needs to be serviced and adjusted (or I need to be taught these skills) which the TREK store has since obliged me with.

I recently bought an older frame on eBay and built up a nice road bike and the store was there to help me with component advice and they even offered their workshop to me after hours for a small fee ($50).

As I indicated earlier, I really didn't expect this type of attention, service and general commitment to improve a fellow human's cycling experience from a Big Brand store. A small mom & pop store, sure, but this was a surprise, and the store has my loyalty going forward.