Modern bicycle retailers have high overhead costs and lots of capital tied up in inventory. They are strong-armed by bicycle vendors into very heavy pre-season orders which minimize their open-to-buy capital. You can't get the margins you need unless you order heavy and deep, and if the vendor thinks your order is still light, they'll talk about opening up another dealer nearby. It's hard enough to order/stock enough of the parts/accessories that sell in quantity, there is little money left for things that sell in very small quantities. Then they face considerable price competition from online vendors on all parts, accessory and clothing items. Most can't afford to stock items that are primarily of interest to classic & vintage fans. It's also difficult to find/afford seasoned staff that knows about freewheels and dt shifters and etc, etc, yadda yadda yadda.
There are clearly exceptions to this, and none of this excuses poor customer service, but I can understand why most shops can't/don't stock a variety of vintage-specific product. I don't think less of them for it, and I do value those that still keep our flame burning.
Very goo concise explanation of the situation. My boss always told us that if anything is more than 5 years old, take it home, donate it to co-op or throw is in recycling. I think I worked in the bike shop with the smallest storage space of any shop EVER ANYWHERE doing over 1 mil in gross sales. It was a small shop. But I got to decide what tires to bring in and often they were different due to lack of stock on the supplier and only being able to keep about 10 27" in stock at a time. I liked the serfas seca's and would also stock the generic $15 and also some schwalbes. Often they would sell out in a weekend and I'd have nothing for a week, other times they wouldn't move for months. LIke pcb says it's all about quantity and margin. 60-70% of our tire stock consisted of conti-touring plus (best value for touring and hybrid) and conti gator skins... with a smattering of other high and end models and brands. We sold more continental than anything else and that is because A) they offerred some of the best value and B) the supplier offered better terms on booking and quantities and gave us pre-season pricing on conti because the volume, this allowed us to be more competitive with other shops and make better margins. As it was the owner after 20 years, working 6 days a week makes a MODEST living. The LBS is a tough tough racket and it is very hard to get good staff in an industry that pays crap wages...
in Australia the wages are better and there are benefits and more vacation I hear.
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1 Super Record bike, 1 Nuovo Record bike, 1 Pista, 1 Road, 1 Cyclocross/Allrounder, 1 MTB, 1 Touring, 1 Fixed gear