Maybe a problem with many B&M stores selling "affordable" things is people couldn't care less about non-innovative products. Let's face it most of them were mostly selling stuff you can order online before their decline. Ya some of it was good, but in general they lost the cutting edge they once had. They've been destroyed by better offerings. The exception is in the high end pricey stuff.
People can hop online and see cool stuff any time, why go looking at boring stuff? Kickstarter funds tons of shitty audio things that have one feature you don't find somewhere else, innovation. They're crap, but they're not tired as hell. If people want old school they'll buy old school... Or they might pay a premium for something that truly looks old school. In many ways it's like a lot of companies got old and lost the effort that got them there.
I'd love to have a good local place but why would I want to go there to listen to Klipsch, McIntosh, Paradigm, Marantz, PSB, and Cambridge? I want to hear Salk, Spatial, Vinnie Rossi, Bryston, NuPrime, Odyssey, Pass Labs, Reference 3A, Nagra, Genesis, PAP, Seraphim, Thrax, Ubiq, JAF, and you get the idea.