[Say]

There's a smallish store in mid Michigan, Today's Audio, that caters to Karaoke, Dj, Home theater and Audio buffs. Every now and then I'll plop down on a sofa in the High End section, chat with one of the long term employees and listen away to their latest stuff. They have been in business for a few decades now and are wonderful to buy from. Discounts given (as in matching any lower price on the net). I tend to avoid all the Detroit stores due to their poor customer relations. I had enough of the snobs and grouches.

[gerald porzio]

If you're in NYC go to Sound by Singer. Andy Singer will roll out the red carpet when you leave.

[planet10]

Sound Hounds in Victoria, BC

dave

[timind]

There are three here in Indianapolis that I have visited.
Tone Studio downtown, the owner is extremely knowledgeable and very easy to talk to.
Ovation Audio, northside. They have a high end division where I nearly purchased a pair of Magnepan speakers. They let me take them home for an audition where I discovered they would not work for me. Knowledgeable sales people. Only mistake they made was to insult my class D amp.
Audio Solutions on the near north side. I have made purchases here.

[Noseyears]

I personally love this store:
http://www.higherfi.com/

And recently visited this one at UK,

http://www.hificorner.co.uk/stores.html

They have good deals at their ebay shop sometimes.

[Alexdad54]

The tuner guy - i believe is no longer there - and you forgot "Overture" - near I-95 in wilmington - also the HI-FI House about 2 blocks away from "Overture"

Also in the Philly area:
David Mann Audio - Downtown
Quest For Sound - Bristol Pike
Community audio - Chestnut Hill
Worldwide Stereo - Bryn Mawr.

[Upstateaudio]

In the Albany, NY area, the only one I'm aware of is Oasis Audio in Latham.  They sell Totem and Magnapan.  I don't think they are getting rich, but last I knew they seemed to be doing a decent amount of business.  There may be others that I haven't heard about.  It's been a couple years since I was out looking.

Cheers,  Jim

Oasis has been out of business for 2.5 years.

[JeffBrown]

In So Cal we have several choices but the best to me has always been Fred at Katli Audio.

[JLM]

How would you define "hi end" B & M audio stores?

For me they have to be dedicated to only home audio.  And even though I'm not a tube guy, I'd be leery if they didn't carry some tube stuff.

Based on those criteria I only know of 2 such places in all of Michigan and they both have crappy little very non-dedicated listening facilities, extremely limited selection, and very quirky tastes.  So they're of little use to me and don't know if either are still around.  I live 25 minutes from Today's Audio and am glad they're around.  But the only hi-end brands I've seen there are VMPS and Ayre. So I don't bother stopping in much to any B & M around here. 

Paradales, where are all those places you are thinking of?

Years ago we had a guy selling out of his finished basement by appointment only.  Now that's the way to keep overhead low, offer personalized service, and be able to do a civilized audition.  He cleared $1,000's per month but then got greedy and opened, you guessed it, a B & M store which has now evolved into a custom HT installation business.