Online retailers ARE supermarkets! That's the whole point...

The trouble is, people are unrealistically going into brick and mortar stores, and expecting online prices. If you give up ANY expectation of brick and mortar service, knowledgeable sales staff and stock available to demo, sure, a brick and mortar store can compete. But you want him to pay what a knowledgeable salesman costs hourly (they don't JUST make commission! and that adds to the cost, or deducts from the margin, as well - either way the B&M store suffers), you want him to unbox an expensive unit and let you demo it (whereupon, half the time, he has to sell it as a 'demo'ed product - less margin, again).

If the lowest possible price is your main criteria, why on earth do you expect any service? Walk in, pick up the sealed box, and take it to the checkout counter to get scanned. Period.

If you want to talk with a knowledgeable professional, actually hear it played well, play it yourself, don't expect that to cost exactly the same as the online retailer, who provides NONE of that.

I still don't get it... you wouldn't play a gig for free, but you want the B&M store to do that...