wwest makes some excellent points. i do want to add to his comment about
lfs. a good
lfs will very often try to talk a hobbyist out of buying a product, if they sense the hobbyist is not ready or they truly do not believe in that product. if you do find one of those stores that care more than just selling as much as they can, you should try to give them as much of your business as possible, because at the end of the day, they do need to sell to stay in business. it is the good
lfs that will keep the bad
lfs from taking over and just sell what they want at whatever price they want.
