I was a competitive local runner for many years and bought a lot of shoes, never had a negative experience in my local running store. The store and surrounding stores always had a wide selection of trainers, flats, spikes you name it.
Over the last 3 to 4 years I was basically out of the sport with a myriad of knee and back issues. Over the last year I made a lot of changes on my own to my running and have been running pain free with higher volume than ever before.
That brings me to the subject at hand. I have had to try numerous shoes since my return to running and have only recently found a few models that work for me. Throughout this process I have found running stores today barely carry any models or sizes that I wish to try, and are often incredibly rude and condescending in letting me know they don't. Furthermore I have had one store sell me shoes at a smaller size than I needed because "they were perfect for me" and refused to return or exchange them after one solitary run. ( The owner got very aggressive and insulted me etc etc.)
I can only conclude running stores are on the way out and cater to the most casual runners out there, with little to no regard for customer service. Will buy all my shoes online for now. Any one else have this revelation?