Interesting thread. I have also pondered the whole customer service thing in the gun industry. BTW, I send my wife to buy the mattress, and she sends me to buy the car.
I thought that I had found the perfect gun shop, but... It started by meeting the owner at his table at a gun show. I liked his product selection and he seemed to have decent prices. He gave me his card and when I happened to be in his area on business I stopped in. I asked if he had the new S&W Sigma 9mm, no, but he would be happy to order it for me. This was in the good ole days of the Brady waiting period, so he gave me a price and I said do it.
The pistol came in with one 17 rd mag with a coupon to send in for the second mag. He explained that it might be either a 17 rd or a 10 rd, no way to know. I paid with a credit card (no extra charge for using) and left. I no sooner got in the car than I had to go back in and compliment him on not charging extra for the card and not keeping the mag coupon for himself. The second mag came and it was a 17 rd, so like I said I thought I had found the perfect gun shop.
Over the next couple of years I bought a Russian SKS and 4 more handguns from him. He had the SKS in stock, but he ordered all the handguns and I didn't even ask for a price ahead of time. He even gave me 5 boxes of Lawman 9mm ammo on one purchase. It was some kind of promotion, which my purchase didn't exactly qualify for but he did it anyway.
He later tranfered a handgun in for me that I had purchased at a live on-site auction out of state and didn't charge me anything. Like I said, the perfect gun shop.
For various reasons, I only visited his shop a few times over several years without buying anything. I had gotten hooked on attending gun shows and was able to exercise patience in finding good deals from private sellers instead of scratching my itch at his shop. Besides his shop being 20 miles away is no longer convenient to drop in on.
Now this shop was the perfect gun store only because the owner is an honest man, with fair prices. There was always guys hanging around the shop regardless of time of day or day of the week. I made no attempt to hang around and talk guns. I knew what I wanted walking in the door and he ordered it for me. Other than the SKS, I never came close to buying anything he had under the glass, and he had a pretty decent selection of new and used guns, just none that caught my fancy on any particular day.
If I wanted to talk guns with someone besides my shooting friends I would go to one of the chain stores. I have also worked at two different stores (including Dick's) and I did it to feed my habit. As a store employee, I enjoyed talking guns, because that's one of the reasons I worked there. I didn't care if I ever sold a firearm (no commission), and that has been my experience with other chain store employees.
Unfortunately the traditional gun shop IMO is a dying breed. The margins are so low and there are so many hobby FFL holders around that customer service is not the answer. I think the best answer that I have read on this thread is the one about the combo gun store, target range, book store, coffee shop. poppy