As you can see from the variety of opinions.....a LFS can take its pick which segment of the market to cater to. All aquarists are not the same and each has his own priorities.....for me......it's
#1)..... selection (especially different species of sps)
#2)..... well.....there is no #2. I couldn't care less about price ( if I want it, I'll bring out the visa), .....customer service ( I prefer if they didn't talk to me),....knowledge (In most cases, I know far more than they do). To me....a LFS is nothing more than a place to purchase stock.
I travel to LA at least once every other month....and I will drive anywhere in the basin to a LFS that may have something different......the only stores that are worthy of a consisant visit for what I'm looking for are....reefermadness, tongs, tropical illusion, and frag farmers.
What's important to one reefer is an anoyance to another. A LFS can't please everyone....they must pick who they wish to target. An example would be.....someone above mentioned their loving the free frags from reefermadness.....I hate the free frags. I'm very picky about what goes in my tank.....and......I don't need a bunch of frags that I didn't order....I'd prefer a reduction on shipping or something like that. SEE.....different strokes for different folks.