Microcenter has a pretty good reputation for having knowledgeable enough staff. Plus, discovery tends to be a lot better in a curated brick and mortar than online. And sometimes you just want to see and buy cool stuff that you didn't know you wanted.
Except (?) that it's not like you can do more than look at shrink-wrapped boxes.
Even record stores generally let you play albums on a private turntable before you buy them.
It's just so weird to me that someone looking to buy a significant component for their desktop machine or whatever wouldn't do loads of research first. Buying a GPU, for example, during window shopping seems almost unhinged. But everyone's experience is different, and that's a good thing.
Not a great comparison, record stores sell exactly that, just records and each record uses the same player to play. They're not going to let you unwrap a $2000 graphics card, but they might let you touch a mouse you're looking to buy. There are clear differences here where not everything at these stores is just their shrink wrapped boxes, but are often on display, its all all black and white.
There's nothing stopping people from doing all of their Youtube research then walking into their Microcenter and buying it in person.
Its not like PC gamers who often use online stores have just forgotten to do any prior research when buying in store as opposed to online. So yeah I would do loads of research, then I'd go instore and buy it and look at what else they have on offer.
The Cambridge, MA location still has an aisle of keyboards and mice outside of their packaging. It's very nice to be able to hold and feel those peripherals as part of the shopping experience.
