trackbeo wrote:

the dealer I don't understand is the Hallandale Beach (FL) store at the Gulfstream race track/casino.

Lots of $$$ in South Florida and the only shop left in FL now that Palm Beach is r.i.p.  Rationale for existence I suppose.

Yes, it's Abt. 

I talked to them yesterday (and bought a floor model BS2), and apparently they're having a "spat" with B&O NA so each has removed references to each other from their respective websites.  The sales guy said they are still fully committed to the brand (and they were definitely were behaving like a dealer - ordered a "wheely" remote for me)... just some details being worked out and negotiation hardball, or, the cynic/pessimist in me thinks, they know better than to bad mouth the brand when they have a show room full of Eclipses, Horizons, BL90s and BL50s (and who knows how much stock is in their warehouse).  

I also think that B&O probably needs Abt more than vice-versa.  I live a few miles away, buy all my home goods there and routinely stop in to see the latest and greatest every/any home good you could think of (wall sized pac-man, $10K mattress sets, $50K ranges).  The show room gets smaller with each remodel, and it's also usually empty whenever I'm there (and this store is busy all the time, every day).  Then again, even though there's almost always people in their $100K home theater, I wonder how many of those they ever sell...  

Speaking about oddly situated stores, what about Cincinnati?  It's a nice enough city, but it never struck me as particularly wealthy or a shopping destination.  Maybe the horse farmers in northern Kentucky like B&O? 

Abt is still a dealer, products are back on the website.

I was in contact with B and O at Abt yesterday and all seemed normal with respect to B and O. I have been shopping there for years for both B and O and other products. Had not seen this thread until after I was in contact with them. The products are not listed on their web page at this point, or based on reading this thread perhaps I should say they have been removed again. I plan on placing an order with them tomorrow for a BeoRemote One.

Well, look at it this way...if there are no stores to buy B&O from, then all those pesky customer complaints that the products don't work right just magically vanish! Damned plebeians anyway. 

There are many, many people with no store locally any more. 

No stores = No brand recognition

No brand recognition = No demand

No demand = More store closures

It's a tailspin.