Friend of mine had a small shop here in NJ. He was a keyboard player so he was into the latest things, but as he told me it seemed as soon as he got the latest greatest keyboard something else would come out and he was stuck with the older model. It actually happened to me. Bought an Ensoniq piano from him and it was almost exactly what I wanted so I settled for it. Don't you know a month later they came out with exactly what I had asked for ! He was a good guy and begged the Ensoniq rep to exchange it for me and they did. Liked it so much I bought a second one. He got lucky and sold the first one quick.
Too much money tied up in stock will kill any business.
I agree that if GC or Sam Ash had any knowlegable sales rep to demo arrangers they would sell much better.