When I was starting out the LHBS was a high-end cooking gadget and coffee/spice/tea/cigar store...but the owner was a FANATICAL homebrewer. At first the supplies took up a 10' x 18" shelving area and two shelves in the walk-in freezer. Charlie was the ONLY one that helped the homebrewers so if he was not there, you were SOL, but he was amazing. 10 years later before I left Tulsa, not only had the homebrew section taken up about half the store and I am pretty sure he the owner was a partner in very successful brick-and-mortar and online store based in the same city. The funny thing was Charlie would always have gear for sale that was not in the store because he was always upgrading and tweaking his personal brewery. Here in NWI my LHBS is only about 2 minutes from me and they are a combo Hydroponics and brew shop. Competitive bulk grain, yeast and equipment pricing but they use the pre-package JW Carlson stuff for specialty grains and canned extracts...not competitive at all. The two guys that work there are helpful even if the one has probably spent a bit much time sampling product from the non-brewing portion of the business. More than 2/3 of the store is dedicated to non-brewing business but I have yet to see anyone actually buying from that stock. Like a good local hardware store, I give them as much business as I can justify. Bought a sack of 2-row, some yeasts and a specialty grain or two but with the Chicago group buy, it is just hard to justify more than that.