I'm not gonna lie, I've never been a fan of the NB stores. They remind me of a trendy mall store, everything's hard to find because of the store layout (like Abercrombie or something) and the employees for the most part seem somewhat aloof. Like a mall store, ya get the greeter when you walk in, and then a row of shoulder to shoulder polo shirt clad clerks at the checkout. Given the choice between them and Midwest as "LHBS", I've always gone to the latter.
That said, I've been a big fan of BTV since I started brewing. I learned a ton from watching Keeler and Dawson, and Chip. If this rumor about Chip turns out to be true, it'll be a sad day. I don't think any of the other employees at either the St. P or Mpls stores would be good replacements. I don't mean any of this to offend any NB employees that may read this, it's just my observations and opinions as a customer.
I, for one, am waiting for someone in the loop (Chip, DonO) to chime in on this, and hope it isn't true. If it is, it's sucks.