This goes directly back to my discussion about commodities, if price is the ONLY consideration, we will end up exactly as Chaz Underhay predicts.

Ferrari cars are obscenely priced, but they are products not commodities, few will contradict that there is something quite special about their cars. They will survive because even selling a couple of them a year will cover the overhead on a small store. This is not true of high end audio equipment, selling a couple of cables, even ones priced to near silliness will not cover rent and salary of a small store.

So if a big box retailer decides to carry high end there will be two consequences; 1. That product will slowly devolve to the lowest common denominator, i.e. it will become mass market competitive or in my opinion, junk. 2. The local shop selling specialty products will see their profits shrink to point where they will prefer to close rather than poor endless monies to a lost cause.