You never forget your first time. Ask any audiophile about that first moment hearing music through a good hi-fi system—how it rocked their world and changed their life. Maybe it was at a friend’s parents’ house when they were a kid. Often, though, it was the first time they found themselves in a hi-fi dealership, back in the day.

Yes, back then, hi-fi dealerships played a critical role in exposing people to good sound. According to industry stalwart Anthony Chiarella, they still do—indeed, they must. The industry, though, faces serious challenges—including continuing to introduce newcomers to hi-fi. He shared his perspective with me in a recent Skype call.

Chiarella used a film—not music—to illustrate the role dealerships play in transformative hi-fi epiphanies. In the 1988 film Gorillas in the Mist, a man who captures baby gorillas to sell to zoos asks angry primatologist Dian Fossey (Sigourney Weaver) where she first saw a gorilla. “The zoo, wasn’t it?” His point: If she never had seen that gorilla in a zoo, she would never have embarked on her career.

The metaphor evokes odd images—hunters with nets pursuing amplifiers through the steamy jungle; loudspeakers behind bars at dealerships—but it gets the point across.

“If you can’t go someplace and hear and see and touch and taste what we do, how do you get involved?” Chiarella asked. “How do you get a kid who has earbuds and an iPhone to understand what hi-fi is all about if they can’t hear it? Our industry’s survival demands that there be places where we can see and hear the stuff.”

Chiarella started in hi-fi when he was 16, on the sales floor of a famous—or infamous—brick’n’mortar dealer, Crazy Eddie’s. He went on to work at Lyric Hi-Fi, Harvey’s, and Woodbridge Stereo. After college, he went to Wall Street for a while, but hi-fi beckoned. In 1995, he founded Specialty Sound and Vision in Bergen County, New Jersey, where today he services 25 brands including Dynaudio, EAT, Octave, and Moon by Simaudio. He wears other hats, too: He’s director of sales and marketing for Brinkmann Audio, the German manufacturer of fine turntables and audio components, and recently, he took on a similar role for Danish manufacturer Gryphon. He also works with audio distributor VANA.

Chiarella remembers an Esquire magazine story from around 1979 about dream jobs for guys. Hi-fi store owner topped the list. Those were different times. The industry has changed, and it continues to change. As I’ve mentioned more than once in this space, hi-fi sales have been shifting online. “Online” didn’t exist when Chiarella started out (although mail order, which is similar, was a thing back then).

Online is a fine place to sell less-costly items. But, for traditional hi-fi dealerships, overhead is too high and volume too low to make a living selling cheaper products, particularly those also sold online and in chain stores. There’s rent, utilities, a cleaning service, a couple of well-paid salespeople, furnishings for a well-appointed showroom, food and drinks for special events. There’s the cost of demo equipment and store inventory. Those expenses can be calculated per customer or per sale. A dealer once told me he calculated his cost per demo song.

A customer may spend hours auditioning a product, picking the dealer’s brain—then some of those customers walk out and buy the item online or from a dealer in another state who illicitly offers a discount. Some customers call dealers all over the country seeking a discounted price, a practice Chiarella calls “dialing for dollars.” “It’s happening literally right now—there is a customer somewhere getting an audition with no intention of buying from that dealer,” Chiarella said. Occasionally, a distributor may sell the item direct to the customer, at a discount, leaving the dealer out to dry. Not good. What happens then when the customer requires after-sales service?

Many audio salons stock less-expensive items, but often they’re not set up for demonstrations. Demonstrations are too time- and resource-intensive if the dealer’s going to make, say, $100 from the sale.

Those customers aggressively pursuing the lowest price also aren’t good for the industry, Chiarella said: “If it’s all about price, then our industry goes away, because it doesn’t pay at that point for a retailer to keep everything on display and have a salesman and a pretty showroom and overhead.”

If you’ve ever felt a snooty vibe or felt unwelcome at a hi-fi store, this is probably why. Some dealers have grown cynical. Which isn’t good for the industry.

In order for this situation to turn around, customers need to recognize the value of local dealers—and support them. Dealers must do their part by offering valuable services: educating buyers, helping with setup and system matching, staying in touch after the sale. Be useful. That leads to long-term relationships, future upgrades, and more sales. Both parties benefit.

There’s one problem with the model, though—the gorilla in the room, you might say. Less-expensive items are what bring in new customers, to the hobby and to the dealership, which is essential. How do you bring in new people if dealerships aren’t selling what new customers want to buy?

Here’s an approach one dealer is taking to selling less-expensive equipment, Chiarella told me. “If you want to hear it, if you want me to set it up, if you want me to demo it, if you want me to service it, it’s $150 an hour.” That’s not a promising approach, I’m thinking.

One thing dealers are doing to bring new people into hi-fi is diversify. As hi-fi has stagnated, the custom-install business has boomed. In-wall speakers and whole-house systems may not provide the best-possible sound, but it’s music in the home, and it gets customers in the door who someday may want something better. “The customer might say, ‘Give me one room where I can have great sound,'” Chiarella said. “That’s really going to be one of the things that hopefully will help us survive.” Chiarella has “very positive feelings” about the industry’s future. That big question, though, remains unanswered. “What about the kid who doesn’t get to hear it, doesn’t ever get that epiphany? Why does he buy it?” Chiarella asked. “If dealers don’t survive, this goes away. Where did you see a gorilla for the first time?”

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