AL45, I too notice that most gun shops around here cater much more to the polymer, striker-fired, AR, etc. crowd. I have several shops I drop in from time to time, along with Cabelas. To be fair, Cabelas does have everything so I can't bash them (other than their prices)... but one shop that is fairly new (3-4 years) has been doing great business locally. There is a reason for it... the owner hired two great guys to manage it and he doesn't care about producing a profit right away, he just wants to grow the business. The managers take care of anything anyone needs, have gotten blue label/LEO pricing from almost all major manufacturers, and to boot their price is on par with the cheapest gunbroker price when you figure shipping and transfer fees on all firearms I've checked. At any rate, they are a tactical wonder store. They occasionally obtain a nice pistol to display and sell (at a price that is less than competitive, I guess they're counting on impulse purchases) but mostly they carry a lot of ARs, Mossberg shockwaves, Glocks, Sig P320s, and CZ P10s. A smattering of 1911s, usually the likes of the Sig Scorpion with synthetic grips and duracoat finishes. No revolvers. No milsurp. Actually no rifles other than ARs or the latest wonder tactical precision sniper bolt gun.
The other shop is much older, and does still have a passable selection of revolvers. Almost all of those but a smattering are S&W though, and virtually none of those blued, with only a few Rugers on hand. They used to have a whole display rack dedicated to lever action rifles of all flavors, from the cheaper Marlin 336 to some of the nicer Henry, Marlin 1895s, and on occasion a Winchester '94 used. Their prices were really high, but they were usually quite negotiable and you could get down to almost reasonable range. These days? I walked in a few weeks ago and found 2 centerfire lever action rifles, and one was that ungodly "tactical" thing. Their revolver selection had shrank even more. The only thing they had going for them is they had a healthy selection of 1911s from Springfield, Ruger, RIA, and a couple others. Oh, and they had zero milsurp that I could find (they used to have a good selection, but as little as a year ago they still had a couple of the main rifles like the enfield, mauser, Springfield, et al laying around).
I'm afraid these guys have to cater to what makes them money. It is business, and I understand it. I make custom holsters on the side, and I wonder at some of the things people want me to make. But alas, most people wonder at me preferring a thumb break pancake holster everywhere, even when I CCW. I will happily make an open top avenger, or an IWB appendix cross-draw for the right price... even though I would never carry that way.