Could be rough, but if they are good and customer friendly I think they do well. I am lucky to have a pretty awesome LBS in my town. It sells Trek exclusively, but the draw is their customer interaction and service. There are people that come from a few hours away, passing many other bike shops, just to get their bikes worked on.

Now they also do something that is a little unusual. If you buy a new bike from them you get lifetime maintenance/adjustments for free (you do have to pay for any parts of course).

I think it is insane that a bike shop would put a used/patched tube into a tire for repair. My thought is a bike shop should put a new tube in not a used.

Amazon or any dot com still can not provide mechanical service.

It wasn't even a good patch, either - I seriously found out after I was riding the bike and noticed that there was a noticeable recurrent mild 'bump' with each wheel revolution. It got annoying enough that after a week of it, I actually deflated the tube to inspect it, which is how I found out that the patch was the cause of the 'bump'. (My patches never do that!)

"The small shops, shops with rude service, the shops without the big brands are really going to have a hard time making money. The good ones will do ok. "

Just big brands won't do it. Rude service is a killer! Recently went into a LBS with my wife, intending to purchase a pair of S-works road shoes, so $400 purchase. The TWO guys at the counter at least said hi, but that was it. I found their shoe are, took down the s-works display shoe, even tried on the display shoe, discussed with the wife. One of the two walked to the back of the store to help someone that just walked in(the only other customer in the store!) I decided to leave, and on our way out, the guy left at counter said hi to us again, nothing else. They lost what shoulda been an easy $400 sale, and I will never go back to that LBS again. Its a shame, but this is not far from what has gotten to be 'normal' at an LBS.