I just left the New Balance store at Hilldale. This review is based off of this interaction.
I went there with the intention of buying a new pair of athletic shoes. When I walked in there were two salesmen working. One was already helping a customer. There other one was working on some paperwork at the sales counter. Neither one greeted me. No big deal - they were busy. So I went to the mens shoe area. I am fairly confident that I was acting like a potential customer - picking up shoes, looking at price tags, reading the signs indicating what the shoes are designed for, etc. After a couple of minutes I starting looking around for one of the salesmen. The salesman who was originally at the sales counter was now standing in front of a TV watching a football game. So... I went back to looking at shoes and waited... and waited... and waited... Nothing. I kept looking over at the salesman hoping to get his attention. However he was still glued to the TV. Mind you this is a fairly open concept store so both salesmen could clearly see me looking at shoes. I realize I could have walked over and asked the TV watcher for assistance. However, I don't feel it's unreasonable for a salesperson to actually try and sell something. I refuse to beg someone to sell me something. If this guy worked for me I would be pissed.
I chose to try and purchase my new athletic shoes at a locally owned store. I have nothing against big box stores, however I like to support the little local guys and gals when I can. I usually don't mind paying a little more with the local guys because the service is typically better than the big box stores. Thanks to the dude at New Balance I must now go to Dick's Sporting Goods for new shoes. Ugh!