I purchased a knife as a Christmas gift here for a family member. I called ahead to see if they had what I was looking for and was told that they did, but when I came in they only had a display one available. They acted like they were doing me a huge favor to sell me the already opened knife with a sticker fused to it and no box. This did not really bother me though and when I left I was basically happy with my purchase.
What really irks me is that when I was checking out they asked me for my email address and some other (what seemed like) non-essential personal information. I inquired why they needed this information and they told me that it was so they could send (?) me information about the warranty. I reluctantly gave it to them. I have not received any information about the warranty on the knife, but I did receive a "Welcome to Sur La Table" advertisement email several days later. I find asking me my email address, being misleading (to be generous) about why it is needed, and then surreptitiously adding me to their email address to be offensive and unacceptable.
The store has a lot of interesting stuff and it is probably possible to have a good experience here, but I would be extremely skeptical of anything the staff tells you and definitely not give them any personal information!