RE: How friendly is your local shop??
I've been to some good shops and some bad. The shop I go to now (French Creek Outfitters) is very good. They are an independent shop, but have very nice mounts and a very big store that has everything from paintball, to hunting, fishing, and camping. They have indoor dart ranges, a 20 yard set up range and a 35 yard 3d range upstairs, along with an indoor handgun range. The staff is very helpful in all departments and the archery staff is always very friendly. That may be because they see $$$ when I walk in, but they are still always friendly even when I'm justthere to look around.
It's kind of like a miniature Cabelas, with better customer service and the staff is more knowledgable.