I don't think that this is a fair summation. I find that there are more good LFS than bad. One could say the same thing about advice on the internet.
And with information from the internet, one needs to bring their own common sense and research ability. But that's another topic.
All advice should be taken with a grain of salt. There is a lot of information on reefkeepingb a lot of it disagrees, and people have success with different methods.
Everyones experiences are different, I whole heartedly agree. Additionally, if you've seen much of what I say, or my signature, I'm an extremely firm believer in the fact that there are no firm beliefs in this hobby.
Having been fishkeeper for 27 years now, both salt and fresh... I don't trust a thing from 9/10 LFS. In my experience, having more LFS in my county than most people have in their entire state -- I have a lot of experience with people who give and get very bad advice.
I've heard people be told "oh yeah, that Angel will be very happy in your 10 gallon tank", "Oh you have algae? Just take your rock out and scrub it under hot tap water", "Angels don't eat corals", "The dottyback you just bought is shredding up all the fish in your biocube? I've never heard that before". -- And that's just in the last few years.
I can go on and on, citing literally two decades of bad information from fresh and salt water. From saying "oh a 100 gallon is PLENTY of space for a Red Tail Catfish/Arowana" to shops getting busted for selling fish that are illegal in my state (Piranha, Gar, FW Stingrays, etc etc).
At a very young age I realized LFS were not the place to learn information, so I hit the library and read EVERYTHING about fish. Basically, i've been distrusting LFS since I was about 10 years old. Unfortunately, my experience with shifty shops is quite long. The things I overhear shops tell new hobbyists is astonishing -- Not the kind of things you'd tell someone you want to stay a customer. Sadly, that's my experience.
EDIT: That said, in my area I can proudly say we have 3 good shops, with very knowledgeable staff. Additionally we have some of the larger coral distributors like Vivid, ASD, Unique Corals. We also have a 1/2 mile long road with giant wholesaler warehouses on both sides of the street, called wholesaler row -- SDC, Quality Marine, to name 2 of about 10. So because we have the largest group of wholesalers in any state, less than 40 miles from my house, we have more LFS than any area in the country.
With that many shops, we have a LOT of shops come and go, some last only a year, some hang on by a thread for years even though they have a horrible reputation. Few thrive, and I love those few -- But until you can separate the BS salesman looking to flip a sick fish and dry goods with a 500% markup, I advice everybody to steer clear of LFS. The people who get burned are always the new hobbyists.
In large densely populated areas, you have increased everything -- That includes bad LFS and people ripe to make a quick $20 off of, x times per day.
