The shop I hung out at in high school was like that in some ways. The sales area was neat, but the shop and display cases were pretty chaotic. And there was a solid smell of mechanical things- Grease etc.
And the shop owner always had a bit of time for anyone that wanted to learn anything. He'd explain as he worked. Stuff like answering just what made the campagnolo hubs so much beter, or at least that much more expensive. He just handed me one and told me to feel how smooth the bearings moved. No big mysteries, and no "secrets" about how stuff worked.
I'd been working in the shop I'm at now for about 6 months - My total experience in bike retail- When I realized I was doing the same sort of stuff. (Very small shop, and at the time I was pretty much the manager/mechanic /salesguy..-long story) If anyone knows what ever happened to Dennis Obrien from bicycle corner in Arlington Mass. I'd like to thank him.
So the shop I'm at runs pretty much the old fashioned way, We all work on stuff, so the selling guy is often the mechanic, and we try to build some long term customers. I can't tell you much about the smells, my sense of smell has been pretty poor for a long time.
One of my happiest moments was on a day when I'd been busy, and had lots of grease everywhere, as well as bits of bike strewn about. A guy came in and after buying some little thing and a soda held his small boy up to see over the counter and said "look at this, this is what a bike shop is supposed to be"
Steve Birmingham
Lowell, Massachusetts
USA