Sears does this in some locations. They'll have a small storefront with a low amount of inventory. Some best-selling products and seasonal products sit on the floor/shelves to be seen, there are product specialists working in the store who know the catalog, and you order what you're looking for. The employee will answer your questions, then the item gets shipped to the store or to your home.

It's not a huge operation, but they do this in a lot of small towns across America, towns that can't support a full store but would still like the benefits of having a location to visit.

A lot of the focus of Sony's stores seemed to be on the showroom aspect though I haven't been in since the one in the Metreon in SF closed. And I imagine it worked better for Sony when they were better regarded as a style and technology trendsetter. In general, a consumer electronics manufacturer would be more presumably be more than happy to sell you something at the showroom--especially at full list price. There's no real reason not to. (If they discount they could get into conflicts with their distributors but that's not much of an issue so long as you're not discounting.)

I think the Danish furniture retailer Bolia works like that. They have showrooms you can visit but to actually purchase anything you go to the website, either when you get home or from a kiosk in the shop.

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Tesco tried out a grocery store version of this: http://www.designboom.com/weblog/cat/16/view/15557/tesco-vir...

It seems like most shoppers want the immediate gratification of getting their stuff right away so I think it is hard to find the right mix of products.

> Do you know if anybody has tried a showroom/ship model for those sorts of purchases at any scale?

Britain's Argos comes to mind.

Dell was doing this at one point. I don't know whether they still do.