It isn't about the store, it's about the customer.
I disagree.
There can't be a successful, long-term relationship unless the store owner, the store employees and the customers are
all having their needs met. Making it work requires that each of the parties understands that they have a role to play and that their happiness is dependent upon the happiness of the other two.
There are too many owners only focused on "here and now" and how they can scratch a few more dollars out of the customer and how to avoid investing in their staff. Mostly these people are hobbiests, unfortunate enough to have invested in their dream without understanding that it has to be run as a business and disillusioned when they discover just how hard it really is to be successful. We might all have been better off if they had remained consumers and stayed out of the business end of the industry.
There are too many incompetent employees with no ability or plan to improve themselves. Many of these people simply don't have the capacity to master the multi-faceted nature of being a dive shop monkey and are better suited to work the fry station at Burger Heaven. Unable (and, usually, unwilling) to learn how to do their job on their own, they find themselves juxtaposed between the disappointed avarice of the owners and the conniving greed of the customers whereupon they are eventually numbed into the mindless agony of the wage slave.
There are too many customers unwilling to pay for the level of service they demand. Happy to spend an hour in the their LDS trying on BCD after BCD, yet fully intent upon making the purchase from the less expensive online vendor. Unwilling to spend the time actually studying the student materials they bought but happy to join the chorus complaining about the quality of their training. More interested in cyber-diving than actually getting wet and having fun while improving their skills. Demanding their LDS sell them the hot new titanium waffle fin they just read about in DiveDope magazine, only to be back two months later complaining when they discover that the joke is on them.
It's kind of like being married - you only get out of the relationship what you're willing to put into it. What applies to the store owner also applies to the employees and customers: as soon as you're more interested in taking than giving you have doomed yourself.
You should expect your local dive shop to provide you with modern training, sound advice, reliable equipment sales, competent equipment service and repair, and sponsored activities. If you aren't willing to pay (in dollars and time) for what you consume then you aren't going to get what you want - only what you deserve.
As consumers, it's hard to influence anything beyond the purchasing decision. Fortunately, the purchasing decision is an incredibly powerful tool. Wield that tool with skill and finesse and you'll find that you earn the respect you desire. Control the things you can and don't sweat the stuff you can't - if you're good at your role as a consumer, everybody else usually gets good at theirs.