Cat,
Amazon.com doesn't have any bricks and mortar buildings. (They used to have some clever commercials about searching for a building large enough to house their selection.) Barnes & Noble predates the internet, and has been a mainstay in shopping malls around here for decades. We didn't have one locally until about a dozen years ago, but I used to shop them when I was in the Navy, and liked browsing them when I went to the St. Louis area. They have some up there that are large enough to have their own zip code.
Nav,
I've never counted, but a typical store around here would have a couple hundred in the classical department. They usually combine classical, jazz, and easy listening into one section, with new-wave and jazz combined as one grouping. The pop/rock and hip-hop/rap sections are usually five - ten times as large as the combined classical/jazz/easy listening section. Movie soundtracks are usually in their own section, and it is usually about the same size as the classical/jazz/easy listening - but that includes a lot of rock- and rap-style soundtracks as well.
The best selection for classical previously was Hastings, but their classical selection has been shrinking over the past few years (I assume the reflects the market, so B&N may wind up doing the same thing). Hastings is a bargain store in many regards, so much of their selection is just compilation albums (Mozart's Greatest Hits, Classical Hits, Beethoven's Best, etc.,). They also sell used CD's, which are intermingled amongst the new ones. I'd gotten to the point I hated to shop there.
We haven't had a pure music store in years, except for a 'new and used' place that I seldom visit - I've not liked the service there. We used to have two of them - Camelot and Disk Jockey - but they hadn't had much of a classical selection in years.
B&N has changed that now, I would put the number of offerings at the new store in the thousands - and some excellent selections. They even have a few of the EMI Budget Boxes (although I already have the ones I saw). Their Mahler selection alone includes at least one recording of each symphony (including #10 and
Das Lied von der Erde), with several offerings of the more familiar ones (#1, #2, & #5). I was impressed.
BigJon,
I haven't seen a Tower Records store in years around here. There were some up in the St. Louis area, as I recall, but I never frequented it. There used to be two in Berkeley, CA, when I was stationed out there in the Navy, one of which was nothing but Classical music. I loved the selection, hated the service.
V/R
Shapley
I wish there were B&N stores in Winnipeg. Very poor classical music selections in the "physical" stores of brick and mortar. Best Buy is the store that probably has the largest and most varied (but not nearly large and not nearly varied enough IMO).
I've learnt that there is a place in Bangalore called Beethoven & Mozart (or something like that...still don't have the details, though).