OR,
I go to Summit Hut periodically when I make it to Tucson. The folks there are pleasant, enthusiastic, polite and typically young and inexperienced about most stuff. They do know the stock however. Unfortunately, a lot of the staff are more than willing to give you the benefit of their inexperience. My nephew bought a pack there for a two week trip we had planned in the Sierra. The pack turned out to be poorly fitted and the poor guy suffered for two weeks with raw spots on his hipbones. The climbing section occupies about 5% of the total floorspace. Clothing occupies probably 40% of the floorspace. I never plan on going there for advice, just to buy stuff I have already researched. Their prices aren't bad and like I said, the staff are eager to help.

Summit Hut has evolved the same as REI. I lived in the Seattle area for about 35 years. When I first joined REI (or the Co-op as it was called back then) in the early 50's they had one store about the size of a two car garage on the second floor of a building above the Green Apple Pie restaurant on Pike Street in Seattle. They had recently moved there from a defunct service station just up the street. At the time I joined, there were just over 5000 members nation wide who had joined to purchase good climbing gear. I have seen it morph into the WalMart of outdoor gear and loose its central position as a climbing gear shop. The membership is now literally greater than the population of Seattle.