In the 1990s, the B&H storefront was a relatively modest-size space on I think 17th St just off 6th Av (this area was considered the Photo District then). IIRC, they had stuff like darkroom supplies, paper, chemicals out on display that you could just pick up and take to checkout, and some glass cases with equipment, but for most of their equipment stock you went to the counter and asked a clerk about it, and someone would fetch the item down from their storage/warehouse area to the front for you to look at. They didn't have the narrow-storefront-with-long-glass-cases look of what I think of as an old line photo store (like say Willoughby's, which I think I was taken to once as a child).
In the late 1990s B&H moved and opened the superstore, which was more like a contemporary electronics store in its layout, spacious and let you walk around and gawk at things. I didn't have the money to spend on a lot of stuff, and also left the NY/NJ area soon after, so never actually spent much time at that store. They have been very successful in growing and surviving retail trends all this time, in part (IMHO) due to customer service.
