I started shopping at REI back when there was only one store and it was in a wedge shaped building at the corner of 12th and Madison. This was decades before they started carrying bikes, but if you wanted camping, skiing, and mountaineering kit it was pretty much the only show in town. On any given day you stood decent odds of running into one or the other of the Whittaker bros, Fred Beckey, Ome Daiber, Harvey Manning, or any of a million other leading lights in the outdoors world. The place was run by people who knew their stuff, people serious about outdoor sports who'd been there and done that and knew what worked and what was bunk. They sold the best of what was available at the time, and a great many of the people who went on to found outdoor equipment companies of their own cut their teeth at REI back in the day.
In the many decades since they have expanded to the farthest reaches of the known universe and there's probably an REI in BFE wherever, along with a Starbucks and hordes of affluent ******s looking to get their outdoor vibe on. I still shop there from time to time, mainly because of the dividend and geographical convenience. It's been ages since I had the sense that the people working there really knew their stuff and had the personal experience to back it up. It feels a little too corporate franchisey for my taste but that's just me. I've never bought any cycling kit there but over the decades I've spent a minor fortune on backpacking gear.
I hate to say it but LBS aren't necessarily any better. Some are, some aren't, and some suck like a remora. When it comes to buying advice I'm far more inclined to spend time scouring the web for product info than I am to trust someone working at a LBS, unless I know them to be particularly knowledgeable and unbiased. I've overheard enough bravo sierra coming out of the mouths of random employees to take everything they say with an entire mine of salt. Same with maintenance advice. A few really do know their stuff and are honest about the limits of their knowledge, and a whole lot more suffer from the Dunning-Krueger effect regarding what they do and don't know. Caveat emptor and be prepared to mercilessly humiliate anyone who pretends to know more than they actually do.