In NOLA. Safety seems fine to me on most roads so long as you keep an eye out for idiots, and I spend a lot of time on lesser roads. Though the pavement will eat a narrow tire alive.
Most of my experiences have been with
Mikes on magazine - knows a lot, doesn't sell things you don't need, but acts like bike mechanics is an arcane art for ascended wizards. Sells Sun, Origin-8, probably some other arcane stuff I didn't recognize.
Bike World in Jefferson - Good service and selection, but on the bad side I keep having to bring the bike in with problems - some of which don't appear till they work on it like the terminally loose chain on the IGH they waranteed by relacing the wheel with better spokes. major brands, fuji, raleigh, probably other stuff I didn't look too closely at.
The Bike Shop on Freret - sells Sun or refurbished and overpriced box-store bikes, claims to specialize in fixed/SS. Will helpfully sell you a spraypainted Walmart bike with a flimsy SS hub jury-rigged on for close to the retail value new and give fairly good service on it.
Westbank Cycles in Kenner - Major brands, Felt, Worksman, etc. Horrible location to bike to/from, but in their defense, that describes the entire city of Kenner, and they are located on a bus route. Good service. Tried very hard to make the cycletruck I got from them a good buy, until even they admitted it was obviously a lemon (though they assure me that they don't normally see that much fall apart on one).
A girl who transferred to UNO is trying to set up a bike club on campus. Apparently they need one more UNO student to sign on to make it official, if anyone knows anybody interested.