I personally have never had a prob with the staff at either HFF's, and in fact prefer to be allowed to look around the shop, without assistants annoying me with "can i help you, what sort of fish are you looking for, etc etc", then when I'm ready to purchase, I'm quite happy to get a assistant to help.
I guess it's a happy medium (yes, I'm a retail shop owner), but being harassed by staff (dick smith?) the moment you walk into a shop is not good retail IMO.