Luxury experience in store....lacking? (Gucci & other brands)

Is anyone really underwhelmed by the experience of luxury shopping in stores these days? It seems to have really gone downhill.

For context, I appreciate a good handbag, including a good designer one. I have a few very expensive bags that I've picked over the years to celebrate life occasions. I love them. I just had a life milestone and wanted to celebrate by purchasing a nice bag I've had my eye on from Gucci. I live in a major city (not NYC or London, but still a decent size city with many luxury boutiques). I found the bag for 2/3 the price online, but also wanted the experience of buying the bag in person in my city. So I went to the boutique today to look at the bag. If it wowed me, I was going to buy it in the boutique for the experience, even though I'd be paying 30% more.

I went into Gucci to look at the bag today and the environment was just ... a bit shitty? I remember these boutiques used to seem very glamorous, but to be honest, it looked kind of out of date and like it hadn't been given TLC in a while. The lighting was terrible. Some of the decor had chips or blemishes or otherwise seemed kind of used/old, and the same as it looked in 2015. Bags were unceremoniously dumped inside the storage drawers under the shelves, making them not seem special at all. It was a little dirty on the floors. The bag they handed me to look at had a small but obvious defect in the piping.

It wasn't just Gucci - I walked in and around a bunch of other luxury boutiques in the same area, including a major department store, and it all just seemed a bit old and sad. The sales staff were nice and friendly, which I appreciated - but not more so than at mid-range boutiques. Overall, it didn't feel like a luxury experience. I like to browse for clothes at places like Veronica Beard, Rag & Bone, Sezane, Vince etc (which are nice but way cheaper than Gucci)- and those places honestly seemed much nicer than the luxury boutique.

Underwhelmed, I left without buying the bag. It made me wonder - Have things gone downhill? Has it always been like this? Are mid-range brands more luxurious these days? After all the recent discussion about the Dior debacle, this wasn't inspiring.