I didn't have the mobility until about 1961 to go around and view color sets. We did however read newspaper advertisements and also see color sets in family members homes prior to this time. From that point forward, we viewed color sets in major department stores in Milwaukee, such as Gimbels, Boston Store and Schusters. I recall vividly sets from most of the major manufactures set up displaying the same program in prime time hours in dept. stores. Probably about a dozen models. We spent hours evaluating the colors from each set.
The smaller stores and mom and pop shops would turn on the color sets upon request, but for the most part, in small independent shops, the sets were off, and maybe only one set was hooked up to an antenna. I do recall color sets displayed in window store fronts, but they were off. In the small shops, often times rabbit ear antennas were used to display color, while the dept. stores with larger budgets had all the sets rumnning with distribution amplifiers.
Independent mom and pop store.