Taking your bike in the bike shop while shopping.

Even though your  bicycle was cheap, it doens'nt mean you got nothing to worry about. Unless you got a lot of money to buy a new one instead. Maybe some shop owners just envy to your bicycle and told you to just leave your bike outside their shop.

My LBS would probably recommend I bring the bike in if I were to ever leave it outside... he's had an expensive bike (his stock) stolen from inside the shop when he left the front door open when we had a heatwave and he wanted ventilation while he worked.

I wouldn't go into a bike shop that wouldn't let me bring my bike in, let alone give them my custom.

The LBS where I grew up was very small and packed with bikes, so I wouldn't take my bike in if I were going to be browsing for any amount of time obviously.

In my shop we used to pretty much insist on riders bringing their bikes in. Quite often people would be pretty laissez-faire about leaving them outside, but as we were all incredibly anal about our own bikes, we couldn't bear  to see a bike unattended outside our shop. I often brought them in myself.

I remember going to Zappi's cafe when it was in Jericho in Oxford, and attempting to leave my bike outside whilst I went in for an espresso (which I intended to drink outside with my bike!), Flavio came out from behind the counter, retrieved my bike, moved some chairs and found it a safe place near the counter!

If you want cyclists as your clientele, you need to understand firstly how easy a bike is to steal and secondly, how much we love our bikes and cater accordingly.

My local Sainsbury's often has bikes behind the security guard at the entrance. Pretty reasonable compromise.

I did the Amazon locker thing a few weeks back and was expecting it to be near the front of the store, it wasn't so I asked a staff member where it was and was told at the back of the shop and carried on wheeling my bike through the shop. I did it again in the same shop when I had an urgent need of some lucozade and didn't have a lock with me as I leave my lock in work.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxdDlM2uYc0

My LBS has a secure area where customers can leave their bikes whilst they shop in the shop or even elsewhere in the city centre. I'll quite often leave a bike with them whilst I wander around the city. Cheers Bicicielo in B'ham centre. 

On Saturday I was locking my bike up outside a bike shop in Koblenz when the staff member signalled for me to bring it in, without knowing what I was after. He then helped me fitting the lights I was buying. (Didn't need help but it did half the time). As well as dealing with me entirely in English.

LBS near me has customer use d-locks hanging by the door. Grab one and lock your bike up outside. If one of the staff is nearby when you roll up they will quite often bring a lock out for you. 

As already noted. Don't give that particular LBS your business.

For me, it depends on the shop, what I want and how long I'll be.

Sometimes I'll take the bike in, other times I'll lock it outside. I'd consider it courteous to at least ask if you can bring it in first - some shops have limited space inside and they won't want your bike falling over and damaging their stock or another customer.

Can't actually think of a shop locally to me that's objected to me bringing a bike in, but I'd respect it if they did. I've acually been pleasantly surprised by a couple of high-street shops that have let me bring it in briefly while I've collected an order.

Then I strongly suggest you don't give them any of your custom.

I would walk out of any LBS* if they asked me to leave my bike outside, especially if they asked me to do it before I'd even mentioned why I was in there.

That's even in so-called 'safe' places. Not catering for your clientele who are on bikes and probably without locks is unexcusable. 

On a slightly different note, I use my bike as a mobility aid - I lean on it to walk - and I've been pleasantly surprised by the amount of shops who've let me bring it in so I could have a wander around.

*unless I totally, utterly desperately needed something in the next 24 hours, and was over twenty miles from another LBS, and couldn't borrow it from a friend.

Then I strongly suggest you don't give them any of your custom.

If it was a quick visit, I wanted to check something fitted on the bike, or it was a mechanical problem, I would definitely take the bike into the shop and would question their commitment as a LBS if I was asked to remove the bike from the shop.  If I was browsing then I might lock it up outside, but then I could well be doing other shopping so it wouldn't be an issue for me keeping it outside.

Maintenance/repairs (that I can't do myself) is where I'm heavily reliant on a LBS.  Because the high street LBS hours are hopeless when you work full time, I use a small repairs/maintenance only place that allows me to drop-off/pick-up at (almost) any pre-arranged time.  All high street shops are up against internet shopping and LBSs are no exception.  You need a 'unique selling point' that the internet can't provide to survive.  We're all aware of the mantra of supporting the LBS, but when spares are half the price on the web it's hard to justify, especially for people on a budget.  For me, an LBS is for maintenance/repairs and where I want to see/handle clothes, spares, accessories etc before I buy.

On a lighter note, I took a folder into an art gallery once; owner wasn't happy about it but he wasn't going to kick me out.  Bought my Mum a birthday present so he chose the best option!