Comparing Small Business Customer Service. How is it where you are & have been?

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Even within this country, there are vast differences between how small businesses serve their customers in each region. Travel up north a thousand miles or so, & even in the capital cities, you're bound to experience a totally different approach to what we have down south here. I think each one is representative of the people in that particular region or climate. I'd like to know which one you prefer & why, or if you like different approaches for different situations, like when you're a tourist in the area or when you know what you want & just want to get in & out as fast as possible. One style in particular I always seem to get, over many, many years, whenever I visit Brisbane, the Gold Coast or any of the more northerly cities - & especially more regional centres is the "laid-back" or "let do" approach. In this instance, those serving in the store refrain entirely from any pro-active advances towards incoming customers. What I mean is, they just leave you alone entirely, not acknowledging you're even there & believing that if you need them for anything, you will first seek them out when they aren't busy & ask them what you want. This is great for browsing or when you don't intend to buy anything or when you are just mesmerised by their displays or when you like to get a feel of the place first. Using this style, the assistant can easily gauge how much personal space a customer is comfortable with & aims to respect it. In Australia, personal space differs greatly between everyone & there's often no telling who's who, but it is often of paramount importance to get this right. Too much & one will seem disinterested & customers may feel insulted in extreme cases; too little & one feels invaded & extremely uncomfortable. Growing up in the country for half my life & living the other half in the capital city here, I'm pretty comfortable with either. Down here, in a more temperate climate, & along 'similar lines of latitude places' like New Zealand, we get a more "in your face" style of customer service. Shortly after the entrance alarm sounds, you're acknowledged by a nod & a smile from the nearest assistant. If they're not busy, they will come right up to you & ask how they can help & attempt to persuade the customer to buy whatever they seem interested in. If they are busy, they will do their level best to un-busy themselves as soon as they are able - even talking past the customer they're serving currently in order to do so. And they will more often than not try to up-sell (eg. "Would you like fries & a drink with that?" or "now, you're going to need one of these & one of those with that because..."). So, I'm interested to know which style have you experienced most where you live & where you have travelled & which style you prefer when you're travelling & from your local stores.