The only place I've seen in the Charlotte area that has the WSM's is at ACE hardware and that would be Blackhawk , Lowes and HD only sell the kettles and gassers, hell Wallyworld just stared selling Weber kettles this year
They used to carry them (up to about a year ago) in some HD stores around here. They then did a closeout and dumped all their inventory. 18" WSM for around $50 is how I got mine....
I never saw one on display, in any retail store up here.
I bought mine from a local guy last year. He didn't have it on display, but he got it for me in a couple of days.