It is with great trepidation that I post this, but I really like these guys.
There's a company near downtown St. Louis called Hibdon Hardwood and it is a paradise of exotic lumber. After years of wholesaling exotics, primarily to instrument makers, they've opened a retail storefront. Hidden inside the unassuming shop, there's just stacks of beautiful wood. Sure, they have your curly maple, mahogany, purpleheart and so forth. But they have some spiffy stuff like macassar ebony, primavera, zebrawood, and figured purpleheart.
I asked today how the retail side was going. "It's there" was the reply. Seems that things have been slow through out the summer. I'm only posting this because I don't want them to shut it down due to lack of interest. I'm selfish that way.
So if you're loitering around St. Louis, check 'em out. You can look up their info easily enough. In fact, I'm pretty sure that you can Feel Lucky when Googling their name.
Standard disclaimers apply. I'm not affiliated with them in any way, except as a mildly concerned customer.