I started in this hobby at an early age (14) and back then, circa. 1978, nearly ALL pins sold were to the ops. When I would go to my local operator to buy new, he always thought I was nuts! I bought my 1st Space Invaders from him and since I wasn't old enough to drive, he had it delivered. He would actually call me to tell me when something new from Bally or Williams was coming out and he'd offer me HUGE discounts. Keep in mind, there was no other forum to find out what was coming up next. I think it was somewhere around mid-late 1980's that homeowners started buying from ops and probably well into the 2000's that it flipped more in the homeowners/ops favor.
Sadly, with that also come the loss of "commercial quality". Most pins today are really just big toys for the home arcade with the "quality" to match.