I just read all through this post, and honestly I would normally tell you to go with your gut-feeling...However, as you just realized and pointed out, this baby bird is not being "avoidant" of you for any reason other than he's still an extremely young baby that is still being hand-fed by a particular person, and is probably scared to death to be honest with you. As a long-time breeder and hand-raiser, very young, baby birds who are still not weaned and haven't even fledged yet are extremely anxious a lot of the time. Usually as soon as they start eating large amounts of solid food, start walking around quite a bit (able to balance) and are not spending all of their time huddling/snuggled against their siblings, and definitely once they start to fledge, they open right up and start loving attention from anyone who will give it. It sounds like this baby is still quite young, based on the number of feedings he's still on per day.
Honestly, this pet store/breeder shouldn't be allowing all these people to be handling these very young babies, I'm kind of surprised that they're doing this. It's one thing to put their brooder in the window so that people can see them and potentially put a deposit down on them, but actually allowing anyone who walks into the pet store to sit down and handle unweaned, young babies like this is extremely risky for a number of reasons, the main one being the constant risk of and exposure to bacteria, fungi, parasites, etc. Most people who come into pet shops actually have different animals at home, everything from dogs and cats to birds to rodents to reptiles to primates, etc. And it's not just the viruses that can be spread from bird to bird that is a risk, that's actually the smallest risk here; it's the many different bacteria, fungi, and parasites that they are exposing these extremely young babies with underdeveloped immune systems that is just not a good practice at all...So my point here is that I would absolutely demand that this pet shop take the baby to their Avian Specialist Vet and that he come home to you with a certificate of health from the Avian Vet, and that he also have some type of health-guarantee from the pet shop. And I'm talking like at least a 30-day health guarantee, not a few days or a week, because birds hide their illnesses so well that it takes much longer than a few days or a week for outward signs of a current infection or illness to show-up.
Also, before you bring this baby or any baby home, you need to locate your closes Certified Avian Vet or Avian Specialist Vet (no "Exotics" Vets!), and set-up an appointment for a full "Wellness Exam" for whatever baby you bring home during the very first few days that you have him, and make sure that the vet does a Fecal Culture as a part of the Wellness-Exam so that you can confirm and treat or rule-out any bacterial or fungal infections that the baby may come home with.
***Also, you said something that kind of alarmed me in your initial post when you were discussing the age of this baby. You said that the pet shop owner told you that "They take away one feeding per day per week until the babies are only eating solid food"...Now there's a lot that goes into this that I'm not going to go into here because it would take forever, but basically there are 2 different ways to wean a baby bird off of the formula and onto solid food...There's "Abundance Weaning", which is where the breeder continues to offer the same number of feedings and the same amount of formula in each feeding until THE BABY REFUSES a feeding or the amount in each feeding, and the timing of the weaning is ALL UP TO THE BABY, and then there is "Force Weaning", where the bird has no say in how many feedings they get or how much formula is in each feeding, and the breeder makes these decisions, usually on a set-schedule...
So what this breeder at this pet shop told you is that he basically "Force-Weans" his babies by reducing their number of formula feedings and the amount of formula in each feeding on a weekly schedule...This is extremely bad, and can result in a baby bird with severe neurological, behavioral, psychological, health, and bonding issues. What you have to understand is that baby birds are very much like human babies in the way that they start eating solid foods. Some baby birds will wean themselves very easily and quickly (shorter than average weaning time), other take a little longer (average weaning time), and then some babies take a much longer time than the average for their species, or even much longer than the rest of the siblings in the same clutch (longer than average weaning time). The most important thing that a bird breeder who hand-raises needs to do is to "allow the babies to wean themselves and control this all on their own". Breeders simply offer the same number of feedings and the same amount of formula in each feeding until THE BABIES TELL US OTHERWISE. So if the average weaning age of a Golden Conure is between 10-12 weeks old, and we have one baby in a clutch that takes 15 weeks to fully Abundance-Wean, then that's what it takes. Breeders should NEVER, EVER, EVER just "take away a formula feeding every few days or every week" on a set schedule, nor should they ever "cut the amount of formula in each feeding by a certain amount every week or every certain number of days"...This can really result in heartache and tragedy for both the bird and the people who bring them home...We just had a long-time, senior member who is extremely experienced have to surrender her Nanday Conure, that she got as a hand-raised baby after 2 years of trying everything she could to help him with his severe neurological and behavioral issues, to a specialize bird sanctuary. And all of this bird's issues were completely due to his breeder Force-Weaning him. He was "forced to wean" onto solid food long before his body and his brain were ready to do so, and this caused him severe developmental issues.
I'm not trying to be "that guy" here, nor am I trying to ruin the experience of you bringing home your first baby parrot...Actually, I'm trying to do just the opposite, I'm trying to save you from having your first baby parrot experience turn into a complete and total nightmare...I can only give you my personal and professional opinion as to what I would do myself, and what I would tell any friend or family member who I love and who presented this exact situation to me and asked me what I would do...And being a long-time breeder and hand-raiser/hand-feeder of parrots (20+ years), I honestly would not take home a baby from this pet shop at all. And not at all for the original reason that was causing you hesitation. I wouldn't buy ANY baby bird from this pet shop for two different reasons, #1 definitely being that it very much sounds like this pet store owner/breeder is "Force Weaning" his baby birds instead of allowing his babies to "Abundance Wean", which is probably the worst thing a breeder of any animal can do to a baby, and then #2, because this pet shop owner/breeder allows anyone and everyone who walks in off the street and into his store to actually handle/hold/pet unweaned, baby birds who are only weeks old! There is no telling how many dozens and dozens if not hundreds of people have handled the baby birds in this store, and these are unweaned, unfledged baby birds who are as young as 5-6 weeks old! They have immune systems that are not at all fully-developed, and honestly this combined with the "Force-Weaning" situation are very good indications that this person has basically "learned" to breed and hand-raise/hand-feed birds out of force, meaning he learned as he went along because he had a pet shop and he wanted to start selling hand-raised, baby birds. The fact is that it doesn't sound much like he knows what he's doing.
I would at the very least ask him the question "What type of weaning do you practice with your baby birds?", and if he has no idea what you're talking about, and he has no idea what the difference between Force-Weaning and Abundance-Weaning is, then there's your answer. But just the fact that he told you that "He takes a formula feeding away" on a schedule is a horrible sign...Again, I hate to be "that person", but I'd rather try to save you the heartache of bringing home either a sick bird that dies soon after you bring him home from some type of infection that he was infected with by one of the hundreds of people who were allowed to handle him from the time he was like 4-5 weeks old, or watching your baby bird regressing the older he gets, not being able to properly feed himself, having severe anxiety attacks, constant "baby-like" behavior, etc. that gets progressively worse the older he gets, all due to him being Force-Weaned...I'd rather try to do that than to just keep my mouth shut and tell you that "this pet shop and breeder sound wonderful, congrats, enjoy, everything is great" so as to not rock the boat...I hope that makes sense to you...Like I said, I'd politely tell this breeder/pet shop owner that you've changed your mind about getting a bird, ask for your deposit back, and then get online and find the closest private breeder that is not selling their birds from a pet shop, which is usually a red-flag...not always, but a lot of the time...
