Another Era Closesby Wingman
Before the the Big Box Computer/Electronics Stores, like Compusa, Frys, Best Buy and Circuit City became popular I used to shop at little Hole-in-the-wall Shops like PC Club.
Before that, I was a semi-regular at the Pomona Fairground's Computer Swap Meet which was open once a month on weekends.
At first I didn't even park in the parking lot (they charged $6 bucks).
Parking instead across the street at the small park next to the Fairgrounds and being much younger, I would hiked to the front gate.
I wasn't the only one who did that back then, after all spending extra savings money for this gadget or that had to be budgeted.
At the very least, to make the entrance fee of $7.00 worth it, I would buy a 50 pack box of 3.5 hd disks. Sometimes two.
You have no Idea how many 50 pack boxes I have that I have not looked at in years.
I bought my first 1995 Linux Disk set at that swapmeet, a four cd boxed set of InfoMagic's Developer's Resource Linux for less than $15.00, which I still have.
After the likes of Compusa and PC Club lured me away from the Computer Swap (which I guess is still going on) I would have what I called the Saturday Two-Store Shopping day.
After work in Ontario, I'd drop in on PC Club and then Compusa to compare prices, and to see (sometimes drool) at the latest computer gadgets.
The two stores were across street from each other in Clairmont. One was mainly for hackers and the other more retail customer oriented.
The Mostly-Retail Outlet, Compusa closed a couple of years later.
Now it's Circuit City, the Mega Store that couldn"t compete in this struggling Economy.
These stores turned a hackers gadgets/plaything interest into something mainstream.
Nice stores, good selection and even some in-store repair work.
I have better hardware than ever thses days because of stores like that. It's been years since I've built my own systems. Like I use to do when I went to the Computer Swap.
The new flat panel HDTV I have in the bedroom came from our local Circuit City store that is closing down too.
Those shopping places, with like-minded customers, were more than just places to buy the latest gadgets.
It was a Place of Circuit City Dreams.
With their closing, I'm afraid part of that dream is gone too.
Wingman.
Note: Because of the Circuit City Closings, Post 294 was bumped. It will appear out of sequence later this week.
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