Radio Shack is meeting the fate of many other stores that were wildly popular in the twentieth century, including record stores, comic book stores, bookstores and video stores.
I don't have a good attention span and can't spend long in record stores or video shops or games emporiums without getting grumpy.
When I was in my 20s, I started frequenting record stores, and there was one in particular called Tropicalia in Furs in New York City. It's closed now, but it was one of those magical places where you would walk in, and the owner would start playing you records and not let you leave. It was such an education.
I definitely love record stores. And worked in many over the years. Having said that, it's not necessarily that I love vinyl per se. I mean, I'm happy to use CDs and MP3s: to me, it's the music that's top priority. I do have a good collection of vinyl, but I rarely actually pull it out.
I love Rebel Rebel in Manhattan's West Village for vinyl, but record stores are hard to come by these days. I almost don't even use iTunes. I mostly use music subscription services. But I'll go into Rebel Rebel once a month or so and buy everything I love on vinyl.
You used to make records, record companies sold them, and people went to record stores and bought them. That's all gone now.
But trust me, if I lived in the '80s, I would definitely be the one going to the record stores.