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Can you remember your local hi fi store when you was a teen?

allsmith

allsmith

Super Member
Back in 1985 we had a local discount store near me called Swallen,I was fifteen,and any chance i could get to go there with my mom, I was there!! They had a killer home audio section in the back of the store.two rooms with sliding glass doors, the sound when you walked in them glass doors was just something amazing to a kid!!I would hang around and listen to the salesman talk to customers and watch them demo the equipment, It was so cool!!I wanted a system so bad from there! I remember the most brands i liked were yamaha and carver. Oh how i loved the Yamaha R-8 receiver! After awhile of begging and pleading and driving my mom nuts, you know what, she bought me that receiver! I don't know how she did it! Times where tough and mom was having a hard time with money,but she did it! (I had a very cool mom!)That dumb thing was almost 800 bucks!! I still have it and it still works to this day, been my only receiver that ive had up until here recently since the audio bug has got me again!! Yep old Swallen's and radio shack were may favorite places!!But yeah, that lure of that sound coming from a stereo store was just something amazing to a kid, I'll never forget!
 
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I come from a small town, so Radio Shack was it. I was into all that stuff they used to have though, all the electronics. As I got older and into music, the big stereos and BIG speakers always had my ears. Their book was always well worn in my house.

Dave
 
Oh Ya

Used to be wild. Many shops such as Radio Shack, Lafayette, Olson, Allied, appliance stores, discount chains & the speciality shops. On the Sunday paper, a whole page of new stereo equipment would be listed for both home & autos from one retailer.
 
Milwaukee had a ton of stores - some within a bike ride for me.
In range:
Team Electronics
Pacific Stereo
Radio Shack (still around)
Flanner & Hafsoos (still around)
Allied Radio
King Karl
Sam the stereo man
Olson Electronics
Hi Fi Fo Fum

Out of range:
Schaak Electronics
Port of Sound
Sound Stage
Crazy Lenny's (now American TV and appliance)
Audio Emporium (still around)
Sound Investments (closed three weeks ago)
 
For me it was a campus joint called "The Happy Medium". Shure, Sennheiser, Harman Kardon, Koss, Polks, Luxman, Sony, Nakamichi and countless brands of speakers stuffed into what now I would consider a less than optimal speaker demo room. They fell victim to the changing market (MP3s and the vintage gear revival) and closed roughly a decade ago. Can't say I miss them as I could never afford anything but their cheapest gear. The Goodwill down the street (now long gone as well) was a better match to my beer budget mindset.

While it was fun to drool over everything, I only bought a handful of things (Shure 91 stylus, Sony MDR-S101 headphones and an HK TD202 tape deck).
 
My favorites were Dow Stereo and Federated in San Diego. Bought my AR-90s and Technics SL1600 MKII from Dow and my Yamaha CD-2 from Federated. Bought my records and CDs from Wherehouse Records and Tower Records. Dow stereo used to do Dutch Auctions on Saturdays. They would start at list price and keeping dropping the price until someone yelled out and bought it. Really cool event. The place was always packed.

Go back a few years from there and I used to walk to Lafeyette Radio Electronics in Baltimore with my brother to test and buy tubes for the MacIntosh our neighbor gave him.
 
Allsmith you must be from the Cincinnati area. There was a Swallens across from the Tri-County mall (although you may have frequented the Red Bank Swallens). Just up the street was a great store called Stereo Lab. I bought my Thorens turntable at Stereo Lab. Five minutes away from both of those stores was Audio Warehouse. They always had an ad in in the Sunday paper and I loved to look at it and dream of the ultimate stereo system. What happened to all those stores??
 
Oh, do I ever remember. The Sound Company chain had a store in my town, and Fred Locke Stereo and the Tech Hi-Fi chain stores nearby come to mind.
 
I was a teen and living in Anchorage....audio was all over the place back in the 70's! The best place to go was Shimek's in downtown. Every time you'd go in there you'd see people you knew who'd be getting new gear,upgrading to better, or just hanging out to listen and shoot the breeze. The funny thing is even my dads generation was in there getting stuff and you weren't cool unless you had "gear"......times have changed. You know though,people say that this young generation just doesn't care about good audio as long as they have the minimum. At first blush I agree but....most that hear good gear seem to wake the hell up and get something decent in short order....my kids and their friends sure have when hearing my gear at least.
 
Pacific Stereo and Resistance Repair this was before CC,GG and way before BB had a stereo had lot of stores in the bay area then
 
The Main PX at Furth Germany and the audio club at Herzo Base and Ramstein AFB. They had Top of the line Japan had to offer. My first purchase in the PX was a Dynaco SCA35, Leak sandwich speakers, Akai M-9 and Garrard SL95.
I was a 19 year old buck sergeant stationed in Schwabach Germany.
 
I was a teen in the 67-73 era and several choices were available in my deep southern hometown, including Swan Electronics, Hooper Sound, Lafayette Radio, and others - one at which I spent some significant cash (for me - $600 was significant for most folks back then, much less a teenager) but still can't recall the shop's name. Swan had American brands like McIntosh and AR; sometimes would ride my bike several miles there just to listen.
 
Growing up in a town of 2,500 meant turning to the Allied, Lafayette, Olson or Burstein-Applebee catalogs for dreaming about gear:) The only local source was the TV shop downtown, and he was a Zenith dealer so the choices were limited to say the least. However...he did maintain a decent stock of LPs & 45s...and embraced the mid-60s 8-track craze wholeheartedly. That's where I bought my eeeny-weeny Motorola 8-track and a pair of 6X9s for my Valiant:)

Later on, working in radio, I did a regular Saturday morning remote from Schaak in Fargo...then ended up doing the same in Duluth. it was fun to watch the sales crew when sailors from faraway lands would grab a cab & head up the hill to the mall to start blowing their pay...the sales staff would be grinning from ear to ear as they rolled two-wheel cart after cart stacked with gear out to waiting cabs:):)
 
We had a Lafayette Electronics also, but I can't remember where they were located, only the name. JCP was also a place to check out the Penncrest line of audio products and other brand name manufacturers. Also added Playback Electronics to the list.


Milwaukee had a ton of stores - some within a bike ride for me.
In range:
Team Electronics
Pacific Stereo
Radio Shack (still around)
Flanner & Hafsoos (still around)
Allied Radio
King Karl
Sam the stereo man
Olson Electronics
Hi Fi Fo Fum
Playback Electronics

Out of range:
Schaak Electronics
Port of Sound
Sound Stage
Crazy Lenny's (now American TV and appliance)
Audio Emporium (still around)
Sound Investments (closed three weeks ago)
 
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