Dysmey Post Archive > Pages for 1999 > 24 November 1999 Edition
The local computer store closed its doors this month.
It wasn't the best store in the world. It kept irregular hours, and it was hard to tell when it would be open or closed. Its telephone answering system was impenetrable. Its distributor took far too long to deliver stuff and it often did not know how the stuff would arrive. (I ordered a SoundBlaster Live card and got it with packaging in Spanish and Portuguese).
The store's landlord played games with it, and finally took its parking space away when an annex of an Indianapolis hospital moved next door. It was this that probably forced the store to close.
Yet I liked that store. It was very convenient — only a short walk away. All the stuff I bought from them worked great (even the SoundBlaster card — only the packaging was wacky). The people there were friendly and knowledgeable. They sold operating systems other than Microsoft's, such as BeOS and Linux (and that's always a plus). And it was good not to have to drive all the way to Muncie or Indianapolis to buy a computer part or get something fixed when I couldn't fix it myself.
But the store is gone now. The people are still around, but they do computer repair alone. A good thing that comes from this is that if their ex-landlord tries to play similar games with the hospital annex, the hospital has a weapon that tiny store never had: Lawyers on retainer. :)