Notice how small the CD section has become in Best Buy? For a bit,  
they had a special rack devoted to Little Steven's Underground Garage  
selections. Gone now though. I rarely go in record stores these days.  
The first record I bought from the very first Manifest-- a tiny little  
hole in the wall, but like a doorway to a much cooler world --was  
"Psychocandy", possibly from founder Carl Singmaster himself. Not  
nostalgic, but do miss it.

Yeah, when it was, oh, about 1995-1998 I thought Best Buy was a cool 
supplement to a real record store, but when the listening stations started 
disappearing, so did the  good stock (same with Borders too).

As you can probably tell, without this degenerating into a long nostalgic 
thread about record stores, I love 'em. They are like another world and I've 
always made friends with the workers, met like-minded souls in the stores, picked 
up recommendations from employees etc. Charlotte has been lucky in that as 
soon as a store closes down, another one opens to take it's place. Being that we 
have a huge influx of new people moving to the area every year, Charlotte 
seems to be able to withstand most of the economic problems plaguing most cities. 
For example, our housing market is still very strong. 

Our Manifest store almost closed a few years ago when Singmaster sold the 
chain. I almost tried to buy it, believe it or not and I don't have a lot of 
money. I was just so sad something I enjoyed so much was going to close I started 
calling in favors, spoke with friends who might have been able to provide 
leads for the money, spoke to my boss about loaning me the money, I went to two 
banks to check out loan possibilities. $500,000 is what Singmaster wanted for it 
but it made (and continues to make) over a $1,000,000 per year according to 
the manager there who is a reasonably close friend. I am happy the chain that 
bought it kept it open. There were some negative changes, but it's still there 
and thriving, as Chris Kouzes has said.

I hate it that places where culture can be found: bookstores, record stores, 
orchestras etc. are dying out. It really bugs me. I hope against hope 
something will turn the tide, though I know nothing will. As much as I realise 
computers are a positive part of society, I'd like to beat the living hell out of the 
asshole who figured out how to put music on 'em.

Scott Homewood