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In the small-town bits of Ohio I've lived in for most of my life, computer stores come and go from time to time. There used to be more of them but they still exist.

The one that my first PC came from (in 1988) was open for something like 20 years. Another that still remains has been there for 33 years.

Plus, I mean: Best Buy stocks some PC parts. So does Wal-Mart. They're not "local," but they're nearby and they have stuff.

I have complete confidence that I could leave the house in the morning with nothing but some cash, and come home with enough parts to build a performant and modern PC from ~scratch in about an hour or two -- including travel.

And that's Ohio -- it's flyover country, full of corn fields and cowpies.

[yareally]

Microcenter is headquartered here in Ohio. Arguably the best PC focused "brick and mortar" store still in existence. I feel like I stepped back into my childhood every time I go into one of their stores

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Yes. Microcenter was founded in Columbus, Ohio -- IIRC as a shop on High Street most of a lifetime ago. The present headquarters are, IIRC, just up the road in Hilliard. They maintain an excellent and enormous retail store in the area. There is an amazing (and not at all cheap) Greek restaurant across the street.

But after I drive to Microcenter and shop there and drive back, I'm fuckin' tired. I won't want to build a PC when I get home. I'll want to think about either getting a pizza or going to bed, and the bed will probably win.

So usually, I don't shop at Microcenter at all. I adore that place (and yeah, I'm impressionable: Keeping Raspberry Pi Zero W's in stock at every checkout register and selling them for $5 made an impression on me), but it's just too far away from where I live.

What usually happens instead, despite still having much more local alternatives, is this: I order the stuff. It shows up on my porch a day or two later. I build it at my leisure.

[yareally]

Didn't realize they used to be downtown. That was before my time. Happy Greek right? Too bad that closed about a year ago. Great food.

There's a Vietnamese place right next to Microcenter on bethel that has some killer BBQ pork fried rice though. That's usually my excuse to go.

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Yes. According to my understanding of the lore: Microcenter was once just a small computer shop on High Street. A little mom-and-pop place -- you've probably been to one at some point. It got bigger. (That was all before my time, too.)

The Greek place that stands out so favorably in my memory is Lashish the Greek. It's right across Bethel from Microcenter, in the strip mall behind the McDonald's. Looks like it's still running. I should stop in there again sometime.

Last time I was there it was empty except for us and the owner. Friendly dude. He stopped at our table after we had some time to finish eating and we chatted about food, food quality, and the Gipsy Kings album that he was playing.

[yareally]

Thanks for the tip! I'll check out Lashish next time I'm up there.

So many great ethnic restaurants in between Henderson and Bethel.

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It's a quite wonderful area to empty one's pocketbook. I really do miss living near(ish) to there.

Lots of memories, and all of them are good.

(Including that one time when a buddy and I bought a used 3D printer out of the trunk of a fellow geek's sedan, in cash, in the Microcenter parking lot. We actually went to Microcenter looking to buy a resin printer, and we definitely succeeded -- just not in the manner in which we had expected to succeed. That's been a solid little machine for a few years now and was precisely as it was described.)