Jobs, Services and Companies That are Obsolete that you Miss the Most

[Guest]

I definitely miss computer stores. This to me, seems to have gone the big box store route. Running a mom and pop shop can no longer be competitive to the online sales they compete against. 

 

For me, it's the expertise you would get, minus the sky high sales pressure you would get in a lot of the big stores. 

 

I also miss physical paper newspapers. Still existant, but soon to become obsolete. 

[Janus the Fox]

30 minutes ago, Perspektiv said:

I definitely miss computer stores. This to me, seems to have gone the big box store route. Running a mom and pop shop can no longer be competitive to the online sales they compete against.

Not just sales but Computer repair shops that are not the big chain stores doing repairs, unless that's just my area, there is not a way to get a PC repaired other than doing so from the store that it's bought from that has bought repair insurance on it, only to wait weeks for it to come back and even still pay a premium that would cost more than a independent store would.  In my case it's either buy new or Do It Yourself repairs.  I'm fortunate to have small issues with laptops in the past and now grateful having my own tower PC to more easily repair if things go wrong, crazy too is that the tower would cost some hundreds of pounds more for same spec of a laptop.

[WanderingKate]

Blockbuster, telephones with cords (for nostalgia purposes only really- getting tangled in the cord was a nuisance ) 

I miss when there were more small bookstores around and in the malls- They've all been slowly disappearing, likely due to Amazon and e-readers and online competition. But it was nice to just go in and browse, and most of my local bookstores have closed down. I prefer to have a physical book in my hands, I get tired of staring at screens. 

 

 

[Real Estate RICO]

Vanity plates. I don't care if the old Columbia one scared me as a child (among others); it's such a lost art now.

 

 

I also want Pontiac and Kmart's prime back.

[banana monkey]

On 1/18/2020 at 2:34 PM, WanderingKate said:

 telephones with cords (for nostalgia purposes only really- getting tangled in the cord was a nuisance ) 

 

 

I have 2 of those. I still use them.

 

Basically, there was 2 in a cupboard when I moved here so there was no point in getting a new phone and I just use the ones that were here. Mainly the newer of the 2 but sometimes I swap them over. The newer of the 2, I seem to remember my grandmother having an almost identical one when I was a teenager and the other handset I have is much older (hence why I dont use it often as its ringtone is awful). The cord of the newer one, does get tangled occasionally but its not like I need the length. 

[banana monkey]

I kinda miss blockbusters as well but mostly a few of the memories, now I can only rent things from the library (which is probably cheaper and definitely would have been much closer) but I havent done for ages. Maybe a movie night is coming on soon. 

 

I miss BHS too and sometimes wish it was still around. I particularly liked it before they changed all there clothing lines though as it was one of the few places I could find clothes I liked and shoes that fit (neither of those were the case once it was taken over and all the lines changed) I particularly feel nostalgic for it at Xmas as the gift section used to give me loads of inspiration. 

 

I only discovered borders when I was at uni (probably not many branches over here) and I thought the fact it was huge and had a much wider range of books than the average english bookstore was great fun. They had a lot more academic books than you could find in other stores and more autobiography  and social type books which are my favourite. I can hardly ever find them in a bookstore now I have to order from amazon to get them (not as fun). 

[Zagadka]

Honestly - and I hate shopping - I miss shopping. There is some pleasure to gain browsing aisles and checking out boxes of stuff that you don't get shopping online. I do miss the feeling of going to a video rental place and spending an hour looking at different movies or games. I also miss the arcades. I spent a lot of time at a local video store with a small arcade in the back, it was a lot of fun. I don't miss a lot from the 80s and early 90s, but I haven't done that in decades.

 

I also kinda miss phone calls. I remember staying up late huddled in the corner talking long distance, it was a special feeling. Now it is just 24/7 texting. Texting is more efficient, but I miss a good old phone call.

[Guest]

There was a store called Hecks when I was a kid. It had these giant toy aisles that were dedicated to each of the major toy brands. I remember the left hand side of one aisle was Masters of the Universe and the other side was Star Wars. Then the next aisle over was split between G.I. Joe and Transformers. Then there was an aisle for board games and the fad  toys that wouldn't be popular for very long and disappear. I saw my very first VCR in their electronics department for $798 U.S. and didn't think that was much money. And for my dad it wasn't because he was working in the coal mines making good money again. He just didn't want to buy one because we still had movies on television. I don't know why I remember that store but for some reason I thought it was special. 

[coyote55]

FAO Schwartz. A Toys-R-Us on steroids , these stores were my favorite for buying higher end toys for my godsons. The song they played endlessly in the store was the only thing that would drive me out!

 

Going really far back... Airline trips in the pre-deregulation days, when they competed for passengers on service. Good meals, drinks, 2 checked bags per person, no extra fees, change a seat midflight if one was open, all included in the airfare,. Airfares were far more expensive of course, and air safety is much better now...  but flying was a vastly superior experience.

[Rhaenys]

Bootleg DVD places in the Caribbean. When you couldn't afford to go to the cinema the camera recorded dvds were like a gold mine.