Bon makes a lot of good points. I do remember spending a lot of time at our local record store. I even made a life long friend with they guy who worked there. As FA said, when the bigger CD stores started opening in the malls, some of the magic was already heading south. I never made friends with any of the workers there. They were teens that never lasted long and often were a bit rude. Some would even laugh (with their friends on their cell phones) if you picked out a CD that they didn't think was any good.
But....
Times always change. Things come and go all the time. You can either try to hang on to the past and get left behind, or roll with the punches and learn to embrace what's new. I choose to embrace what's new and just remember the past fondly.