Name some companies that you were sad to see go under.

Blockbuster.

Yeah, I know, everything has changed but I enjoyed the library-like setting and being able to walk around and browse and get ideas, maybe good ol' staff picks. That's how I binged The Sopranos and Deadwood and going to the video store was a pleasant combination of having to put in some effort to rent and return but the terms and rates were very agreeable.

In Canada we still have Toys r us . Not sure for how long

Zellers

I remember as a kid reading the Sears Catalog. Sears was the Amazon of its day. I don't really understand what happened to it. It never should have ended. Toys R Us was always a disorganized mess that never has what you want. Circuit City used to have out and out criminals working there. Kmart was OK.

In California we used to have I Magnin, for clothing. They always had good stuff for men at a reasonable price. I was sad to see them go down.

We also used to have a great grocery store called Co-op, that was actually a co-operative. I am not sure how it worked because I never did it, but the used to have cool stuff that other stores did not have, and were the first to have the self-serve bins instead of pre-packaged small amounts of things.

Countless places I have loved to eat have gone out of business which is always so sad. And things change too. One Gelato place I love now no longer makes its gelato onsite, and one place I used to go almost every night for dinner while browsing the web used to make the best salad, and they cheapened it so much it may as well be out of business.

Same with pizza places. When you find a pizza place you like you don't want to change.

And The Sandwich Shop where lots of people in high-school used to go for lunch was so great.

BLOCKBUSTER VIDEO.

HOLLYWOOD VIDEO.

ALL THE OTHER VIDEO STORES.

Linens n Things
Steve & Barry’s
Bon-Ton
April Cornell

Hostess Snack Cakes. The brand name may still exist but the original company filed for bankruptcy in 2013 (remember the Twinkie shortage?). The current owners have allowed the quality to deteriorate. The cakes are smaller, have a drier consistency, and are thinly coated with cheap frosting.

Dolly Madison snacks have also gone downhill in recent years. I found out the reason: they were taken over by the same company that ruined the Hostess brand.

As far as I'm concerned, both of these companies no longer exist. I stopped purchasing their inferior products.

Braun (the domestic appliances company) - still love their designs
Atari (Jack Tramiel times) - ahead of its time
Luftschiffbau Zeppelin - can't imagine a futuristic sky of the past without them
Psion - I like pioneers
DEC and Tandem Computers - both for the same reason, insane stability features (and always nice to work with)
3dfx - shouldn't have pissed off manufacturers...