CIrcuit City’s official death date is March 8, 2009. That means we have two more days to buy whatever is left.

Not that there is that much left. I know, I was in one on Monday. Not much there that anyone would want. And the discounts still aren’t that great for what is left behind.

But for me, the passing of Circuit City is a hurtful blow. Even in this big metropolitan area I live in, we have few resources for getting computer and electronic parts when you need them. We can get the basics from most office supply stores, and sometimes from Walmart, and maybe from Best Buy, if you’re willing to pay the price. But right now I’m sitting here needing a ten-foot male-male USB cable for my mother’s printer, and the only way I’m going to be able to get it is to find it online and have it shipped. The same goes for a upgraded SD card for my camera because I’m getting regular failures with my current one, and for a hard drive for my ailing laptop. My biggest concern is that I will no longer be able to pick up something “on the fly” for an emergency. I am a geek, yes, and I have a lot of bits and parts in my big box ‘o gadgets in the storage room, but that doesn’t mean I always have what I need. In fact, I rarely have what I need.

It’s hard to believe the market for tech gadgets and accessories and replacement parts is not great enough to sustain local stores. People like me cannot be that rare. That makes little sense to me. I know the other techs I work with are having the same frustrations, and we’re always making do with duct tape and a wad of gum while we wait for replacement parts to arrive. There was a time when we could hop in the car and drive a half-mile to the nearest tech store and pick up whatever we needed.

Those days are gone. And I will miss having those resources handy.