Anyone remember The Warehouse?


Back in the mid to late 70's there was a California audio store called the Warehouse (or Stereo Warehouse) that sold mid-fi gear, the likes of Sansui, Pioneer, Kenwood, Bic Venturi, Bang and Olufsen, Marantz, United Audio Dual etc. They had a catalog and actually tested out components togehther in systems they assembled and listened to. They would sell these systems as package deals at discounted prices based on their listening experience with the system. You could also buy seperate components as well as the systems featured in their catalog. They had the systems pictured in the catalog. They sold mail order. I remember oredering a Sansui 8080 reciever from them in the late 70's and it was shipped by Yellow Freight company. I had to actually go out to the terminal to pick up that monster at a loading dock. Nice reciever though. The Warehouse was cool in it's day. It's too bad there aren't professional online dealers who actually assemble audiophile systems using various components, listen to them, rate them, and sell them as packages.(there are a few but more would be better) I've seen a few dealers online who recommend systems that they've packaged. It might help some of us poor fools who are searching in the dark, in system building. (especially the newbies)
foster_9
In the LA area there used to Cal Stereo (and their fast talking radio ads with Tom Campbell) pushing low budget gear, Leo's Stereo (also low budget gear), Rogers Sound Labs (good mid fi), Paris Audio (Nak, KEF, B&K, etc), Dow Sound, Federated (with Shadoe Stevens as "Fred Rated").

Someone at Pacific Stereo tried "bait and switch" on me in the 70's. They had an advertised system with a Kenwood receiver that they were sold out of and he tried to push the "house brand" receiver in it's place saying "it had the same number of buttons on the front" as the Kenwood. No thanks.
Is that weirdo Dr. Jack still around? I'll never forget walking into his store in the early 80's and he takes out the reviews and tells me what to buy without listening to it. I think his store is called the Sound Factor located in Southern California.
I remembered my dad took me around to purchase his first CD player..The 2 stores I can remember are LEO's stereo and Federated...remember FRED?
I bought my first-ever stereo there when I was 15 or 16 years old. Paid about $250, and owned it for almost 10 years until I hopped onto the audiophile bandwagon with a system that included my first set of Vandersteens (Model 1s that I still own today).