Stereo One closing its home entertainment division is end of an era

Editor's note: Please be advised this story is a dated story from 2014. Stereo One is in business under new ownership.

Listening rooms 1 and 2 are tucked away to the right of the entrance and lined with a variety of speakers -- some standing on the floor, others on shelves -- waiting to be tested for sound quality. Two comfortable armchairs sit in the middle of the dim room, and classic rock can be heard softly in the background.

That personal era of the electronics business soon will be discontinued at Stereo One, 345 S. Kingshighway in Cape Girardeau, as have many generations of technology over the last three decades John Selby has owned the store. In his words, he's seen a lot of stuff happen.

Stereo One sold the first VCR system -- a Betamax -- in Cape Girardeau in 1974, when the word "video" had not been used in Southeast Missouri until then, Selby said. The store offered the first Apple computer for purchase in the city in 1978 and sold the first plasma TV in the state in 1997. Stereo One was the first business to rent movies in the city. Selby worked to sell Sony and Pioneer brands when they first hit the market.

Before computers and the Internet, people had a hobbies such as photography and audio, Selby said. Those who visited the store were music lovers. Their friends would visit to take part in music experiences, and it was an important part of their lives, he said.

"That's changed now quite a bit, because there's so many other things that people can do together now, or apart," Selby said.

Music has become a more personal experience with the invention of the iPod and the use of earbuds. Most people now would rather have access to thousands of songs of decent quality rather than a collection of music that takes a minute or two to set up but sounds great once it plays, Selby said.

The store has seen a change in the market, and what Stereo One has tried to do for years is keep the authenticity in that experience, he said.

The store and its merchandise have remained relevant to the changing times, switched locations and bringing a few expansions to its current building, including a home theater demonstration room complete with theater seating.

That gradual transition of the business and diversity of technology, a simpler business model that hasn't changed much over the years, and the personal choice to not work more than 60 hours a week was comprised in a news release sent in March announcing the closing of the store's home entertainment division beginning in April. The custom electronics integration division of the business, which includes security, lighting control and home automation, also will cease operations, being a division that is interwoven with the home entertainment division.

The mobile electronics division of the store, primarily car audio, and the service repair department will continue.

A "long-term exit strategy simply is playing out," Selby stated in the release.

Selby does have interest in continuing home audio, he said last week, but he is not sure about the scale of that project and it is yet to be determined. Whatever it is, it isn't going to Stereo One, he said. It will be very focused, very small and very personal.

"I'm going to miss almost everything about it," Selby said about closing some of the store's operations. "I just won't miss the 60-plus hours a week it takes to do it."

Selby has spent the last 34 years doing business as Stereo One, and for the last 20 years, his store was the only one doing it, he said.

"There will never be another Stereo One in this market," he said. "There will never be another company that has rooms of audio/video equipment, places to demo stuff, compare speakers, compare amplifiers ... it will never happen again."

And the saddest part about that is there isn't going to be anyone wanting to fill that gap and be an alternative to big-box stores, offering quality and value, Selby said.

"I don't know if people really understand that."

ashedd@semissourian.com

388-3632

Pertinent address:

345 S Kingshighway St, Cape Girardeau, MO