What years did the 8-inch, 5.25-inch and 3.5-inch floppy diskettes die?

[Chuck(G)]

Sears had their own computer stores. IIRC, you could buy not only the PC, but also the ATT 6300 as well as a Zenith PC.

They didn't last long, but they were Sears' own. TI also had their own stores (at least they had one in the Stanford Shopping Center, as well as Commodore and a host of others). But generally, all mall-accessible.

 

[krebizfan]

There was a huge upgrade market for all the widely sold home computers (Sinclair, Commodore, etc.). The common purchaser seems to have been teenagers that were gifted a computer including cast-offs from relatives. Lots of $50 and under purchases spread over years producing a nest of cables interconnecting all kinds of adapters and external boxes. Often it was possible to tell when storage systems were on their way out because they would show up as specials on the home computer catalogs.