What about Vere Smith Audio and/or Cunningham's?
Am I the only one who got a stereo at one of those places?
Didn't buy a stereo at Vere Smith, but my father bought me a Sony cassette recorder/player from there. It was a state-of-the-art portable cassette machine at that time. It had a big plastic carrying case and contained two big external speakers.
Also, when I was in high school, a friend and I used to scavenge the junk piles of old radio and TV chassis in behind the store (that was before it moved to the Union Street location) to take components to build various electronic projects.
I knew Paul Cunningham and bought electronic gear there from TVs to radios. He was a very nice man. He died of a massive heart attack at a fairly young age. His wife was a Russian immigrant.
I remember Vere Smith but for some strange reason I don’t recall ever having been there. Especially with my long time interest in music, stereo systems, etc.
Speaking of 1969, my father bought a used Fender Telecaster at Cunningham’s for me. This was at their old location on the west side of Richland. I remember the exact date because it was the day Bo upset Woody, November 22. The game was playing on the radio in the background and I remember late in the game thinking Ohio State would still win because they were so good (yes, I was on the dark side at one time). I still have that guitar. George Gruhn in Nashville said to me back in 2018 it’s worth keeping. :)
I will also mention that there is a story about Joe Walsh acquiring two Gibson Les Pauls in 1969, one he ended up giving (Selling) to Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin. The story is that Joe said that one of the guitars came from “a family owned music store in Athens Ohio”. I’m thinking this may have been Cunningham’s and, if so, my guitar may have shared some air space with one of the instruments. I can vouch, however, that when I pick up my guitar there isn’t any advantage to me that I can notice. ;)