JC Penney's technically....1979, I had ordered an MCS receiver, cassette deck, turntable and speakers by mail order. System came in, receiver was broken. Took it back/return. Found out that Playback-The Electronic Playground in Danville, Illinois, was having a big sale. I went in and came home with a Project-One receiver, Pioneer cassette deck and Pioneer HPM-40 speakers. A Pioneer turntable came a little later on.
This started me down the road to this fine "hobby". Oh the money I could have saved had I just left it be at that. But then I would have missed out on a lot of fun and excitement! I certainly do miss a lot of the brick and mortar stores of the days then, Playback, Good Vibes, CMC, Graham's Electronics, even Radio Shack of the time. Nice memories!