Mace Electronics in Erie, PA

Click to enlarge: Mace Electronics logo. Mace Electronics was an electronics superstore in Erie, PA and the surrounding area in the 60s, 70s and early 80s.

Mace Electronics had a number of locations in the Erie area when I was growing up, one I could ride to on my bike (8th Street), and I was there most every weekend with best friend Rich Nickel, eyes made wide as saucers by electronics we couldn't afford.

Mace was nothing like a Best Buy today, where you're limited mostly to big screen TVs, computers, iWhatevers and cell phones. In my day you had wall-to-wall cassette tape decks, 8-track tape players, turntables, amplifiers, speakers, radios, CBs, radio controlled toys, calculators, and early computers. (You usually went to a department store for a TV)

We liked taking things apart and eventually made our own speakers out of antique parts and trips to Radio Shack. In those days, speakers were an art form, enormous, earsplitting, and a status symbol.

 

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Click to enlarge: Mace Electronics Grand Opening ad from 1968

Mace held an annual "Mace Spectacular" at the Erie County Fieldhouse, normally a concert venue. I attended and bought a few blank cassettes. It was basically a trade show run by a retailer. They were on the right track. Had they been growing that fast today, they'd no doubt have been online and been Erie's version of JandR.com.

There's a great website called OldTimeErie (>) that collects nostalgic recollections like this, including a flier for the 1982 Mace Spectacular (>).

 

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Click to enlarge: Cheap Trick circa 1980

I saw Cheap Trick, Boston, Krokus, and Saxon play at the Erie County Fieldhouse. I don't think it's a venue for rock 'n roll anymore.[1]


I once bought a Technics turntable at the 8th Street Mace, $60, plus $30 more for a good needle and cartridge. Mace had a sign up that said "Free Assembly," so I asked one of the older Mace guys to assemble it. He huffed through the assembly like I was imposing. I think he thought I was being a smart-aleck kid, but I never owned a fancy turntable before and I thought it would be a good idea to have an expert show me how to do it.

He was rough and rude and taught me a lesson: Electronics store people don't know any more about electronics than I do, usually less, and they don't want to be my friend, they just want my business.

[2013-02-13]

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[1]
I came home from those concerts reeking of smoke and having consumed more pot in one night than most hippies do in a year, but I never smoked a joint in my life. That's the God-honest truth.

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