haha well spotted.

I keep praying for a runaway truck, a bicycle accident, or yep, a comet. One could fall on his head you know....

I was unemployed for a long time this year...so I definitely know what that feels like and understand those words completely...

Agree with this. Comet's business was never going to be sustainable with the rise of Internet-based retail offering much lower prices and probably better service too. But yes, I have a lot of sympathy for the employees who had no control over the above and are now out of work.

I don't know about better service. I've not had enough personal dealings with Comet in the UK to judge their particular quality of service, but it's almost always a given that service in a proper brick-and-mortar store will be head and shoulders above most online stores. I never buy any kind of hardware online nowadays. The hassle with dealing with faulty goods goes far beyond the savings of a few euros/quid from buying online.

That being said, most shop assistants in franchise hardware stores here in Germany and over in the UK are thick as shit and are just instructed to sell you the most expensive product possible, with the exception of our local Saturn, where they do seem to know their stuff. I went into Dixons in the UK a couple of years ago with the aim of spontaneously buying a Wii that was on offer, but I wanted to know whether it used a standardised mains cable that could be swapped out for one with a Schuko plug. They couldn't tell me and were apparently completely unwilling and unable to find out.

Personally, I prefer the smaller independent stores. The people who run them usually take a lot more interest in their work.

Answered your own point there! ;)

Yes, my experiences with stores like Comet and Dixons have largely involved dealing with barely-literate idle teenagers who couldn't give a shit about me as a customer and only showed any enthusiasm when trying to sell me an extended warranty...