In Tweeter's hometown of Boston, the closing of the remaining 94 stores of the electronics retailer is sad news. The chain started in the shadows of Boston University in 1972, selling stereo equipment to undergrads, and then morphed into selling more and bigger stuff. These days, BU students probably have more gear in one dorm room than Tweeter carried in its entire original store, but those kids are buying their goods elsewhere -- at the nearest Apple Store or on the Web. And so an era ends.

Tweeter is not alone, of course. Much of its competition is struggling too, like Circuit City, which is shutting down 155 stores. The investors who now own the Tweeter chain simply could not go on.