Warhorse "as heaven turns to ash"

In 2007 a big chunk of my heart died.  A beloved records store named Home Of The Hits closed it's doors.  Since the late '80s when I discovered it's hallowed existence the small shop became a desperate destination.  I would beg, borrow or steal to get to it.  As teenagers we would either get rides or hijack someone's parents car to head up to Elmwood ave to go to HOTH and then skateboard Elmwood ave.   When I got my first apartment in buffalo in '93 the very first morning I awoke it the new place I walked up to HOTH, I was new to the city and I got turned around and lost.  I eventually made it there, I had $10 to my name and I bought a used Pigface CD. I miss the smell of that small room, the wall of t-shirts, the unusable Pepsi machine, the loose board in the back corner in front of the used "R" section.   I miss the lfriendly snobbery of the staff, I miss how they were familiar enough with me that when my listening interests would change they would remark I was buying weird stuff and then give me suggestions in that vein.  I wanted to work there so bad.
I bought this #Warhorse cd there in 2002.  I had just gotten into doom metal and was exploring releases on the Southern Lord record label.  I have a vivid memory of buying this and taping it to play in my '88 Crown Victoria.  Someone played this at work the other night and all I could think of was how much I miss researching music in fanzines and online and heading up to that record store to see if it was there. It was like a clubhouse. It was a social hub. I would hang up my hand drawn flyers for shows and the people there would be psyched to receive them.  It was my Cheers. I was it's Norm.