Earlier this month, my wee shop celebrated its 75th year in business. Thanks to working hard, we have increased our turnover by 12 per cent and I am just glad still to be here when so many have closed.

Needless to say, I am feeling a bit nostalgic and I thought it would be fun to look back over the past 10 years. A quick glance at an ERT for January 2000 reveals how much times have changed.

Dixons and Comet were both reporting multi-million pound profits and the Kraftman family’s Tempo shops were offering a Sony 32in Wega TV for just £1,269.

Of course, that Sony TV had a tube and I remember its being really heavy. The same ERT reported that Sharp had shown a prototype of a 28in LCD TV at CES.

Back then, I did suggest “keep your eye on the internet”. AOL had just taken over the 60 year-old Time Warner, CNN and MGM.

I wrote: “Old media meets new media – films will soon be delivered online – we are moving from broadcasting to narrow-casting that will exactly match consumer needs.” The internet was still in its infancy and Dixons was investing in the @jakarta format.

Every man pictured in that old ERT wore a tie. Nowadays, everyone from Steve Dowdle to John Browett is photographed in an open shirt.

One tie-wearing young gent in the 2000 issue was Charles Dunstone, who was talking up his new concept of pay-as-you-go mobile phones.

ERT reported that Mr Dunstone was about to start stocking set-top boxes – his first move into brown goods. Now he is in partnership with Best Buy, the biggest retailer in the world.

While it is fun to look back, it is also a good time to recognise missed opportunities and to review future plans.

We all acknowledge that the past 10 years have seen tremendous technical innovation and fortunately the public likes buying new technology. I find that the youngsters adopt an idea first and then it soon permeates up through the older generations.

 I am constantly watching how my young relatives react to new products, but I have let some golden opportunities pass me by.

Almost everyone in my extended family has a mobile phone and a digital camera – most have at least one item made by Apple. Yet I never sold any of these products.

Sometimes, we all need a reality check. Start by asking yourself: “How many of the family’s electrical products were bought from my shop?”

At the start of every year, we hear predictions about “convergence.” I first got the message back in 1996, when Sony’s Dr Goto created VAIO.

At Retra meetings ever since, I have been explaining that the stylised VA symbolises an analogue sine wave and the IO represents the 1s and 0s of the new digital world. The word VAIO cleverly links analogue and digital. One thing is certain, digital convergence is here to stay.

Products that were once separate, such as phones, TV, radio and music players, are now combined in a single item like an iPhone, which simply connects to the home’s wi-fi network.Storing and streaming content will soon be very big business, but it will be for experts only.

VAIO was the leading edge of a digital wave that we must all latch on to. The surf is up. Don’t be overwhelmed. 2010 is your last chance to catch that wave. In the words of Lenny Bruce: “The future’s gonna be an incredible trip.”

Graham Knight