What do you mean no software stores? What year are you targeting? Boxed software was everywhere as early as the early 80's which is when the Apple II series hit

What do you mean no software stores? What year are you targeting? Boxed software was everywhere as early as the early 80's which is when the Apple II series hit its stride with the IIe... There were aisles of it at even pedestrian stores. Computer clubs and other piracy-potential things were available. 300 baud modems and BBS's... You also had mall stores like Babbages (became GameStop eventually), etc. that specialized in software across multiple platforms. VisiCalc was released about the time that software became a fairly visible retail item.