My local mall actually had 3 record shops in 1988, which is hard to believe these days. One of them was my favorite, but I can't even remember the name now. I do recall that they had separate "Rock" and "Alternative" sections, and that U2 was filed under "Alternative." Anyway, I'm pretty sure I drove to that record shop after school to pick up R&H, but I can't say for sure if it was the day of release or sometime later that week.
R&H was the first U2 album I bought on CD on (or near) release day. I originally bough Joshua Tree on cassette and upgraded to CD after Christmas 1987, when I received my first CD player.
At 16, one of my favorite moments from the album was, "Am I buggin' you? Don't mean to bug ya..."