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In reply to the discussion: A eulogy for RadioShack, the panicked and half-dead retail empire [View all]SeattleVet
(5,477 posts)and I feel really sorry for them every time I need to go in there.
It's a smaller store with a few (shared) parking spaces that's extremely difficult to get out of (on a very busy street, on a curve, with almost zero maneuvering space).
One guy in particular really knows his stuff and usually goes out of his way to try to find things for me, but their inventory is sorely lacking. Unless it's a *very* common resistor or capacitor, you're unlikely to find it. They did start selling some Arduino stuff and other 'Maker" types of things, but I think that this is just a last-gasp 'too-little, too-late' attempt at making a few dollars in their last days. At least they don't try to push a cellphone on me every time I go through the doors, or demand a phone number and address for every little cash sale. They try to help, but if the inventory just isn't there, there isn't much that they can do.
If I want to get something quickly and don't want to wait for a shipment from Jameco, Mouser, or Digi-Key,I 'll either try this RS or drive 15 miles to the nearest Fry's - if I want to spend time in that completely mis-organized shopping hell - without having any high hopes of finding what I really need in either place.
Radio Shack just seems like a place that been going out of business for the past 15 years or longer.