I have used Radio Shack store for years and I agree. In early years=20 when they had Pc boards for sale with some interesting projects. The=20 only problem was in about a majority of the boards they did not stock=20 all the parts to finish the board and you were not even able to get the=20 part from them and they were unable to tell you where to get it. That=20 was when I started not use there store very much. Bob On 3/4/2014 6:26 PM, Sean Breheny wrote: > Hi Colin, > > I wish things were as good in the US as you thought. In the 80s, Radio > Shack was decent. They had a solid basic selection of resistors, > capacitors, common ICs, various small enclosures, etc, as well as some > CB/Ham equipment and TV cables, antennas, etc. In the late 80s to early > 90s, they began to decline as they focused more on consumer goods like ce= ll > phones, landline phones, toys, and computer accessories. In the mid to la= te > 90s, it seemed that they just let their electronic component selection > languish - when something went out of stock it often was not re-stocked, > many of the parts were no longer properly sorted or categorized. I believ= e > that some of their stores dropped the parts section entirely. Today, they > have begun to include some newer hobby stuff like Arduino and robotics > kits, but I think their days are probably numbered due to the availabilit= y > of some local alternatives (my local Home Depot has an entire isle for AV > tools, cabling, and accessories) and low prices online. > > Sean > > > > On Tue, Mar 4, 2014 at 2:03 PM, CDB wrote: > >> I read on the BBC website that Radio Shack is closing 1100 stores,around >> 20% of their total number due to fast declining sales. >> >> I've only ever seen their Tandy offshoots, which in the UK were always >> quite expensive from actual component pricing (though I am comparing the= m >> to the likes of Maplin and Henrys Radio and Cirkit amongst others in the >> 70s). They very soon lapsed into just a gadget outlet. I understand thou= gh >> that in the US they did retain their proper hobby supply status and were >> competitive from a hobbyist point of view. >> >> Colin >> -- >> cdb, on 5/03/2014 >> >> >> >> -- >> http://www.piclist.com/techref/piclist PIC/SX FAQ & list archive >> View/change your membership options at >> http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist >> --=20 http://www.piclist.com/techref/piclist PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist .