First off, the store has become yuppie-ized. Everywhere there is clear lettering, gradients, and gadgets. Lots and lots of gadgets. you can buy a picture frame that talks for $20. Before, you could buy all the parts and make one yourself for less than 10. The whole front 3/4 of the store is stuff like radio control cars, air purifiers, and radios. Way back when, you could just assemble a radio from parts off the shelf, but that is quickly becoming a thing of the past.
About all the switches and capacitors and LEDs and whatnot... they're all in a drawer system with about 5 of each item out at a time. They are more organized than they used to be, but it makes it a pain in the butt to get to things when other people are searching them.
The clerks are clueless, too. I remember back a while ago, there were people working at radio shack who knew how to replace blown transistors and figure out what speakers you could use without blowing out your stereo. Now, some of them don't even know what a capcitor is. I asked about a speaker circuit they used to sell (it seperated the high ansd low frequency sound to make the woofers ant tweeters sound clearer), and he led me to amplifiers. Then to DVD stuff. Oy.
So I bought a couple switches out of the drawer and headed home without an audio processor.
If you ask me, there should be a store, be it a retro-RadsioShack or whatever, that still sells all the parts like oscillators and led number boards. (I know there's a "fry's electronics", but there are none around near me.) Or even a hobbyist shop that sold parts from Digikey individually so you don't have to buy a gross of tact switches if you need 2, or something like that. I don't like ordering parts off the internet, nor am I 100% satisfied with Radio Shack. (neither of them sold individual speakers anymore, either.)
This concludes my rant on RadioShack. Maybe if I expanded it a bit, Ben could put it in with the editorials. Who knows? I think it's valid.
PS- for some fun, type "tactile switches" into the RadioShack search box.
