alt Hacker News> someone who can help you with info if you need it is baked into the price.
Absolutely, in their heyday.
By the end, I met an employee who very derisively told me I didn't need to connect all three terminals on a transistor for it to work. According to him, the collector was often skipped in circuits.
So, by that single indicator, they were already the Walking Dead. But I could ignore him and still buy what I needed, then.
The last few years corporate was telling everyone get out of hobbies, the money is in selling cell phones. Until everyone had a cell phone and the good deal to upgrade without changing carriers were only had in the company store. All the third party stores including radio shack disappeared overnight since none had a fall back.