OT: Where have electronics hobby stores gone?

"Chuck Guzis" <cclist at sydex.com> wrote: Their emphasis on PC boards and microcontrollers is certainly different than the classic "Heathkit" educational/hobbyist kit that used to work here. But obviously Heathkit, as such, is no more. (Didn't some of their microprocessor trainer boards live on past the rest of their stuff?) Jameco and JDR are pretty lame. Just my personal opinion. And Radio Shack, even if by some accident of time travel you found with all the parts that they sold in the 60's or 70's, was pretty lame too. Why spend so much money on lame no-name parts that they've had sitting on the shelves for 25 years? There are plenty of hobbyists buying and doing interesting stuff. And the big distributors who accomodate the small buyers (most do) are a far far better pipeline (cost, depth of stock, breadth of stock) especially when you pair them up with some of the more nimble specialty suppliers selling via web storefronts. Throw in the web-based PC board prototypers and front-panel-machining outfits and this is the most interesting time to be doing stuff for decades. Personally I find that my current hobby interests are almost completely orthogonal to the ETT stuff. Yes, microcontrollers etc. are interesting things, but after enough years in the industry I'm sick of them as things to do for fun. I generally choose to do things that have no educational value and are certain to lead nowhere technologically :-). Things like 6SN7's and 807's on shiny punched aluminum chassis with lots of chokes and transformers, that's where it is for me! Tim.