OT: Where have electronics hobby stores gone?

"9000 VAX" <vax9000 at gmail.com> wrote: If they have a hard time finding them, remind them that they are kept right next to the krytrons that Los Alamos buys for making atomic bombs :-). More seriously, with lots of really good electronics, electromechanical, etc. distributors on the web, almost all of which are very happy to sell to hobbyists and tinkerers, there's not much need for Radio Shack anymore. Not that I never buy a fuse or something at Radio Shack on a Sunday afternoon, but the amount I buy at Radio Shack is a vanishingly small amount (like, 0.01% for maybe those two Sunday afternoons a year when I need a fuse) of my parts purchases. There's simply no way that Radio Shack can compete with Digikey, Mouser, McMaster-Carr, etc., which are all true distributors with extensive stocks and completely mind-blowing breadth. On the surplus side of the equation, are we going to sit around and lament that Poly-Paks isn't in business anymore or what???!!!! Tim.