T&L Publications

The selection at Fry's is good enough I reckon. Not too happy about their adherence to posted hours though-of the four times I stopped by they were closed once without explanation.

I had to shop for materials to repair/remodel a house, and the despot was sowrt on everything except drywall. BTW, I've heard that they are deliberately stocking bastard sizes to trap customers with goods incompatible with other brands (roofing, fence posts).

As for RS, now that I've moved to Morton I see that they've taken over Stan's barber shop. I may have the name wrong...

The story of Stan's:
One day I decided that I needed a haircut. There were no/few hair stylists available in redneckistan so I went with a barber. There were two (now one) barbers in town- one has a knife shop with a barber's chair, the other has a fishing tackle shop with a barber's chair.

I had already been to the knife shop once, and the propietor stated upon my entry that he didn't do "styles"- but he was sompetent with clippers. Stan gave no such disclaimer. I requested a trimming, and when he claimed he was done I examined his handiwork and was appalled.

I was at a loss of adjectives when looking in the mirror. Even in poor light the aberrations couldn't be ignored. If I were the hybrid offspring between Medusa and a serrated mop I might not have noticed, and it might have been an improvement upon a failed attempt to cut blackberries and rusty barbed wire with a rabid chainsaw. Alas, about 60% of my scalp had the hair more or less trimmend to one inch, the rest was an assortment of miscut and uncut patches up to five inches long (curly and now tangled). I have never done so badly trimming my own hair, and anyone could have done better with a hack saw.


Anyways, the local RS sells cellular telephones and fishing tackle. No hair cuts.

There is no question that in the 60's, 70's, 80's and early90's Radio Shack was a fun place to shop, with parts, and kits everywhere. I lived in a small Northern Ontario town...that didnt have one, and whenever we visited a town with one, I made a beeline to the closest one. I liteally would become dizzy visiting one at Christmas while visiting my sister in the Big City. It was really hard to explain to my parents that I had to stock up on a hundred dollars worth of parts and cases...just to get me by until my next visit. I often mail ordered like a madman to Poly Pacs, Jameco, etc in the States to buy specialized stuff for my latest Elementary Electronics project ...much to my Fathers chagrin...as he hated me ordering from those "terrible" Americans.
You also have to remember that yet another reason for the demise of the parts department was that it was a extension of their repair service for their own products, and once they started not doing repairs, it didnt pay to have them.

Ahhh... Poly Paks... <SNIFF> My very first mail order experience. And it was ALL good.

I agree that Fry's has loads of nice stuff. I was able to find a killer selection of SMD proto boards and related stuff... but that's not what I wnt there for. I still had to order what I wanted from BG MICRO, JAMECO and DIGIKEY.

Fry's is probably great if you fix stereo's and build amateur radios, but they only marginally understand the wants of current day electronics hobbyists. Still, I'm glad there is one nearby. Haven't been in a Radio Shack for nearly 4 years now.

Fry's doesn't exist east of the Rockies, right?

stevech wrote:Fry's doesn't exist east of the Rockies, right?

Last time I checked Texas, Georgia, Illinois, and Indiana were EAST of the Rockies. There are eight Fry's in Texas, and one each in Georgia, Illinois, and Indiana.

Store locations:
http://www.frys.com/localframe.html


Store "Themes"
http://www.frys.com/hisframe.html

gee, I didn't realize.

Fry's family were/are No. Calif folks. As I recall, they started out in groceries.

Home Depot vs Service Oriented Speciality Stores. welcome to the Walmarting of America. You don't think those low prices come along for free?

Surely you aren't claiming that Home Depot is a discount store like Wal-Mart! It's the most expensive store in town for anything except their loss leaders (the stuff they deeply discount in the sales flyer to get you in the store to buy the expensive stuff). I do find that power tools at HD aren't too inflated, although I am wary of the Rigid brand now that HD has bought the product line. I tend to stick with Porter-Cable because I've been pleased with the performance of the seven P-C tools I own -- and I use them professionally everyday. On the other hand, nearly everything else (plumbing, electrical, doors, lumber, etc.) is much higher than our lumber yards and plumbing and electrical supply houses. The only thing (sometimes) that can be said about HD is they they do carry a large variety of stuff that the other places don't carry without special order.

Remember Poly-Pack's "Lincoln" sales? Buy one pack and get a second for 1¢. PP did have a lot of "floor sweepings", though. You had to be careful. My favorite place was out of Columbia, Missouri back in the early 1970s -- I don't remember their name, but they didn't stay in business long. Had lots of inexpensive opto and ICs.

But my most favorite was a place in San Diego that sold ICs. Huge, fine-print listings and you could get any type number you wanted. And CHEAP!! It was nothing to get a 7490 for 25¢ when it was normally going for $1.25 in other catalogs. I bought ICs from them by the sleeve. Then a few years later, I read where the company was raided by the Feds. Seems the ICs were cheap because their avenues of procurement were a bit shady.

Dean