Amen. I have fond memories of watching my dad put together Heathkit components. That was good quality and a great learning experience.
The kids today don't know what they are missing (back cover of a 1961 Analog Fact-Fiction magazine):
Amen also. Same memories to a degree, I actually built most of them, not Dad. Now lets not forget Allied Radio, or the tad more troublesome EICO. We may want to forget any shocks on steel chassis’s of Halicrafters. B+ does send one across the room in a Jolt!
Carts/horses Eggs/baskets / politicians / the Gov Center in Boston “erased” all the old electronic part houses. Scollay square anyone?