Come to think of it, I don't remember them advertising much last Christmas. Maybe the advertised stuff was just unmemorable junk easily available at Big Lots next door to the one in my area.
Oh my, yes. Everything electronic you could think of.
The web has subsumed most of this function. There’s a delivery cost and delay, but you never have to leave home.
I once bought a pair of headphones branded Optimus from RS that were really nice. Tried for years to find out who really made them because the earpads were wearing out. Nobody was talking and I wasn’t the only one asking by far. Turned out to be Koss, who didn’t want to admit it because they didn’t sell that model themselves and RS no longer carried them. I still have them.
First electronic component I ever called a distributor to get a price on was a transistor from Radio Shack.
I was in fifth grade. I was on an "I've got to build something even if I don't know how" campaign. I called up Radio Shack. Asked them how much for a transistor. The guy said "what kind, NPN or PNP?" I answered "NPN" because that's what he said first. He gave me a price for a package of three, or ten, can't remember.
Later I learned the difference. Learned to remember which was which by thinking NPN = arrow Not PoiNting at the base.
I didn't actually build anything from transistors until I got a flip-flop to work when I was sixteen or so. Didn't get the transistors from Radio Shack though.
They have become a cookie-cutter store for stuff you can get easily online or any other store