[Blood of Tyrants]

Electronics tinkerers used to be able to go to Radio Shack for electronic supplies but now all it they sell are odd watch batteries and cell phones.

[fatnotlazy]

RS started selling junk. Everything I had from RS either didn’t work at all or died within a year.

[T-Bone Texan]

"...Electronics tinkerers used to be able to go to Radio Shack for electronic supplies but now all it they sell are odd watch batteries and cell phones..."

It was all about "the drawers".

The drawers held all the little electronic components that RS was known for.

Back when I was poor I'd build my own lights for my mountain bike, and the drawers were of pivotal importance to that task. On/off buttons, LEDs, etc: they were all in the drawers.

Now when I go into an RS the drawers are hidden way in the back, and the salesperson has no idea what is in them. Why? Because they were hired to sell phones solely. They would not know a diode if it poked them in the eye.

IMO this lack of electronics knowledge (or even curiosity) in todays' youth is one of the reason we are losing our exceptionalism.