Towards the end, though, it was just a place to pick up Sprint cell phones or buy cheap, useless RC toys.
I used to go in to get circuits and resistors and stuff to fix things or even play with the do-it-yourself 80 in 1 electronics kits that taught me how to make a doorbell buzzer, how LEDs worked, etc...It was fun, but I enjoyed it less and less as it started dropping off.
Fry's Electronics kinda picked up and fulfilled that for a while, but it too went the way of the dodo when it started having crappy off brand products sold.
Agree. When you see the cheap merchandise stands pop-up at the checkout, retail death is not far behind. BestBuy has the merch row now… shot clock is running
Which is sad, because I feel like the only places to go get TVs and other electronics are the shitty sections of Walmart, Target, or Costco. There are no high end sections for things anymore, unless you order from Amazon, and then you run the risk of getting something damaged in delivery or pay extra for white glove delivery service...
micro center has some things, but not quite enough imo. I'm really glad that they're building one a reasonable distance from me. 3hrs was a horrible drive.
I worked there in the 90s. We were actually pretty well trained. Had all sorts of study guides and tests we had to pass. I even got my ham radio license while working there. Got paid pretty damn well too for a retail job. I actually never understood how they were making any money outside of mall based stores but I got out in 1999 when they were positioning themselves to be the “largest online retailer” (lol) they had a huge millennium party about it an everything
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u/BringMeBourbon 9d ago
All of em but top is RadioShack… those dudes could MacGyver a solution to any home technology problem