ORIGINAL: GTX SlotCar
The Shadio Rack ad says "you've got questions, we've got answers". They're just the right answers all the time.
I managed a Radio Shack store for about 6 years in the early 70's. At that time you had to have knowledge of electronics to manage a store. By the late 70's, they had switched their philosophy to pure sales. Get the numbers up and everything else will take care of itself. They started hiring managers based on salesmanship and no knowledge of electronics was needed.
They may have hired a kid that's an electronics enthusiast with quite a bit of knowledge, but he'll only offer his opinion and it's not the opinion of an electronics engineer.
Gawd yes!
The "Archer Electronics stores" were great.
I used to go 30 miles out of my way to get to a large "Archer" store because they were so good.
Then things switched to "Radio Shack" and the now current, "you got questions, we've got blank stares" policies.
They are phasing out their support of their remaining electronic components.
Go in for a 1k resistor now, and they will tell you that this is a part which must be ordered.
The marketing people don't understand that a principle part of the Rat Shack draw was the ability to get those small items quickly when you need them.