plonnie wrote ...
Guess I'm aging myself. This was back in 1983-1986. LOL

Yes, that was back when they had BOTH...
1) Good help (folk who knew a resistor from their elbow)
2) Actual corporate cognizance of what the electronics
business is. In the last few years, it seems to me that
the management in Texas doesn't know (or care) whether
they are in the electronics business, or selling fried
chicken or furniture.

Interesting to see the rise and fall in my lifetime. As a
teenager in high school, I remember Radio Shack taking
over several of the local electronics stores in town (Orange
County, CA). To be sure, the ~schlock 5 resistors in a
plastic bag on a peg type places, not the really serious
electronics suppliers. RS never really had a "Golden
Era" IMHO, but they made it to Bronze there for a while.