wrote ...
Well, gulp, it turns out that clearly I need to research a little
more.

Maybe I was the only person left on planet earth who didn't know that
the "Onion" is an online satirical magazine.

I got sucked in good!

My apologies to the good people at Radio Shack, still only seven
minutes from my house.

Satire or not. I didn't see anything in your quote that I hadn't
already seen in the product-mix and store operations over
the last several years. You are far more likely to find a plush
toy with a broadcast receiver inside, or stick-on plastic jewels
for your cell phone than a 22K ohm resistor or a 7404 hex
inverter.

But then, my friends convinced me that the movie "This is
Spinal Tap" was a real documentary. While I have done a
lot of video and audio production of musical performances,
my very limited (by choice) experience with rock music acts
was nearly identical to the mocumentary. :-)