Arrow is quite amazing if they have it. And for "real" hardware, McMaster-Carr can often deliver on the weekend within hours if you're willing to pay for it.
Mouser is one of my go-tos as well, but not for something I need same day.
I have used McMaster-Carr, but they don't have electronics components beyond a token selection (at least they didn't last time I looked).
I'm convinced that cell phones are the only thing that's kept most Radio Shack stores afloat since there's decent margin in cell phone accessories and plans.
They were. Source: A friend of mine worked for Radioshack between 2008 and 2012. He had no idea why his store was still in business.
The only thing he ever sold at any volume was cellphones.
Besides phones, there'd also be the occasional lunatic who would wander in, convinced that the end of the world was nigh, who wanted to buy a battery-powered off-the-grid television, while talking about his stockpile of guns, and how the country was heading towards civil war.
It was never entirely clear what kind of television broadcasts he was planning on watching after the fall of civilization.
The hobbiest electronics business seems even harder, it's hard to sell a 4 pack of resistors for $3.99 when you can buy a 300 pack on e-bay for the same price. But they couldn't afford to stock a useful variety of parts and sell them for much less than that, a decent size metro area can support a few electronic component houses that have enough volume to have good inventor, but not 27 neighborhood Radio Shack retailers. Though even then it's hard to compete when national online retailers like Digikey have a catalog of 8 million items and can ship most of them the next day -- whether you need 1 or 10,000 components.
Make Magazine found out that that the entire Maker movement is not really enough to sustain a business.
Circuit City is back in business.
https://www.dealerscope.com/article/in-time-for-black-friday...
Once the company re-established itself online, Shmoel said at the time, then they’d be able to consider a move back into the physical retail space in the form of Circuit City Express stores, and a potential store-within-a-store model
With the ongoing decline of brick-and-mortal retail in general, it seems unlikely that they'll ever have a significant physical presence.
I think my first phone plan had 100 minutes a month.
This was a typical cellphone circa 1996
https://steemitimages.com/DQmaMWsMbXEaUxf4oAHVp6q5Y8r7A4QgxF...
I was thinking the same thing.
Those categories are the perfect way for brick and mortar stores to differentiate themselves from online retailers. They're accessible enough that the average consumer may be interested in them, but complex enough that you'll probably need advice from someone knowledgeable before buying.
I'm really surprised Best Buy hasn't devoted much (if any) floor space to those things. I bet they could sell truckloads of things like micro FPV drones if they just demonstrated them for customers.
(I wouldn't order power supplies or flash memory from Chinese retailers, though.)
You're thinking of an entirely different market.
People who shop for something like a drone in Best Buy are never going to order one directly from China. First, they don't trust Chinese websites (and I've ordered from them all, so I completely understand why). Second, they probably don't know exactly what they want, so they need to talk to someone first. Third, even if they do know what they want, 99% of the stuff you see on sites like AliExpress is actually toy-grade junk, even when the price is $100+. Finding something that's actually worth your money is like finding a needle in a haystack.
I think there's a ton of potential in selling these types of hobby electronics to consumers, but it's only possible with salespeople who can demonstrate and explain the products. Fast shipping (or pickup) and easy returns/exchanges/repairs would just be icing on the cake.
If you could go in and ask questions and get knowledgeable answers to technical things, it might be helpful. Like early radio shack, not like right before it died.
If it's a chain, it will never reliably have knowledgeable employees in all of its locations. Nobody with electronics knowledge is going to work for a dinky salary racking up capacitors on the cash register of some little store, unless they have life-long personality problems.
It basically has to be a family business with a knowledgeable owner, who passed some of it on to the kids.
Unless they're a college student or a retiree.
Grr; I know what I'm doing, and found the parts I need in three minutes. Can I pay now?
Nope, some dolt is explaining some cockamamie project idea to the clerk, asking for suggestions that add up to half of the design.
Guy behind him brought a toaster and wants to ask how to get it working again. Has zero troubleshooting skills.
This could easily be solved with the McDonald's model: Provide self-service kiosks where you can order what you want and pay and have a "pickup" register which also serves as the hub for online orders.
> Guy behind him brought a toaster and wants to ask how to get it working again. Has zero troubleshooting skills.
That one can be solved by integrating a "maker space" into the store, with either volunteers or paid staff. Even better: combine this concept with an entirely automated warehouse so that online, in-person and "maker space" orders can be served basically 24/7.
All electronic components, from tiny SMD resistors over huge electrolytic condensators to processors, are available on machine-feedable spools anyway for mass production... so it shouldn't be that hard to automate anyway with existing components!
(Please, someone, please implement this idea!)
1. You order online.
2. The parts go in a delivery truck.
3. The truck drives for a few hours.
4. The parts get loaded into a vending machine.
5. You go there to get the parts.
This makes it possible to supply a small city with parts that are always available within 4 to 6 hours. You only need to drive a mile or two.
Maybe it really isn't worth it to keep more product in-store or pay for better qualified sales reps, I don't know. But if it's not worth it, then yeah: I don't see why I should buy from a brick & mortar store except just to keep them in business for when I do need them.
Radio Shack used to have a similar markup: charging $.70 for a $.03 part.
https://www.banggood.com/0805-SMD-Resistor-And-Capacitor-Sam...
One wouldn't want to inadvertently age-box anything by implying any particular position on the toddler-geezer age axis. Kids of sufficient skill can think of themselves as "advanced", and adults of sufficient budget won't think they're blowing it all on "toys".