I work in a Motorola plant that used to employ about 1000 engineers. There is a Radio Shack store a short walk away. Until about 5 years ago they stocked all sorts of parts and stuff you needed to make things. Why? Because you have a huge user base that looks for that stuff daily. Anytime I went there there were other Motorolans there.
About 5 years ago they got rid of most of it and started pushing cellphones and laptops. Yeah, this is giong to work right across the street from a plant that MADE cellphones. The RS is still open. I dont go there and neither does anyone else I know. If you see anyone in the store, they are from the nearby retirement community. The sales people don't know an Ohm from a Giggawatt.
If you need a part from RS, look it up online first. Check the store stock, and have the RS stock number when you go to the store. I have the best luck at the outlet mall store, but that is still about 50/50 after the computer said it was in stock. Try to get Ferric Chloride. Many stores do stock it, but have no clue what or where it is. Look up, at the dusty stuff on the top of the shelves. Thats where they put it 5 years ago. It doesn't go bad.
The local Lafayette Radio Electronics store was one of my hangouts when I was in middle and high school. The manager would let us play the guitars and talk on the CB radio. About 1980 I got my ham radio license. Through random luck my call letters were KB4LRE (Lafayette Radio Electronics). Even though I have upgraded my license several times, I kept the old call letters.
After high school I ran the service department of the local Olson Electronics store. We had a better parts selection than LRE or RS, probably because we were right next to the University of Miami, who had a engineering program, and a music school. We stocked every Switchcraft jack, cable, and switch that could be remotely wired to a guitar or synthesizer. Olson died when Teledyne bought them. I found my way to the Motorola plant 40 years ago....I still work there.