I hate to see it go as I would visit a couple times a month for parts. Like some of you I waited for the 80/90% off days and cleaned out the parts bin. Got a ton from the part drawers, Arduino stuff and EL wire. I used the wire and the 7 color flashing LEDs to jazz up my Saitek toy PB.

A reference to this was posted earlier but not the main site. This is an archive of all RS catalogs from 1939 to 03. You can look through the pages of each. http://www.radioshackcatalogs.com/catalog_directory.html

I laugh remembering the 1975 one with Arthur Fiedler, conductor of the Boston Pops Orchestra then, on the cover promoting RS stereo equipment.

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They incrementally discounted the merchandise weekly until closing and this went on for about two months at each location. I don't know if it was ever posted but signs were up along the road and in front of the stores. I lucked out because there was one only half a mile from my house, another about 3 miles and I work in another city and one was not far from my job. They weren't closing all at once. The one 3 miles away started the process first. After it closed the one near my job started the process. After it closed the one near me started and it still has a couple weeks left. Hard to beat Arduino shield kits at $1.50 or $2.

Call before you go and find out where they are in the process and what the stock is like for what you want. The one near me has a couple weeks to go but the parts drawers are almost completely empty. Also, the signs say, for example, up to 90% off. Some sections will only be 60 or 70%. The tools section (soldering irons and such) never dropped below 70%. And it was inconsistent between stores as to what the final discounts on the same sections would be. The store near work dropped the parts drawer to 90% after the first couple weeks but the one near me is still at 70%. All the employees were confused as to pricing also. Arduino and maker section had a sign 70% but when rung up the discount was higher. I went back and grabbed a few more things.

I'd hate you to drive all that way to find no stock for what you want or discount you were expecting.

TRS80, that's exactly what I did. Grabbed the large proto boards (3) and that kind of stuff early. I kept going back to all of the stores and getting better deals. I bought every 12v and 125v relay along with the last couple of sockets for them, rectifiers, high wattage resistors and different toggle and power switches in one of the visits. Things I may need for a future project.

In the closing week of one store I picked up a microcontroller experiment board kit and a motorized robot gripper. Don't know what I'm going to do with them but they were only a few dollars each.

I stopped by today at the store near me and Final Week sign was up. Picked up all the tips they had left for my soldering iron (50c) and 12v SLA batteries ($8).

frunch - You got enough EL wire? I only got 10 sets with the inverter for each. I probably got 2/3rds of that. Did you get in on the parts drawer buy2get2 deal?

I've kept a lot of my parts organized in one of the largest Plano tackle boxes you can get along with a drawer in a cabinet. Think I'm going to go the route of a small rolling tool cart.

Check out the upgrade to my Saitek toy pin for just a few dollars thanks to the RS demise. Two ELs, 4 super bight and 4 - 7seven color flashing LEDS.

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