Radio Shack does spend some money on distributing parts to their stores
Sigh... those prices ARE ridiculous! Someone there has some spreadsheet that tells them what the markup must be and what's the risk of getting stuck with inventory...
That said, Radio Shack for the first time in years has added something like Arduino to their stores.. When I'm back in the USA I will buy some stuff from them, both for "Buy Local" and nostalgia for the first store in New Haven in 1957, before Tandy Leather Company bought them. Anyone else remember a table with tanned hides on it in a Radio Shack?? That's after the era when Doc and I remember Cortland Street, Vesey Street and Fulton Street in New York and the piles of WWII surplus radios. Guess where those streets ended up? UNDER the brand new World Trade Center. And we know where that ended up.
Constant Change is Here To Stay...