Radioshack still serves a necessary niche in the electronics market. Although it seems to focus more on cell phones and other communications gadgets than its traditional array of radios, you'll still be able to find several good models of portable radios, including excellent-quality short-wave receivers at a reasonable price. There's an excellent array of hard-to-find batteries, such as those lithium batteries which you often need to run the light-up dial function in your radio, as well as watch batteries. However, be sure to ask the helpful salespeople to "translate" the number of your watch battery into the Radio Shack brand number. The staff is also very helpful when you need adapters for your VCR or DVD player. And this is perhaps one of the few places, short of a mail-order catalogue, where technical types can find transistors and capacitators, to repair, or even construct, their own radios.
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