Kensington? That one was so handy to me too.

Yeah, I didn't do full builds from there because it was often unreliable knowing what was in stock but to pop in for one part it was very convenient. As long as you had a backup part or three in mind :)

I'm sure there used to be a bunch of cheap stores around the UNSW area but they might've all closed now.

I loved the price but the guy at that store was the grumpiest guy ever. That said he was really nice too. He even gave me a few writeable CDs from an open stack when I tried to buy some and they didn't sell them anymore

Yeah they had zero customer service at both stores I've been to, so it was best to do your research and go with a list and alternatives in hand. They didn't really want to help you discover what you need and their online ordering was very unreliable at the time.

I know a Taiwanese guy though who said he had a few decent conversations with him in Chinese, so maybe it was a language thing.

The problem was people went in with an expectation that it's a "normal" store and that shop assistants would be available to explain things, give advice, and so on. Or that you could browse and eyeball stuff when you got there, instead of already knowing what you needed (though they did concede to having a small sheaf of parts lists near the counter).

If you go in to MSY with the expectation that it's a warehouse that happens to sell things and that the staff are only there to 1) fetch things for you, and 2) handle the transaction then it is extremely efficient for both the business and yourself. No bullshit small talk, you can just go in, hand over a parts list, finish your sale, and leave within 5 minutes of being served when at a normal shop you might be there for 10 or 20 minutes.

It's a shame my local MSY closed down, they had hands-down some of the best shopping experience I've ever had.