We're an "Amazon family" as much as the next and my wife still went/goes to Joann on a regular basis to purchase material for various craft/sewing projects. I can't imagine buying fabric online considering how "feel' is an important characteristic.

I was recently working on an upholstery project and I agree, Joann's selection was excellent.

But I think part of the reality is that most customers, even sewing customers, don't stop and consider the "feel" of fabric. If you look at what the median sewing machine user is doing, it's probably cranking out a tacky quilt made from cheap polyester fabrics. (Certainly seems to be a favorite activity in my extended family).

And honestly, for all the floorspace dedicated to sewing and crafting materials, I wouldn't be surprised if the bulk of their sales these days was coming from decorations and art supplies for kids.

A lot of places online you can order "samples" for a few bucks. If you like the sample, order a few yards.

But just in general, this suggests to me more of a sign of the public increasingly turning toward passive or, if you will, packaged entertainment. Does anyone still build plastic models, fly RC airplanes, get together for card games, or bowl?

Maybe though someone in my neighborhood will start up a doom-scrolling league that the wife and I can join. And there's always the watercooler where we can suggest to others that they watch some streaming shows we saw that they've never heard of.

> Does anyone still build plastic models, fly RC airplanes, get together for card games, or bowl?

Board games are more popular than ever before. I would guess a lot of RC airplane use has been replaced with drones.

Model building, that I'm not so sure about. Or engineering toys in general. Lego is bigger than it ever was before, but that's not quite the same thing. Not sure if it's sucking all of the air out of the market. Miniature dollhouse kits are getting more popular, thanks to Chinese manufacturers like Rolife and Cutebee. But beyond that, it's something I wonder about a lot, and I don't know how to answer that.

As a matter of fact, more people now than ever before can be fit into the groups "Model Hobbyist" or "card/board game hobbyist".

Twice a week I play board/tabletop card games with two seperate groups in two seprate states. Currently surrounded by kit cars I bought from/with a group of colleagues.

"do kids still bowl", I can't help you much there. Kids are currently socialising both online and in person in ways you and I can't even conceputailize.

TLDR it's not all doom and gloom, HN comments isn't the best for this.

I really miss our local Fry's: my electronics knowledge is basically zero, and it was educational to explore the hardware aisles and look at the individual components.

There are usually independent yarn shops around. More likely than independent resistor shops, anyway.

My husband crochets, and the problem with most of the local yarn stores is that a lot of them cater to more "boutique" yarn. It's hard to find cheap, standard yarn in a variety of colors for him.

"Just go to <expensive place you can't afford or that your town might not have>" is such a classic response from people who shop at Whole Foods.

I live in a midwestern city of 50k. The only alternative we have is Hobby Lobby. I can't say I loved the selection available at Joann's, but at least we had something.

Unfortunately not all of us live in dense urban centers that can support boutique craft stores.

> I went from being able to purchase just the resistor I needed to a $15 pack of 1,000 resistors I'll never use

The last time I bought resistors from Radio Shack, which was well over a decade ago, they were $1 a piece. A piece! While I get your sentiment, you can buy resistors in packs of 100 for roughly the same price you used to get 5 for.

But what if you don't need 100 resistors? If I want an oddball resistor size, it may be for just one project/experiment. Now I have to store the remaining 99 somewhere or throw them away. I'd rather pay $1 for one resistor than $15 for 100.

Best bet for an electronic anything right now is Tayda. They sell in hobbyist sizes. You'll still need to buy 10 resistors, but that's kind of reasonable.

DigiKey for electronic parts. Get whatever quantity you want. Amazon is rotten for this kind of thing, practically no search or browse capability.

Yes, please charge me $6 shipping for my 10 cent resistor.

this is the conundrum and isn't the fault of the vendor. It costs that much to ship a part. Amazon has, does, and will always subsidize shipping.

What's your idea of a solution? If you need the resistor, and there's no service/parts shop, what do you do?

I think the answer of "Pay more for the part in bulk via an online vendor" is ideal. BEcause that online vendor can also send soap, car parts, clothes, and books at the same time.

Eh, you could ship it in an envelope to reduce carrier costs.

Yeah that's ultimately the downside with online stores. You have to pay the actual price of shipping, or they subsidize it a little bit but not very much. Rip radio shack, but there's probably not enough electronic hobbyists to support that anymore.

I guess there's more electronics hobbyists than ever. The real problem is that Selling a 10-cent resistor was always a loss leader for a radio shack.

When the majority of bigger ticket purchases moved online, the revenue dried up

One of the reasons cited in their bankruptcy is that they weren't able to keep yarn and hobby materials in stock, diminishing their utility as a one stop physical stock for hobbyists.

My wife was bummed when I told her about it, but I also recall going several times where they were stocked out of many items, so I kind of get it. Hard to justify a 30/60 minute trip if there is a good chance you wind up empty handeded

Joann was owned (and killed) by private equity.

Going on a rampage against in-store inventory is a classic PE retail move.

In-store inventory is expensive, subject to shrinkage, etc. So by the spreadsheet, less inventory looks good. But of course, if it's not in-stock when your customer shows up, that's a wasted trip. Only has to happen a few times before your customers quit showing up altogether.

Regarding RadioShack, there are a wide number of non-amazon alternatives if you are willing to move away from prime.

I find that professional websites like McMaster, Grainger, and Digikey do everything I've wanted amazon to do for years. They have excellent search, organized part catalogs, spec sheets, CAD, and no counterfeits.

I checked and Digikey sells most individual resistors singles for $0.10ea, and $0.004ea for 5,000 ($20).

My memories of RatShack are less fond. #1 place to go to buy batteries that were already dead in the package. Even in the '80s.

Maybe if you find the right local group, you can barter with your left overs?

I miss RadioShack and the electronics section. I sometimes go to Micro Center but it is not the same. Digikey has been my catalog option since the 90s.