Fry's has a decent component selection depending on the exact store, but nothing in the Bay Area I've seen compared to HSC in Santa Clara; it's a huge warehouse full of everything from aisles of reels of surface-mount components to shelves and shelves of used test equipment.

Not everyone lives in California. I did for 2 years after getting my BS in EE, and Fry's was something I had never seen the like of in my life. Both northern and southern Cali have an unusual concentration of electrical engineers.

RadioShack is the only retail store I have heard of, in Delaware or Maryland or southern New Jersey, that has resistors, capacitors, bread boards, etc.

I think, at least where I live, that role is filled mostly by local speciality stores. I can think of a few in the Toronto area, and they don't exist outside Southern Ontario.

Ah Active Surplus. There is one thing that I miss from my Canadian days!