I agree that it is really getting hard to find any "parts" at a brick and mortar store. Radio Shack is pretty much useless these days and there aren't any real "electronics" stores within 100 miles of me. As long as I can deal with a week or so of lead time there are still plenty of online sources like Digikey but my $2 part usually ends up being a $100 order of stuff I didn't know I "needed" until I started thumbing the catalog. I end up using most of it eventually.
