Watford Eelectronics, DSE et al
When I was a teenager in NZ I bought my first soldering iron (an Antex 25W job) from Watford Electronics in the UK. It still working today, but the bits now cost more than buying a new iron locally after adding the outrageous postage charge from Antex.
Anyway, in my 20s I moved to Australia and in the 1980s bought a VIC-20 computer. Again, I found Watford Electronics was useful in being the only place I could find to buy a bunch of 2116 Static RAM chips to build a 3K RAM expander for my VIC-20.
X couple of years ago I went looking for Watford Electronics again (when I was after some bits for the Antex iron) and discovered that, yes, they had "diversified" into computers at some point and were now no more.
On the upside, eBay, AliExpress, BuyInCoins et al, and occasionally Microchip, Element 14 and JayCar, now fulfill the needs I have.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
