Before Rat Shack came to town there were Route, Federated, Disco, Greenbrook and a few others along Rte. 22 that Jean didn't point out in Shepherd's Pie or Jean Shepherd's America. Then over in Plainfield (as opposed to Fancyfield) there was Laughingyet, here and there a few wholesale parts distributors, don't forget the infamous Cortland Street NYC immortalized by our beloved Dash! For mail order stuff there were Allied, B. A. which BTW doesn't stand for boat anchor and a few others I seem to have forgotten. One thing I'll never forget though is the used tube and parts gold mine downtown, the back of the local TV shop with piles of stuff waiting for the junk man. That's where I got my first SW radio, a chassis pulled from a '60s TV, radio and record player console. Do I have to tell you there's nothing like free?

"It seems this hobbyist robot thing has caught on and we may benefit from it a little."
Not likely, they tend to evolve into Cybermen and give Doctor Who fits and conniptions.