[hibikir]

In many cities in the US, there's Microcenter, where you can walk out with every part you need. We also still have smaller stores that can build clones for you/hand you the boxes, but they don't quite have the same variety of parts.

[ghaff]

Microcenter is one of the very few local DIY stores remaining. Best Buy has some stuff like hard drives but, even in the Boston area, I can't think of many other examples at this point.

Of course, you have Newegg and other online stores.

[ejoso]

In some cities. I happen to be from one of them. Now I live in a far bigger city (Los Angeles) and the closest Microcenter is 2 hours away. Worse with traffic on a Tuesday afternoon. They’re only in a handful of states, sadly. There are not many places that offer a reasonable selection of boards that are close. Fry’s was the last bastion for many folks. Best Buy sometimes has a few options. But today is a far cry from the days of Circuit City, Computer City, CompUSA, RadioShack… not to mention dozens of mom & pop stores. Online is the main way nowadays.