Tuesday, August 8, 2017

What is Your Go To Store?

After writing the HRO Anaheim post I got curious about a couple things. The first thing was if the locations of the various stores were based on the amateur operator population in the states they were in. So I went to Google and checked it out. My research is only based on stores everyone hears about. HRO, DX Engineering, Gigaparts, R and L, Universal Radio, and Main Trading Co. I am sure there are plenty more but these are the ones that we all hear about. Here is what I found.

DX Engineering
Ohio - 27,965

Gigaparts
Alabama - 12,002
Nevada -  7,594
**Interesting to find out that there is a Gigaparts distribution center less than 10 miles away.

HRO
Arizona - 19,950
California - 104,950
Colorado - 17,008
Delaware - 1,704
Georgia - 18,507
New Hampshire - 5,399
Oregon - 18,662
Texas - 52,141
Virginia - 19,671
Wisconsin - 11,136

Main Trading Co.
Texas - 52,141

R and L
Ohio - 27,965

Universal Radio
Ohio - 27,965

To me, it is quite obvious that most locations are located in states that have a higher amount of licensed operators than others but I do not understand how the NE area gets stores when they are in the bottom tier of licensed operators. HRO has two stores in that area. The area east of the Mississippi River that is lacking covers a large area such as KY, IN, TN, MO, and MI. The only state with less than 10,000 hams in this area is Kentucky so why do we not have a store there? I am lucky that I can drive 2 hours and get to a store but there are alot of people who can't. (You can see the numbers for yourself by clicking here.)

The second thing that I was curious about is what your favorite store is. Let us all know by commenting on this post. You may reveal a smaller store we do not know about. I am sure they would appreciate it!

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