This article is not about the things we buy online but rather the traditional stores we use to buy our electronic stuff.

With electronics items, you can either go to a store that’s specifically deals in electronics, an office supply store, or a department store.

In the United States, these are the choices we have (this is not a complete list but covers most of them):

Electronics specific

• Best Buy
• Radio Shack
• CompUSA 

Note on CompUSA: Yes, they still exist, but only in very particular areas as there are only 23 of them left, most of which are in Florida where PCMech is based.

Reasons to go to electronics stores:

• They will have electronic items on display that other stores don’t have.
• Better choice of electronic items.
• Prices for most products are similar to what you can buy it for online.

Which do you think is the best of the above three electronics stores? Post a comment.

Office supply stores

• Staples
• Office Depot
• OfficeMax

Reasons to go to office supply stores:

• If nobody else has the inkjet cartridge specific for your printer, an office supply store most likely will.
• Less lines. Faster in and out.
• The parking lots for office supply stores always seem to be better for some strange reason? Hey, it’s a perk. Less door dings is a good thing.

Which do you think is the best of the above three office supply stores? Post a comment.

Department stores

• Wal-Mart
• Target
• K-Mart

Reasons to go to department stores:

• Cheapest of the bunch.
• Stupidly easy no-questions-asked return policy if whatever you buy doesn’t work.
• Whatever you want is almost always in stock and easy to get.

Which do you think is the best of the above three department stores? Post a comment.

Tell us what you think about the above choices, good or bad. If there’s a store you’d like to mention not listed above, go right ahead. Make sure to note if it’s regional or national. Your opinion will help out those who like to hear about store experiences for tech products.

It’s most likely true you study the electronics products you intend to purchase before you buy them. You read web site reviews, watch a demonstration video of it if available, and maybe even print out a sheet with some notes before heading to the store.

You expect, as you should, the employee you encounter who will sell you the item to know the product line.

But there are times when this doesn’t happen. You encounter an employee who knows next to nothing about what he or she is selling. And that’s not helpful at all.

Here are 5 things you can do to make your tech shopping experience at electronics retailers more pleasant – even if you encounter the dopiest of employees.

1. Get the SKU of the item you want first.

Big-box electronics stores all live and die by the SKU because they carry so much product that it’s very difficult to make heads or tails of what’s in stock – unless you have the SKU.

2. Call before going.

Before going to the store, call. When on the line, ask if the SKU is in stock. If it isn’t, you just saved yourself from wasting gas.

Note: For clearance items and/or overstock, don’t be surprised if you hear an "I don’t know". Sometimes items slated for special sales are treated differently in the system and cannot be immediately looked up.

3. Dress for the occasion.

Dressing "corporate casual" will get you more personal attention once at the store. Appearance matters.

4. Don’t engage in small talk.

You’re trying to be nice, so you try to spark up a conversation with the employee you encounter. But dopey employees couldn’t care less about you. If you suspect the employee is dopey, can the small talk and stay on target with what you want to buy.

5. Go armed with a memo pad that has the SKU written down.

You already called beforehand and received confirmation your item is in stock, however it’s not over yet. Write that SKU down on memo pad and bring it with you. If you cannot find the item on the shelf, find an employee, hand the paper to them and politely ask if they have that particular SKU.

This is not a rude thing to do and in fact makes it easier for the employee to find what you want to buy. Even the dopiest of employees know what a SKU is and how to look one up.

In the world of business there are many corporations that do not follow the calendar year (i.e. year begins on January 1) but rather the fiscal year. While it’s true that a fiscal year can start anytime depending on the business, most of them will use September.

As an example, high schools in the United States traditionally use September as the beginning of the year. Car manufacturers also introduce their "new year" models in September (right now you will find 2009 models even though it’s not technically 2009).

In the world of computers and electronics, a ton of new hardware is usually put out there as well. Motherboards, televisions, you name it. Lots and lots of new stuff.

In addition to the new stuff that’s out there, it is traditional that more or less all computer and electronic manufacturers are scrambling to dump last year’s stuff to make way for the new. Whenever anything new is introduced in computers and/or electronics, it’s obviously replacing its predecessor.

And that’s where you can save a buck if you’re in the market to buy.

There’s only one word you have to look for at your preferred computer/electronics retailer, and that word is "clearance". The new stuff is here and the retailers have got to clear the shelves to make room for it.

Typically you will find the best deals of the year right now. Not for the new stuff obviously but for the "old" stuff that’s still new that needs to be sold.

How to find clearance sales

With major big-box electronics retail (i.e. Best Buy, Circuit City, etc.) you will not see the drastic-price-cut items online because the inventory varies from store to store. What this means is that you have to physically go to the store to see how far they’ve slashed the price on certain items.

Typical items you will find on clearance in September:

Laptops

$900 laptops are slashed down to as low as $500 just to get rid of them. Remember, they are new and come with full warranties.

Overstocked peripherals

Premium keyboards, mice, audio gear, etc. Don’t bother looking at the cheap stuff, look at the good stuff that’s been marked down.

Media drives and media itself

Hard drives, optical drives, blank discs, etc. All this stuff is usually marked down this time of year – particularly the hard drives and flash media (USB sticks).

Digital Cameras

The more expensive digital cams are usually slow sellers, so the older models that need to get off the shelves usually have a nice fat price cut on them.

Other stuff

There may be stuff in the big-box store you spot where you say "Wow, can’t pass up that deal!" that you won’t see any other time of the year.

Stop by your local big-box electronics retailer. There’s probably some good deals waiting for you right now.

I picked up a new USB 2.0 hub at Best Buy. And, as usual, it was packaged in that really tough plastic packaging that, I swear, was designed by Nazis.

I understand that they do this to alleviate shoplifting, but come on!

In a move that’s seemingly insignificant but actually very significant, Ubuntu Linux is now available for purchase off-the-shelf from Best Buy.

Reasons why this is important:

When a software product “graduates” from the internet to being an actual in-store item, this means that non-nerds see it and will probably buy it. Why? Because it’s only $19.99 – far below the price of the cheapest version of Windows Vista.

The fact Best Buy carries it means they now have a reason to carry “Ubuntu compatible” items for not only software but hardware as well. Vendors will be very interested in producing hardware and software specific to Ubuntu now that they know it’s actually on the shelf.

Linux purists will obviously see this as absolute heresy. Charge? For a Linux distribution! BAH! WRONG! BAD!

No, not bad. Good. You *nix guys want to see Microsoft go down the drain so bad you can almost taste it. If there’s a boxed item directly next to those shiny copies of Vista with a much lower price tag, this is a step in the correct direction. You’re going to have to deal with some corporate junk in order to put a dent in Microsoft’s stranglehold on PCs.

Want to know what’s even better? The sale comes with 60-day support. Yep, this means someone who buys Ubuntu actually has a real live phone number they can call to speak with a real live human for help. That’s just plain awesome.

This is a very strong move forward into making Linux more mainstream.