i was surfing the web and noticed something. Robot Market Place now sell the kit and accessories online. Of course it’s ridiculously priced again, but another outlet to buy that vex stuff.
Personally (and for my team) I will NEVER buy anything from Robot Marketplace again… if you can call what I did “buying”. I paid for it, they NEVER shipped it. I called to get my money back, they still didnt ship it and didnt refund my money. I called again, they said it was on its way, it never showed up… etc etc… ad nauseum.
Im not sure what the statute of limitations is on a credit card order, but I tried to buy it in the beginning of preseason last year, and got caught trying to fix it in the middle of build season, and to be honest, had forgotten about it until you brought this up.
Anyways, I just bought some Vex stuff on RoboToys.com yesterday, and they shipped it today (UPS tracking number and all). I would try them or IFI instead.
I’ve had nothing but excellent service from robot marketplace. 
FYI - In the DC Metro area, Olde Towne Hobby Shoppe in Manassas, VA has become a Vex retailer.
You can find their address, phone #, etc. at this URL http://www.manassashobby.com/.
Carrying the Vex gear is a fairly new thing for them, so I don’t think the Vex equipment is listed on the web site yet.
If you are in the area and can’t wait for shipping from VexLABs (or just don’t want to pay the shipping charges), or want to hold an item before paying for it, they can be your source.
Also, Foster’s (just around the corner) makes nearly perfect (& big) burgers and fries.
Are other brick & mortar retailers popping up around the country? or are most replacements for Radio Shack web-only businesses? Anybody have any anecdotes? Should we start a thread that maintains a list of them?
Blake