Replacing compressor on a 94 Camry XLE

Before doing this, you should contact an AC shop to help evaculate the freon and to help pull a vacuum and add freon after you replace the parts. These may be the bulk of your costs next to the compressor.

Get a second opinion. My local A/C shop said they almost never see those go bad. Wondering if perhaps could be the A/C clutch, which can be serviced - adjusted or replaced independent of the compressor.

The car's got well over 200K on it, so it sort of seemed reasonable...I was told that the reason after I refilled the AC fluid that it wasn't cold was that it leaked out so fast (thus, I figure I don't need to drain it, as it sounds pretty empty).

Sorry, don't understand your comment. Refrigeration systems aren't drained, they're "evacuated" with a vacuum pump. If you have a leak, it is more likely at a hose or fitting. The compressor compresses the refrigerant - not necessarily related to leaks. The original Denso compressor is a good unit - perhaps better than a rebuilt unit you would find, and a new factory like kind replacement would likely be prohibitively expensive. Again, if you have leaks, check the hoses and fittings - likely save the cost of a compressor. Then when repaired, have a shop properly evacuate and refill the system with correct quantities of R-134a and oil. Most good shops have "sniffers" - hand held electronic leak detectors that make a sound when detecting very minute quantities of leaking refrigerant, so they can ususally find the source in a matter of moments.

Sorry, just using the terminology the mechanics used with me. Sort of sounds like they might not be telling me the right thing in many respects.