For an old Codger like me; I remember the likes of Lafayette electronics and the Pushcart in down town Manhattan. As a Kid I could walk in with a Buck and walk out with a big bag of resistors, capacitors, micro-switches,vacuum tubes, etc. I built a five tube Superhetrodyne Receiver out of spare parts and I dont think the total cost exceeded two dollars. I know inflation drives the price of things up with the passing of Years,but Radio Shack with its little bags of two resistors at $4.50 annoyed the Hell out of me. Their passing won’t be missed.
Many years ago, Tandy Leather was a leather kit supplier, selling leather pursese, belts, etc in small shops all over The Great Lone Star. They even had a mail order catalog available. Things like that were very popular amoung the Boy and Girl Scout organizations, and people that did leather crafts. Radio Shack was a Mfg of electronic kits and supplies, in competition with the old Heath Radio and electronic kit co.
Tandy and Radio Shack merged and became part of Tandy Corp. Tandy later bought out Tex Tan Leather, and Welhousen Leather. (Mfg’s of leather goods, saddles, belts etc) As the industry grew and electronics were in the early Boom, RS came out with their own mini-computer kit, and had a great followimg amoung the electronic “do it your self” crowd.
Over the years, these Tinker’ers found they could buy better ready built electronics than they could doing it themselves. It was called Progress. For years they could buy ready built and then “fix” it themselves with components from their local RS.
Then as progress often does in these things, people had less time to fix their eqiuipment, and it was easier and often cheeper to just throw out the old and buy a new “later and Greater new one”.
Radio Shack is no different than any other retail store that wants to stay in business. They have to evolve with the changing times. The small amount of electronic parts and supplies that the few “do it yourself” crowd buys is no longer viable shelf space or worth the inventory price to keep selling. Even if that was what got them started in the first place.
So yes, they are in it “for the money” as is any business out there. They are not in it to do any of us any “favors”, unless they can make a buck. That my dear friends is what makes this one of the most thriving countries in the world today. I am sure you would not want it any other way!
Omar
I remember Lafayette, Allied Radio, Heathkit, and Olson Electronics. They had a lot of electronics supplies, kits (Knight kits), surplus parts, as well as a tube tester (every drug store had these also). Radio Shack in the 60s and 70s used to carry a lot of electronic supplies but almost all their stores today (at least in the SF Bay Area) are dedicated to newfangled toys, cell phones, computers, and other pricey trendy gimicks. You ask them for a resistor or SPDT switch and the clerk looks at you as though you were from Alpha Centauri. The only decent electronisc stores here are Frys.
Ah, I’d forgotten Lafayette Electronics! And, of course, Knight Kits from Allied. I have mixed emotions about Fry’s. It’s too expensive for me to live near one! [:)] On one hand I love 'em, but on the other, I’d spend too much if I was near one again.
Is there a list anywhere of stores that will be closing?
400-700 stores is not a big deal for Radio Shack. The corporate website says that there are “nearly 7000 company and dealer stores”
The stores they are closing are all company owned stores.
The press release also says “The company will replace old, slower-moving merchandise with new, faster-moving merchandise within higher growth categories.” which of course means it will be all toys and cellphones in every store.
Here’s the history page from the Radio Shack corporate site for anyone that cares…
http://www.radioshackcorporation.com/about/history.html
Bryan
It could be a GOOD deal for some of us if what they delete from their inventory is the kind of stuff for which they were patronized by some of the more technically inclined among us. Personally, I have given them little business over the years, mostly unusual batteries, a cell phone for my wife, and some other odds and sods. However, I very recently purchased a 40W soldering iron with a fine tip in anticipation of doing some handlaid turnouts. When I got home, the helpful salesperson had sent me away with two replacement tips that would not fit that iron. I fault myself for not catching the error, but it would have been nice to have been able to rely on him.
-Crandell
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How many people do you think there are, going into a radidio shak, who know what a superhetrodyne receiver is?? I’d wager not many…
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Radio Shack. You’ve got Questions…We don’t have the answer(s)! LOL!
Allan.
Ya, I’ve heard that one before. That’s what K/Mart said just before I got screwed out of 18,000 shares of stock a few years ago. They found the best judge money could buy, and we got it stuck to us. Radio Shack is on the way out, so if you have any stock dump it now, and cut your losses.
Sorry to be negative,
Bill North
I like Freys, their like a major electronics store big box style.
I visited one in California and I was impressed. They need to expand badly.
MOST RADIO SHACK STORES are franchises, with poor quality, high-profit merchandise, and absentee owners who don’t know a resitor from a capacitor. My local one hired high school girls - Part time, minimum wagers. The good ones went into being computer stores or branched out into other fields.
‘RADIO PARTS STORES’ - aside from R.S. - have declined all over the country. Their main business was selling to Radio & TV repair shops which are also fewer and farther between. TV repair costs have gone up so much (and TV sets have come down) that people REPLACE now, rather than repair. A ‘minor’ in home repair is now $350. (“In-home repair” is a minomer). Most large screens today take 2 guys in a truck come out to tell you it has to go into the shop, pick up, deliver, and hook it back up - or you can carry it in and pay $50hr. with a $50 minimum for writing the ticket
When in college I worked P.T. at a ‘Music Store’ that sold TV’s… I 'would go out with some common tubes, and pop them in . Seldom did I have to pull a chassis.
Cacole,
Seems Sierra Vista has grown a lot in the 40 years since I was there. Used to go plinking down by the San Pedro, before it got fenced off. Is the roller rink still there? I suppose Naco hasn’t changed much, although I never actually went there. It was just on the way to somewhere else. We used to say we were 60 miles from nowhere; 60 miles from Tucson, 60 miles from Douglas, 60 miles from Nogalas. but only 15 miles from the Mexican border. Top of the flag pole was a mile high. Ha ha.
Bob Hayes
Hey guys and gals, Radio Shack is just like any store in these times we’re in. People working at most stores now are hired as clerks and are working there for money, not for their love of the merchandise being sold. The days of do-it-yourself electronics, for the most part, is gone. Just look at our own hobby. we are getting into the same boat as far as I’m concerned. Ken
Sort of like Starbucks … one on every corner.
-Tom
You mean like a gas station. Allan.
ive never minded radio shack till i found out how much leds really costed, heres a great site http://www.lsdiodes.com/shop/
One thing that’s bugged me about Radio Shack is if you want some small item, they are usually in a package with 3-5 of them. You have to buy the whole lot just for one. I understand why, but still don’t like it. A while ago I was looking for a simple adapter to go from a stereo mini plug to a mono mini plug - I wanted to attach a pair of stereo computer speakers to a mono TV. Radio Shack had the adapter all right, at $5.00! Thanks but no thanks! I later found this adapter along with two other different ones for around $3.00 at Wal-Mart.
It’s hard to even get into the area Shacks (now The Source in Canada), because they’ve got so much stuff crammed onto so many shelves and piled on the floors, there isn’t hardly any aisle space left. I also know why they do this, but to me it just makes the idea of going in to browse around a pain because it’s so cramped. You almost have to wait until someone leaves so you can go in. And try browsing anything on the shelves, and you block the aisles for others! Not a comfortable place where you can check out the latest shiny thingies!
Bob Boudreau
Tom has it right at least up here in toronto it’s way easier to find a coffee or donut shop than it is to find a gas station . what’s even funnier is that most gas stations here also have a donut shop in them . i swear tim horton’s is bigger than microsoft in canada ! (note that tim horton’s is the largest restaurant chain in ontario , that’s right , they beat macdonalds!)