Radio Shack Bankruptcy

[ToneMerc]

The end is near, which is sad. I can remember going by the store and getting the new yearly catalog, which was almost equivalent to the joy of the Sears or JC Penny Christmas catalogs. Funny, a few weeks I spent time just looking through late 70's, early 80's RS catalogs.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/2880755/ ... uptcy.html

TM

[vibratoking]

End of an era. I've been waiting for this for some time. The employees always seem to be sitting there doing nothing.

I remember how cool I thought it was to have the free battery card. When I was young and poor, those batteries were a big deal.

Just another business killed by Amazon.

[Gibsonman63]

A few things came together. When I was a kid, I could go to radio shack and pick up a few resisters, jacks or whatever small electronics I needed now. They started moving to cell phones and more focus on consumer electronics and stopped carrying the things hobbyist needed. I would go for the occasional 1/4" to RCA converter, but the prices got so high that I always left feeling ripped off. Plus they went through a period where they wanted too much personal information from the customers making it hard to get in and out

[randalp3000]

I still use my cardboard resistor calculator..

[John_P_WI]

Sad. I used to build the hell out of their little "spring" or flea clips kits - such as am radio transmitters etc in the mid-70s, which lead into my amateur radio license and Heath Kit adventures by the age of 12. Bet if I still looked at my parents house I could find the battery cards that they gave out 40 years ago.

Their demise started when they were spun off from Allied Radio in the early 70's coupled with the slow transition of hobbyists and tinkerers to the game boy kids and programmers of the 90's then transitioning into the cell phone accessory market they were doomed. "Building" hobbies in general are a thing of the past.

Guess the names Tandy, Micronta, etc are only a memory now for us older guys...

[stretch2011]

I understand radio shack back in the day was probably pretty useful. But in the last 3 years anytime I go in they refuse to work with you on prices. I offered to buy their prototype pcbs by the 20x's and they still wouldn't work with me. Left a real bad taste in my mouth.

[Teleguy61]

Radio Shack was the ham guys place, Lafayette was the audio guys place.
User friendly, pretty damn good quality, fascinating for kids.
Ah well.....................

[Leo_Gnardo]

Plus they went through a period where they wanted too much personal information from the customers making it hard to get in and out

When they started asking for all the personal info I just said "stop torturing me, take the money or no deal." They always shut up and took the money.

What all that personal info got anybody, who knows. There was a time you'd get annual Shack catalogs. Last time I tried to pick up a catalog at the store, salesman says "no no can't have that unless you pay $3." Considering at the time I was buying 10-12 grand a year from Mouser, DigiKey, and others, with FREE catalogs, what a joke. "Stuff your catalog clowny," and I walked out, another big no sale.

Stretch, and others, I used to get parts from Tandy Corp. I think they were in Fort Worth. Aimed at repair shops & small manufacuters, not trying to sell dreck stereo & cellphones. Same company as Radio Shack, Tandy Corp. WOULD sell quantities at discount, and had lots more in catalog than any RS store could dream of. Still in biz? Hmmm... I dunno. That was 20+ years ago & I've gone mostly to Mouser.

[briane]

Guess the names Tandy,

haha - I live just down from a a tandy - go there all the time...

probably the only place nearby really booming and making cash hand over fist!

I even started back up sowing leather - made moccasins, backpacks, bags, vest - whatever....so people seem to be into the leather stuff.

ohh sorry - you meant the electronics one.....

[John_P_WI]

Stretch, and others, I used to get parts from Tandy Corp. I think they were in Fort Worth. Aimed at repair shops & small manufacuters, not trying to sell dreck stereo & cellphones. Same company as Radio Shack, Tandy Corp. WOULD sell quantities at discount, and had lots more in catalog than any RS store could dream of. Still in biz? Hmmm... I dunno. That was 20+ years ago & I've gone mostly to Mouser.

Leo, guessing that Allied (now owned by Avnet) is as close as you'll get to Tandy today.

[gui_tarzan]

I used to buy a lot of project stuff from the local RS when I was a kid, but the last 15-20 years they've been mostly cell phones and toys, and for a while computers. My first PC was a Tandy 1000ex with a 300 baud modem.

Sorry to see all those people out of work but they did it to themselves by getting away from the hobbyist.

[John_P_WI]

And, if anyone needs a "hobby fix" check out Jameco, kind of what Rat Shack should have / could have been...

[M Fowler]

I've made many trips to Radio Shack stores in my life time buying microphones, mic stands, raw replacement speakers, and tubes in late 60's to early 70's. They also had those go/no go tube tester I used.

As a kid I frequently order from Olson Electronics and Lafayette.

After that it was mostly wire, solder, PCB, IC's, transistors, project boxes, resistors and caps.

Lately not much maybe a pilot light or RCA cords for some one in my family needing them. They mostly sold cell phones around my area.

Mark

[menger66]

I should have known. they closed the shack on my corner a couple weeks ago, I never seen any going out of business sales, They were a steady supply for fuse holder and panel lights mark

[LeftyStrat]

I remember pulling all the tubes out of my amp and going to Radio Shack to use their huge self-service tube tester.

They sort of got away from the DIYers in the cell phone era, but seemed to embrace it a little in our new 'Maker' era.

Hipster: "Look I made this LED blinker, I'm a Maker!"
Grumpy Old Man: "In my day, knowing how to make shit and fix things was called being a man."

I say that only jokingly. Anything gets people to embrace DIY is fine by me. I want my kids to be producers and not just consumers. It just seems the projects in Maker Magazine don't quite live up to the level of projects in say, "Popular Electronics," though I suppose the technology has advanced to the point that there is a lot more to learn today when you're starting from scratch.

I suppose there is a larger investment in both time and knowledge to build a 3D printer than a crystal radio.

But I think their failure to keep to their DIY roots might have hurt them. Either that or the fact you paid a couple of bucks for three resistors in a pack, when they cost pennies from Internet electronics giants.

But yeah, definitely end of an era. Amazon wanting to buy some of their retail locations is interesting.