*Radio Shack Store Closing Thread* All posts about Radio Shack closing go here.

[krokus]

I'm just on the lookout for new police/fire scanners and have had previous purchases of those from Radio Shack although it's been a few years.

The item I'm looking for repair on is the microphone and auxiliary inputs for a cassette recorder which appears to have a short in it. I'm familiar with Radio Shack and other outlets wanting someone to buy a new product rather than have the older one repaired. However, my experience with cassette recorders is the cassettes recorded on that specific machine doesn't have the same audio quality when played on another or even a new recorder and I have any number of cassettes from that older recorder and I would like to continue to use it for both recording and listening.

As was noted in the reply from Larry, probably calling ahead to the Eaton store is the easiest way to determine if it can provide what I'm looking for.

For the scanner options, there are dealers that carry things not that far from you, and a couple catalog sales options.

For the tape recorder, check who does electronic item repairs, in your area. (Based on your profile, you are in the Cincinnati area, and I would be highly surprised if no shops were in the area.)

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[ScannerSK]

Technically, there was a time in the mid to late 90's when stores could perform "in-store repairs". The manager would typically handle the work, and determine what to charge the customer. It was never a good idea as the store managers weren't trained, customer charges could be arbitrary, and repairs could sit around the stores for weeks before being worked on. However, managers got to liking this as they recouped the profit from the repair, instead of our repair centers. Other than that, stores only "accepted" items for repair and then forwarded the item to the appropriate repair center. More recently, select RadioShack stores had the "Fix it Here" programs for the repair of cellphones. All that said, RS dealers can set their own policies regarding servicing and repairs, and are not bound by any corporate edict.

I recall a manger I worked for that was not very happy to take on a store which had a pile of half completed repairs in the back room on a table (some dating years back) with no contact information for the customers. Oops, shortly after that the corporate stores were no longer authorized to do repairs.

I still remember the day we got the cage installed and had to start smashing electronics with hammers rather than selling them to the junk person. I always thought that was a strange policy...

 

[KD9KSO]

I must have just missed the In-Store repair days. I became an RS store manager in 1995. It was already changing for the worse back then, but they had not yet lost touch with what Radio Shack was in earlier times.

I got out in 2002 with a boatload of stock after Ham radio, scanners, shortwave sets, and related items started taking a back seat to cell phones, satellite systems, and computers. It just wasn't the same.

 

[bob550]

I still remember the day we got the cage installed and had to start smashing electronics with hammers rather than selling them to the junk person. I always thought that was a strange policy...

The smashing part was so no one could filch it out of the dumpster and attempt a "return". That's also why dumpsters were locked at one time.

 

[Hamyjam]

Customer service ???

I must say that I could see them going under. I have always loved walking in to a Radio Shack and wondering what new tech or build could I get my hands on? In the past 15+ years I dread asking for a particular electronic part as I , like most of my generation knew exactly what I neede before walking in the store. I was often directed to the wrong part and most often asked, "are you sure that's what you need?". Bye Radio Shack. Other stores with the same lack of hiring those with a passion for the products and helping others soon to meet the same fate.

 

[bob550]

There were fewer and fewer hobbyists to join the ranks of employees as the years went by. The DIY generation has been slowly replaced by a generation who'd rather just use electronics than understand their operation. Anyway, the company's focus became all-things wireless, and everything we hold dear to us was marginalized. Only toward the end did they embrace the maker movement, and then only in a half-hearted manner.

 

[KK4JUG]

There were fewer and fewer hobbyists to join the ranks of employees as the years went by. The DIY generation has been slowly replaced by a generation who'd rather just use electronics than understand their operation.

You're right, people's changing attitudes changed the industry. In addition, advancements in technology also made a difference. In the past, if you needed to change a tube in your old TV (or radio or whatever), you pulled it out, took it to some place that had a tube tester (they were all over the place) and if it was bad, you bought a new one. (I'm old. I remember them.) You cringed at the $1.25 price tag but you paid for the new tube.

Now, everything is solid-state. You don't pull a transistor to test it. You probably don't even see the transistor because it's on an integrated circuit, working alongside several million other components,

And furthermore, electronics are lasting longer because of their solid-state make-up. It's cheaper to replace the entire device than to fix it. How many TV repair shops are still around?

 

[bob550]

In the past, if you needed to change a tube in your old TV (or radio or whatever), you pulled it out, took it to some place that had a tube tester (they were all over the place) and if it was bad, you bought a new one. (I'm old. I remember them.) You cringed at the $1.25 price tag but you paid for the new tube.

Testing TV tubes formed the basis of my introduction to RadioShack in the 1950's and 60's. My dad would bring me with him to one of the original stores, and former corporate HQ, on Commonwealth Ave. in Boston where he'd test suspected bad tubes. I was bitten by the "electronics bug" then, and have held that interest ever since.

 

[CincyKid]

I recall looking through a Radio Shack catalog back around 1960 and seeing the address on Commonwealth Avenue in Boston. Unfortunately it was when the franchise starting moving into many stores in multiple states that they lost their customer service touch.

 

[Fast1eddie]

And when Radio Shack finally acknowledged the maker movement, they charged obscene prices. $9.99 for a roll of double sided tape, three digit prices for a so called electronics toolbox, yep, nothing like screwing the consumer when the stuffed shirts screw up.

The concept of free markets and capitalism permits healthy competition. We now have a void in the hobbyist marketplace, if I had more biz sense (very dangerous with what I know) and more $$$$ in the bank, I would love to open a small electronics store, yet with everything online and razor thin margins, I would have to sell a ton of 2N222's and 10K ohms just to meet expenses. Make that several tons.

Hoping one day we'll see a good brick and mortar replacement.

 

[bob550]

And when Radio Shack finally acknowledged the maker movement, they charged obscene prices. $9.99 for a roll of double sided tape, three digit prices for a so called electronics toolbox, yep, nothing like screwing the consumer when the stuffed shirts screw up.

RadioShack was never a low-price leader in the consumer electronics business. They took advantage of their industry footprint and shopping convenience, and translated that to high prices. That methodology is not uncommon in retailing, however. All you have to do is compare pricing at the nation's biggest drug chains to Walmart for an example.

 

[bob550]

I recall looking through a Radio Shack catalog back around 1960 and seeing the address on Commonwealth Avenue in Boston. Unfortunately it was when the franchise starting moving into many stores in multiple states that they lost their customer service touch.

The original RadioShack almost went bankrupt in the 1960's before it even expanded out of Boston. Only when the company was bought by Charles Tandy did it see significant national expansion and eventual success. Of course, becoming the industry leader in personal computing didn't hurt either. If you've never seen this website, here's a great history of the company: Radio Shack Historical Information

 

[KK4JUG]

RadioShack was never a low-price leader in the consumer electronics business. They took advantage of their industry footprint and shopping convenience, and translated that to high prices. That methodology is not uncommon in retailing, however. All you have to do is compare pricing at the nation's biggest drug chains to Walmart for an example.

In many cases, they were the only show in town when it came to electronic parts so they could get away with the high prices. As electronics changed and morphed into the dependability of solid-state, they started making all the wrong decisions. They tried to get into the cell phone business when there were already established retailers who had a firm grasp on the public. Radio Shack refused to recognize that fact.

They still had a few of the transistors, switches, LEDs, etc., but the sales staff had no idea what they were or what they were for. All the staff knew was cell phones. They would have been better off to shut down then and cut their losses rather than hanging on and losing more money each year.

 

[bob550]

They tried to get into the cell phone business when there were already established retailers who had a firm grasp on the public. Radio Shack refused to recognize that fact

In the early years of wireless, the carriers relied on RadioShack to sell their products, as they had not yet built out their retail networks. There were few carrier-operated stores, and independently-owned company-branded retailers were nonexistent. The trouble began when all that changed, and RS began running into competition. Other retailers were much better at merchandising wireless, with live demos and much deeper inventories. While RadioShack was projecting itself as a cellphone juggernaut, the truth was far different. Many stores were continually short of inventory forcing associates to travel to other stores looking for handsets. Displays consisted of non-working "mock" handsets, or worse, paper cutouts of a photo when no mock was yet available. Some handsets remained on display long after they had become unavailable, just to fill a hole in the display. When the iPhone first became available through AT&T, only the more successful wireless stores had any stock. The rest of us were consigned to showing a photo to interested customers and attempting to order one for them. For a phone that generated as much excitement as the iPhone did, this was a losing strategy. Yet, we were still expected to show results.

So yes, RadioShack should have left the wireless business long before they actually did. But it took the first bankruptcy in 2015 to finally convince them of this.

 

[TailGator911]

I remember the hammer-smashing parties after inventory, and I took home numerous scanners that were destined for the dumpster, most in perfect working condition. I would hold a bidding contest among my employees for some items and the proceeds would be used to pay for the pizzas during inventories. Those were good times before the arrival of the brick phone and its many morphs that heralded the cell phone era.

PS: I was the only ham/scanner enthusiast in my store, and I took it upon myself to print out a local frequency list that I gave away with the purchase of a scanner, or sold separately for $1.50. I always did my best to provide good product support when it came to scanners, going the extra mile to orientate the customer and, if needed, program the radio for them.

 

[flythunderbird]

PS: I was the only ham/scanner enthusiast in my store, and I took it upon myself to print out a local frequency list that I gave away with the purchase of a scanner, or sold separately for $1.50. I always did my best to provide good product support when it came to scanners, going the extra mile to orientate the customer and, if needed, program the radio for them.

For years, the store closest to me had a multi-page local frequency list that they gave out for free, whether you bought a scanner or not - all you had to do was walk in and ask for it. 9-pin dot-matrix typeface, fanfold paper and all. That store had radio enthusiasts in it up until around 1990, when they started retiring.

Another store across town had a manager who started with RS in the early 1970s. He was great to talk with. I would stop in there to pick up something and we'd always wind up in a 30-45 minute conversation about radios, phones, anything. He loved to talk! He knew more about the products in that store than all of the other employees combined. If you were interested in something that he knew was a waste of money, he would tell you, regardless of the price or if he lost a sale. He wanted people to be happy with their purchases. He retired when it was announced that his store was closing due to the first bankruptcy. I hope that he's doing well.

 

[KK4JUG]

I was the only ham/scanner enthusiast in my store, and I took it upon myself to print out a local frequency list that I gave away with the purchase of a scanner, or sold separately for $1.50. I always did my best to provide good product support when it came to scanners, going the extra mile to orientate the customer and, if needed, program the radio for them.

When I bought scanners from RS, I didn't care about the actual frequency. I would ask for the fire dispatch crystal or the police channel 2 crystal. The frequency was stamped on the crystal but I didn't care. Believe it or not, I still have a couple of those crystals somewhere around here.

 

[bob550]

I remember the hammer-smashing parties after inventory, and I took home numerous scanners that were destined for the dumpster, most in perfect working condition. I would hold a bidding contest among my employees for some items and the proceeds would be used to pay for the pizzas during inventories. Those were good times before the arrival of the brick phone and its many morphs that heralded the cell phone era.

Having worked part-time for the Shack for 22 years, I have fond memories of many inventories. There was one where we trashed a Grinch mobile RC toy in a most unusual way. We sprayed it with a flammable adhesive, set it on fire, and drove it around the parking lot outside the rear of the store. It actually ran for a bit before stopping. I'm surprised the local neighbors didn't call the fire department. But then, it was about 2 a.m. so everyone was probably sleeping anyway.

 

[zzdiesel]

Times like these make a job enjoyable

 

[bob550]

Times like these make a job enjoyable

It helped that we were punchy and tired after many hours of counting and listing stock, and entering numbers into the computer until we went blind.