Radio Shack – What The Heck Happened?

[tvengr]

Last time I went in a Radio Shack I needed a part for something at work. I knew exactly what I needed, where it was, and how much it cost. Guy at the counter wanted to know what it was for, so I told him. He proceeded to tell me it wasn't going to work.

Second to last time I went in there, they were trying to sell a scanner to someone, and telling them how it wouldn't receive one my systems. I finally got tired of listening to it, walked up, introduced myself and explained that it would, and exactly how to do it. I think I even gave the lady my phone number if she had issues. Guy at the counter didn't know what to say.

Many years ago, I purchased a PRO-5 UHF 4-channel crystal-controlled scanner for my mother to monitor the Baltimore City Police. I believe the specs said .7uv for 20db quieting. I know it was better than 1uv. I found that it did not work very well. I hooked up my test equipment and found that it needed 10uv for 20db quieting. I took it back to the store to get a replacement. The guy behind the counter began to tell me all kinds of reasons why it didn't work such as the ambient noise level in the Baltimore area. He finally concluded his presentation by saying, "I am an engineer!" To which I responded, "What Railroad?" He was not a happy camper. He didn't realize he was talking to someone who serviced 2-way radios. I got my replacement and really enjoyed his reaction.

 

[dlwtrunked]

Radio Shack - What The Heck Happened?

Radio Shack was once a household name, with over 7,000 stores across the USA. It was the go-to destination for electronics enthusiasts

americanmemorylane.com

the store evolved since I first knew in in high school (I am now 70). Originally, it was mostly a wall of parts like packets of unmarked untested resistors for about $1. Several years later, it was mostly at "Tandy" PC store (SX1000's and TX1000's". Then it went mostly into cell phones. It seemed to lose its main identity every few years. One store, when I walked in and they were busy, even once asked me to answer the phone from them and gave out my number to people needing help with their radios. The manager of that store told me that RS did not like hiring technically knowledgeable as less skilled had higher sells by selling people things they did not need. I overheard this conversation in the RS that ws in the mall in Indiana PA when I lived there in 1983:
(Lady) "Should I put the UHF or VHF TV antenna on top?"
(Clerk) "You should put the VHF antenna on top as the UHF antenna has shorter wavelength and therefore cannot reach as high above the ground."
I laughed so hard that I had to leave the store.

 

[CrabbyMilton]

We had two radio shacks literally across the street from each other I certainly didn't understand how that was sustainable. By the time I entered my senior year of high school all but one remained in my area. I often went more for computer adapters and simple electronic components more than I ever did for radio related stuff. Surface mount tech made it impossible to fix most things, and a lot of people simply don't care about radio enough anymore to keep hundreds of stores open.

I sure do miss that place though

That's comical. Perhaps the one store got the new franchise and the other owner was waiting for his to expire. Could be the reason but I've seen two TACO BELL's right next store to each other once.

 

[morrisr3nd]

I worked at Radio Shack from the Fall of 1986 until I started working for a TV repair shop in 1988. Worked my way through college for my Electronics Technology degree. I enjoyed working with the people. But I absolutely HATED writing those stupid sales tickets and having to get all the customer info. Otherwise is was a great time in my life. It was my CANDY STORE too.

 

[hanlonmi06]

I'm surprised that none of the folks who have posted who had worked at RS made mention of the "computer in the back". My recollection of working for RS in the very late 90's was that it was allllll sales driven. There was competition between sales people and a battle for the price-per-ticket dollar amount that seemed to be the focus of it all. The battery schtick was nothing but a way to pad the POS amount as much as possible. Sure it benefited the consumer when buying an RC car to also buy the batteries and whatever other "accessories" but it was all a money grab. I remember a computer terminal in back you could punch in a UPC number and it would show stock amounts, MSRP, and the especially important number, the markup percentage. You could look at a printer cable for example and see 500-1000% markup. RS was sourcing them for $3 and selling them for $30-$50. Perhaps that's retail in general, but I wanted a job at RS because I was a hobbyist and remembered years prior about going to get crystals and bulbs and whatever other components to tinker and explore electronics. By the time I actually worked there, there was maybe a couple slide-wall sections or maybe one bay of components. I remember wandering what felt like endless rows of every conceivable electronic do-dad know to man, or so it felt to a young teen-ager. I was proud of the store I was at because we did actually had some pretty knowledgeable folks there, so I felt like I kind of "belonged" at the "right store". We genuinely enjoyed helping the people out that came through the door.

As everyone else has mentioned.....when the cellphone thing hit. Everything, and I mean everything change almost overnight.

And then I think it was my last day with them, I got asked to go to a store that needed some assistance. They were pretty vague about it, but it was a store much closer to my house so I figured I'd end the day out with a shorter commute. Well, I show up and there's the district manager, a whole bunch of other faces I had never seen before and basic chaos. They had found the store manager embezzling large sums of money and all sorts of fraud and were in chaos trying to do an inventory and figure out where they stood at that location....crazy memories.

 

[Bob1955]

RadioShack became over-reliant on cellphone sales. In the early days, the mid-90's, RS was one of the few locations you could buy a handset. Once Verizon, ATT, and eventually Sprint began building out their company stores, and franchise sellers began popping up, the writing was on the wall. With RS, you had displays composed of mock handsets, or sometimes with a recently-launched phone, an embarassing paper cutout. Walk in to any carrier store and you'd find actual working models on display. Maybe we'd have the model you were interested in, or maybe we'd have to go get it from another store. It was an amateur effort at best.

This is 100 percent true!

 

[morrisr3nd]

I'm surprised that none of the folks who have posted who had worked at RS made mention of the "computer in the back". My recollection of working for RS in the very late 90's was that it was allllll sales driven. There was competition between sales people and a battle for the price-per-ticket dollar amount that seemed to be the focus of it all. The battery schtick was nothing but a way to pad the POS amount as much as possible. Sure it benefited the consumer when buying an RC car to also buy the batteries and whatever other "accessories" but it was all a money grab. I remember a computer terminal in back you could punch in a UPC number and it would show stock amounts, MSRP, and the especially important number, the markup percentage. You could look at a printer cable for example and see 500-1000% markup. RS was sourcing them for $3 and selling them for $30-$50. Perhaps that's retail in general, but I wanted a job at RS because I was a hobbyist and remembered years prior about going to get crystals and bulbs and whatever other components to tinker and explore electronics. By the time I actually worked there, there was maybe a couple slide-wall sections or maybe one bay of components. I remember wandering what felt like endless rows of every conceivable electronic do-dad know to man, or so it felt to a young teen-ager. I was proud of the store I was at because we did actually had some pretty knowledgeable folks there, so I felt like I kind of "belonged" at the "right store". We genuinely enjoyed helping the people out that came through the door.

As everyone else has mentioned.....when the cellphone thing hit. Everything, and I mean everything change almost overnight.

And then I think it was my last day with them, I got asked to go to a store that needed some assistance. They were pretty vague about it, but it was a store much closer to my house so I figured I'd end the day out with a shorter commute. Well, I show up and there's the district manager, a whole bunch of other faces I had never seen before and basic chaos. They had found the store manager embezzling large sums of money and all sorts of fraud and were in chaos trying to do an inventory and figure out where they stood at that location....crazy memories.

I remember some of that. We liked selling items that had SPIFF's. So clearance items that were not selling well or were out of date had an extra selling incentive ($$$) on those items. That money ended up on your check the next week. I wasn't in the group that had the access to the computer in the back. But like you, we had some really knowledgeable staff. Our store was not owned by Radio Shack.

Cell phones were nowhere near our area back in the late 80's.

 

[Bob1955]

As I was saying in my other post my experience with Radio Shack stores started in the mid-60s with my dad taking me, we also would go to the Lafayette store and the many independent ham radio stores.

The guys who worked in the Radio Shacks in the '60s and '70s actually were radio guys, always had available crystals for the area and always had printed out frequency list they would hand out, waiting for the catalog was fun, I couldn't wait to get my hands on one.

The decline was sad but very predictable, it was always fun taking the clueless clerk to school but there were still some Old-Timers that did know a little something about radios and certainly could hook you up with a cell phone.. lol

Bob-Those where the days for sure.
I also worked at Lafayette in New Rochelle over the holidays when I worked for the City of New Rochelle Police Department because peter Johnson-store manager needed me as they were swamped with holiday/Christmas business, and I headed ALL scanner/crystal sales too.

 

[ladn]

Slide rule dial monitor was my first Public Service receiver.

Mine, too! It worked quite well for its day.
Mine had pencil "ticks" along the dial face marking the location of important frequencies.
I think I had it for maybe two years before I sold it and got a "real" scanner--a Regency TMR 8-HL.

 

[TGuelker]

wasn't going to work.

Had a 1987 Chrysler LeBaron that only had AM/FM. Bought a radio from a Ford Explorer with CD. The wiring is the same for the speakers, constant battery power and switched power. The mounting was different, so I went to a local place in St. Louis called Hi Fi Fo Fum. All I wanted was the adapter for the LeBaron for a DIN mounting. The Explorer radio was a DIN mount. The salesman told me “a Ford radio will not work in a Chrysler. it’s not going to work”which triggered the “oh yeah, watch me!” reflex.

Should have gone back and showed him it DID work. And looked good too.

Keeping this on topic, RS supplied my Police Call books for over 8 years. They had a list of customers wanting the book, and would call them when the new book was in store. I think there were over 50 names and phone numbers on the list. The store would buy 20 more than there were names on the list. Rarely did they have any previous books on the shelf when the new book came in. They had a great selection of small parts. Take a look at an old RS catalog from the ‘60s. Mostly pieces and parts. Bought lots of audio cables, connectors, and adapters (most of which I still have)

They had a tube tester that was worn out. Had to jiggle the tubes in the socket to get them to light. Very unreliable. A Lafayette Electronics store was about 3 miles away but their selection of components was nowhere that of RS. Still have my Lafayette mic.

Used to be a couple stores in the STL area that supplied esoteric electronic stuff.

Best was Gateway Electronics and another was Electronic Exchange.

 

[Brales60]

I remember the stores, but maybe going into one to get a crystal or something with my dad. I also vaguely remember going in for CB stuff for my car when I started driving. Anyone one remember the Heathkit stuff? I did a bunch of that stuff when I was a kid.

 

[12dbsinad]

Rat Shack, as I always called it, came to my small community I believe in the mid 80's if memory serves me correctly. Great store with good staff until the cellphone era. They rep'd Cellular One in my area which ran on the A system, all analog of course. It was fake cellphones and RC cars and the electronics section was basically removed. They did bring some of it back later in life and actually had a decent amount of drawers just before their closing. I do miss the ability to run down the street to buy some small electrical component vs mail order of today when you needed it right now.

 

[KMG54]

Last I remember of them was probably around 2011, wanted a OTG cable for my sell phone, checked out the store and they wanted $38 bucks for it, got one online for $9 bucks that worked fine.

 

[mmckenna]

I remember the stores, but maybe going into one to get a crystal or something with my dad. I also vaguely remember going in for CB stuff for my car when I started driving. Anyone one remember the Heathkit stuff? I did a bunch of that stuff when I was a kid.

I remember going in there with my dad to test the tubes out of the TV, and replace the old ones. A lot of places, hardware stores, even some drug stores and grocery stores, had tube testers back then.

Heathkit was on a different level. That was mostly hobby oriented, a lot of cool kits, usually way more advanced than Radio Shack.

 

[KMG54]

Yep Eckards drug stores in Floida had tube testers in the 70's

 

[redbeard]

RS would have been great back when the whole 'maker' movement started. But they had already ruined the company by then so the very little they did to try and be a part of it failed miserably. Microcenter has done a good job in that space but they need more stores.

 

[mmckenna]

Locally, we had Fry's Electronics that started growing up about the time Radio Shack was starting their long slow fade into oblivion. Fry's would have taken their lunch money anyway. Better selection of components, a LOT more components. Much bigger stores, annoying security checks as you walked out the door.

They've bitten the dust, too.

I think for niche (yeah, this is niche) stuff, brick and mortar are dead. Getting it shipped overnight is where it's at. Not as much fun window shopping staring at your computer, though. Being able to order a box of every 1/4 watt resistor you'll ever need for $25 isn't a bad thing.

 

[StoliRaz]

Bought my first scanner there in the 90s. The last thing I ever bought from them were a handful of 800mhz antennas that were on clearance when one of the stores was closing. I think I paid 8 bucks each for them. I miss having them around. Still use my "sputnik" antenna, works great

 

[K7MFC]

Last thing I bought there before they all closed around me was a Sputnik antenna!

 

[kinglou0]

Locally, we had Fry's Electronics that started growing up about the time Radio Shack was starting their long slow fade into oblivion. Fry's would have taken their lunch money anyway. Better selection of components, a LOT more components. Much bigger stores, annoying security checks as you walked out the door.

They've bitten the dust, too.

I think for niche (yeah, this is niche) stuff, brick and mortar are dead. Getting it shipped overnight is where it's at. Not as much fun window shopping staring at your computer, though. Being able to order a box of every 1/4 watt resistor you'll ever need for $25 isn't a bad thing.

RIP Fry’s. Prices weren’t always the best and the sales staff could be annoying but I seriously could spend hours in there just wandering around thinking about future projects.

They were good for a lot of random and obscure stuff that you knew some factory in China was cranking out but until you saw it in person, it didn’t occur to you that you needed it.