techman210
Member
I don’t think HRO ever had component sales
Radioshack to make come back?
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mmckenna
I ♥ Ø
Locally (50 mile radius) there's a few stores around me. They are usually small and cram packed with stuff. Usually one or two guys running it.
Last time I went into one to get a few resistors, the guy dug through some boxes and found what I needed. I asked him "how much", and he just waved it off. The few cents for those resistors probably wasn't worth the paperwork. I kind of got the feeling they were wanting to get rid of the bulk.
I think online killed most of these places. Sure, it's nice to be able to walk in the door and walk out with what you need within a few minutes. But, honestly, anything I really need that fast at work, I stock. Anything else can wait a few days. The era of needing to test your vacuum tubes and replacing them in your TV yourself is long gone. While it's fun to reminisce about this stuff, I'd find it unlikely that someone could make an honest justification for opening such a store again.
Many actually missed Radio Shack before that, as the store started turning to **** long before they left.
I still miss them regularly. One of my stock phrases is "I wish Radio Shack was still in business."
The only other electronics store in this area closed a couple of years after Radio Shack did. Now, the only option is to order and wait. I do try to stock up on things, like connectors, that I use frequently.
tvengr
Well Known Member
There was a Radio Shack in the shopping center next door to the TV station where I worked as a maintenance engineer. I walked over there many times to pick up parts to repair equipment. It was really handy (or should I say "Tandy").
Many customers used RS as an Amazon showroom. They'd get the answers and product recommendations they needed, and the buy online at much better prices.
That was as much of a pain for employees as it was for the customers. It was a day to celebrate when RS ended that practice. Unfortunately, it was replaced by having to ask everyone for their email address.
Hate to break it to you, but RS had been doing that for years long before they ever hit the first bankruptcy. We used to joke that the store employees were the only thing in the store not made in China.
I DO miss RS. As a kid in the late 60's and most of the 70's, I lived two blocks from the largest stand-alone RS in NJ. So big that they also had a rather large Tandy Leather section - 2 or 3 aisles worth (for the young-un's, Tandy was RS's corporate parent back then). I spent so much time and money there. I'd hang out with "the guys" (who ALL knew their stuff like nobody's business) after school and in the summer. I made myself a PIA as I look back on it, but I learned a lot there as well. A lot of my Christmas and birthday presents came from there. My parents would say, "So what do you want from RS for your birthday?" My first transistor radio came from RS when I was 6 or 7, which was the spark that set a now 46-year broadcasting career alight.
By the 90's, the store had reduced in size and split into three, having sublet most of it to a Dunkin' Donuts and a rotating cast of characters in the other space. Eventually it was gone.
The last time I was in an RS was in a tiny mall store. They were one of the only retailers selling HD radio's at the time. That was the last money I spent at RS.
By the 90's, the store had reduced in size and split into three, having sublet most of it to a Dunkin' Donuts and a rotating cast of characters in the other space. Eventually it was gone.
The last time I was in an RS was in a tiny mall store. They were one of the only retailers selling HD radio's at the time. That was the last money I spent at RS.
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No thanks lol.
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I remember purchasing a desktop slide rule dial monitor called the Pro 1, it was heavy steel, solid as a brick and it was made by GRE- Japan, that had to be around 1969 or 70. I had it mounted in my car.
Those were the heydays of Radio Shack where the employees actually knew something about radios. Long before there was anything called a cell phone.
Funny you said that about YOU BLEW IT in Needham Ma. They are wiped out now.
No scanners no CB stuff No Ham stuff etc, its sad. I used to go there once a week for equipment.
The local TV station WCVB TV 5 across the road was their best customer for parts.
Steve
No scanners no CB stuff No Ham stuff etc, its sad. I used to go there once a week for equipment.
The local TV station WCVB TV 5 across the road was their best customer for parts.
Steve
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I always said "I'll pass"
Back then, many employees came from the ranks of customers. They were already knowledgeable in hobbies that RS specialized in.
You'd be surprised at how many of our customers were all named "No Name".
Hope the tube tester still works.
If it doesn't, use the one at the drug store.
I miss my hair from the late 60's and 70's, but I can't have that back either.
RS was a bit like going to 7-Eleven for a quart of milk or some munchies. I want/need it NOW and I'll pay a bit more for the convenience (and grouse about it for years afterward), but I'm not going to do my weekly shopping there, but I might buy a hot dog or Slurpee, too.
I miss the convenience of RS and my local store was pretty decent for many years until, Chick, the long time manager, retired. If I needed a 1000k resistor or some 22mfd capacitators in a rush, I could find them (by myself, of course) in that mysterious section of in the back corner of the store.
Sometimes it was even amusing to toy with the clueless sales guys about their "free" cell phones or ask innocent questions about scanners or CB's just to see the depth of their inept deceptions.
I miss the convenience of RS and my local store was pretty decent for many years until, Chick, the long time manager, retired. If I needed a 1000k resistor or some 22mfd capacitators in a rush, I could find them (by myself, of course) in that mysterious section of in the back corner of the store.
Sometimes it was even amusing to toy with the clueless sales guys about their "free" cell phones or ask innocent questions about scanners or CB's just to see the depth of their inept deceptions.
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In the decline of the cell Shack days. You still had knowledgeable people but they really weren't selling that many radios per se. A lot of people were hired who were selling women's shoes two stores down in the mall a week before.
Interesting in the final days during the 70% or more off sales it was actually mostly long time knowledgeable people working there as people got laid off. Picked up a lot of great stuff during those bargain basement sales.
If a brick and mortar store was to come back using that name and logo it will never be what it was at one time.
I don't know what it would be, are there not family-owned Radio Shack stores around the country now? I've heard that there's several hundred of them, anyone know about that?
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