Radioshack to make come back?

trentbob

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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.
Same here Roger, used to have a lot of fun doing that but I never pushed it, didn't want to embarrass them too much, I was just having fun.

Absolute convenience, you're in the middle of a project of some type and you realize you need XY or Z and 15 minutes later you were back at the project with the part you needed.

Nowhere, can you do that now, all of the brick and mortar Ham stores, radio shops, cb shops or just an electronic store are all gone.
 

bob550

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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.
Most saw the writing on the wall and bailed. Because it was a part-time job for me, and because I intended to "retire" from part-time work after RS folded, I stayed until the bitter end. I was the sole employee in my store on the final day of operation.
 

trentbob

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Most saw the writing on the wall and bailed. Because it was a part-time job for me, and because I intended to "retire" from part-time work after RS folded, I stayed until the bitter end. I was the sole employee in my store on the final day of operation.
Yep it was like picking at a turkey carcass five days after Thanksgiving, picked up every Sputnik ground plane I could find, A fistful of the GRE RS 800s, it was BNC only then now of course made by REM.

My best score was 4- 652's or maybe they were 197's for almost nothing, but I waited a while and flipped them, the ws1065 was going for a very high price, I assume now the price has come down, I wouldn't know. I made a real killing on those radios.

If the brand and the logo are making a comeback I would assume it's going to be on internet sales only, it won't resemble anything like the old Radio Shack that we know. Who knows.
 

iowajm780

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Way back in the day they would practially shove a cell phone down your throat when just coming in to buy a fuse for example. This was when Verizon, Air Touch Cellular, & Sprint PCS would pay handsome commissions to corporate for every new subscriber signup to their respective companies. That's pretty much why they focused on that part of the business. They also did pretty well on the little parts because of the big markup on them. I would always pay that price when I need a resistor or cap on a weekend and if one store did not have it, then it was only a few miles to another one that did. TV's, sound, computers were on the way out. I do remember they had killer toys and every Christmas time all were on display. My kids made me painfully aware of that and they did do geat sales of said toys. It would drive me crazy they would ask for your name and address for their mailers. I always used a fake one so the sales associates would not dinged for low name and address numbers but some told me they hated to ask customers so they entered fake ones anyway. Harbor Freight seems to have adopted this tactic now. All my original scanners were RS with the 2096 & 96 being the last one. I got them at a real steal if folks remember the coupons that came out that lowered the price substantially.
 
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eorange

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Is there any box store now days that has numerous aisles with resistors, capacitors, etc? PC Microcenter is the closest I can think of. Even HRO doesn't seem to have a lot of this type of stuff.
Who remembers Poly Paks from the late 70s early 80s? I think they were in MA. I wanted everything in their catalog!
 

hiegtx

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I went into a store about year ago for old time sake. I believe it is still open in Saline, MI.

https://radioshacksaline.square.site/
And just like the Shack, still overpriced. On the page you linked, a two-pack of 64Mb SD-mini cards, $31.99.
Same two-pack on Amazon, $12.00.

'Back in the day', when RadioShack had stores new you, and Amazon was still a pipe dream, if you needed it quickly, it might have been worth the premium price. Now, not so much.
 

sallen07

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YMy best score was 4- 652's or maybe they were 197's for almost nothing, but I waited a while and flipped them, the ws1065 was going for a very high price, I assume now the price has come down, I wouldn't know. I made a real killing on those radios.
Probably 652s, based on the timing.

I remember when the first (?) bankruptcy happened there were Pro-668s available for a great price on their website. Late one night I ordered one and was SO happy ... only to find out the next morning that the order had been cancelled. I was crushed, but was able to order one a day or two later and got it at the discount price.

Then a few weeks later we were out for dinner one night and walked past a Radio Shack store and they had a Pro-652 sitting on the "closeout" table for like half price and I grabbed that too.

I did manage to pick up 3 or 4 of the 800 MHz antennas during the second bankruptcy. I think I still have one brand new in the package downstairs. Looking back I wish I'd grabbed some more things, but I didn't have the foresight (or cash) at the time. I think that store was pretty empty by that point too.
 

trentbob

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Probably 652s, based on the timing.

I remember when the first (?) bankruptcy happened there were Pro-668s available for a great price on their website. Late one night I ordered one and was SO happy ... only to find out the next morning that the order had been cancelled. I was crushed, but was able to order one a day or two later and got it at the discount price.

Then a few weeks later we were out for dinner one night and walked past a Radio Shack store and they had a Pro-652 sitting on the "closeout" table for like half price and I grabbed that too.

I did manage to pick up 3 or 4 of the 800 MHz antennas during the second bankruptcy. I think I still have one brand new in the package downstairs. Looking back I wish I'd grabbed some more things, but I didn't have the foresight (or cash) at the time. I think that store was pretty empty by that point too.
Yeah I would make the rounds, we had quite a few stores in the Philadelphia area and in Trenton, New Jersey. I still have one of the old Sputnik ground plane antennas still in the shrink wrap unopened. I also picked up a huge load of 10 ft packages of RG 8m coax that was RS low loss mobile coax, it was thin like RG58 with the pl259 on each end.

Yeah I think they were 652's also.
 

rajames53

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Radio Shack never went away. The only locations that closed were the corporate locations and corporate properties. There are still hundreds of Franchise stores that were never part of the corporate bankruptcy. The Franchised locations are mostly operated by people who are actually knowledgeable in electronics. If you live in the Layton Utah area there is a Radio Shack store located on Antelope Dr. It is pretty much like Radio Shack use to be before corporate screwed them up, but sorry he does not carry Cell Phones. If he does not have what you are looking for, he can usually get it fairly quickly.
 

citiot

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“Can I get the last 4 numbers of your telephone number? “
 

mancow

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No objections to them coming back, as long as their focus isn't cell phones or overly aggressive commissioned sales people who sit outside chain smoking until someone walks into the door, then they attack them like a pack of starving dogs. I have zero desire to "shop" at a store when they don't give me an opportunity to look and discover what they have for myself, not to mention all while doing it while smelling like they single-handedly put out a tobacco farm fire with a straw and a cup of water. I'd rather shop on Ebay and take the risk of getting counterfeit or non-functional used devices than to deal with the sales people and fear of having 10 more cell phone plans shoved down my throat just because I walked in looking for a 3 feet patch of mini-8 coaxial cable.
Don't ever venture into a Microcenter.
 

w2lpa

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1) I still have a ton of stuff from the store closings in 2017. I had a chill employee not enforce the "Must be able to tie the handles on the $10 for all you can stuff in the bag" rule and filled 3 bags to exploding. My register tape was 33 feet long. My son and his friend were looking around the store in town when a district manager swept in and said "why is there so much stuff still here? Get it out of here ASAP!" They sold them the entire contents of the cabinets for about 100 dollars, retail value 25K, and gave them a few free TV antennas as well.
2) I thought they'd do well as a Maker-type store, with STEM/STEAM there's a lot of demand.
3) Has anyone been to a Unicomer-owned 'Shack in Latin America and can share your experience?
 

DeeEx

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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
I didn’t realize they were on their way out; that’s too bad.

In Worcester we had Stark Electronics. Extremely friendly people selling wholesale to anyone who walked through the door. They went down a few years ago.
 

gmclam

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Here in Sacramento, we used to have 2 AFBs (Mather & McClellan) and an Army Depot in addition to similar businesses like Aerojet. We had a few "surplus" electronics places like Valley Electronics and HSC, in addition to a couple of "stores" like California Radio & TV and ZacKit. As years went by, places changed or closed, but new places came in like Fry's Electronics. And there were tons of Radio Shacks.

As I sit here in 2023, NONE of the above places exist (except Aerojet, which was recently sold). From what I know, it seems like the closure of each place has its own story. Business climate in California, long time owners retiring, people's interest in electronics hobbying moving more toward computer modules (that can be programmed), rather than building circuits.

Radio Shack did themselves in because they failed to fill the niche and tried to be appealing to the masses. The masses are not their core customers and the masses have a lot of choices when it comes to buying phones and commodities. Bringing back Radio Shack seems like a dream, but I don't see how it can succeed in the modern era. If none of these places survived in Sacramento, Radio Shack would have to be cheap, awesome and present in places with no Internet access to make it. Otherwise, we have better choices.
 

belvdr

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I can't think of anything RadioShack could offer these days. Electronics have gone to surface mount. Even if they stocked these parts, many folks don't have the skills to repair those. Nostalgia lends itself to wanting it back, but nostalgia doesn't generate revenue.
 

ecps92

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Radio Shack never went away. The only locations that closed were the corporate locations and corporate properties. There are still hundreds of Franchise stores that were never part of the corporate bankruptcy. The Franchised locations are mostly operated by people who are actually knowledgeable in electronics. If you live in the Layton Utah area there is a Radio Shack store located on Antelope Dr. It is pretty much like Radio Shack use to be before corporate screwed them up, but sorry he does not carry Cell Phones. If he does not have what you are looking for, he can usually get it fairly quickly.
Was on VAC last month and the wife had to hold me back from jumping out of the bus :)
 

trentbob

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..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?

Radio Shack never went away. The only locations that closed were the corporate locations and corporate properties. There are still hundreds of Franchise stores that were never part of the corporate bankruptcy. The Franchised locations are mostly operated by people who are actually knowledgeable in electronics. If you live in the Layton Utah area there is a Radio Shack store located on Antelope Dr. It is pretty much like Radio Shack use to be before corporate screwed them up, but sorry he does not carry Cell Phones. If he does not have what you are looking for, he can usually get it fairly quickly.
Ahh.. I thought so.
 
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