Alas radio Shack, we knew thee well....

[badpenguin]

6 months ago, there were 4 Shacks in my city, today, none. They have all turned into phone stores. Gone are the days where, on a whim, I could walk in, buy a 6 position switch, some caps and solder, and enjoy a rainy Sunday reeking havoc with a guitar's electronics. Looks like eBay, and waiting two weeks from now on. RIP Shack....

[gardo]

incredible deals http://www.robotbutt.com/2015/02/17/radioshack-now-asking-people-to-just-straight-up-loot-the-damn-place/

[Grant Harding]

Yeah - that kind of store was crucial up to a few years ago, then got wiped out by online shopping.

[DeepEnd]

My local go to place is Gateway Electronics: http://www.gatewayelectronics.com/. A bit further than RS used to be but they have what I want.

[nice keetee]

sad but true, lack of hands on compulsive purchase places physical , actually getting away from the screen and also getting some physical exercise

[ComingApart]

there hasn't been a radio shack within 75 miles of me in years. 10 years ago, the last one i had went into was just cell phones and rc cars. and the employees were completely clueless about anything but cell phone plans. i loved RS when i was a kid, they always had some cool heathkit or paia projects that I lusted after. alas, those days have been over for a decade or two.

[gardo]

 

The first computer I had ever seen was at Radio Shack. I had no idea what it could be used for but it was great.

[Ancient Mariner]

In the UK Maplin (who supply a huge array of things, from external hard drives to single resistors) have been opening lots of local stores over the last few years. There are 2 within 20 miles of my house, and I'm very happy about that..

[Mikeo]

6 months ago, there were 4 Shacks in my city, today, none. They have all turned into phone stores. Gone are the days where, on a whim, I could walk in, buy a 6 position switch, some caps and solder, and enjoy a rainy Sunday reeking havoc with a guitar's electronics. Looks like eBay, and waiting two weeks from now on. RIP Shack....

 

 

 

yep

 

The one on Main Street here in town will close up soon. I was in there about a month ago and there's not much left.

 

They just started getting back in to electronics too, or at least carrying more of it.

 

4 more RS will close in the county here.

 

RIP RS

[daddymack]

6 months ago, there were 4 Shacks in my city, today, none. They have all turned into phone stores. Gone are the days where, on a whim, I could walk in, buy a 6 position switch, some caps and solder, and enjoy a rainy Sunday reeking havoc with a guitar's electronics. Looks like eBay, and waiting two weeks from now on. RIP Shack....

 

They have been vanishing here regularly for over a year...none are left within a ten mile radius, maybe further. They could have saved themselves with a better online system, but theirs sucked majorly. And they mistakenly decided they could compete with the bigbox retailers like Best Buy...with tiny little stores and minimal inventory. I am sorry to see them go, since it was great to know you could run down to the store and pick up a resistor, a cap, a 1/4" jack, a bass crossover, a micro amp, right now, and replace the burnt one...now finding this stuff is never going to be that easy, and the big catalogue houses [Mouser, et al.] won't do a 75 cent deal.

 

Now I will have to order solder online...ridiculous!

[daddymack]

the TRS-80...didn't do much, but it didn't have to...

[GAS Man]

That is sad, but I must admit, RS has not gotten much of my money over the years, but I would indeed head there for little electronic parts from time to time. It was especially useful when one needs to browse to figure out what is available for their need.

 

But I think part of the problem with Radio Shack is that they no longer had specific RS products that would draw customers. I'm thinking of the days when they were among the first to offer compact speakers. Bose eventually dominated that market (followed by lots of replicants) but the Realistic Minimus speakers were a bit groundbreaking and known to be a much better sounding speaker one would have expected from such a small enclosure and dubious pedigree.

 

It's kinda like Sears selling off Craftsman, what's really left to go there for these days.

 

But we've still got two in my town, at least according to my google. But I do think it's a matter of time, at least for most locales.

[archiemax]

RS never would have survived anyway if all of their customers were like me--I'd usually show up twice a month (if that) to buy a couple of capacitors, maybe a mini-toggle or two or a soldering iron.....but dang it was handy having them around.

[daddymack]

Realistic was their house brand...my first drum machine was a Realistic...we called it 'Charlie Watts in a box'...

[DeepEnd]

The last time I was in Radio Shack, I needed a capacitor for an electronics project and Gateway Electronics was further than I wanted to drive. I bought my first halfway decent stereo system from Radio Shack, back when I was in college, a Pioneer receiver and a pair of Realistic speakers.

[WRGKMC]

I used to buy from Allied Radio from a mail order catalog before Tandy bought them out in 1970 and opened the Radio shack stores. The stores had at least half of the store dedicated to electronic parts and were always packed with hobbyists buying parts. Over the years they're parts section got smaller and smaller, and the parts being sold became the cheapest garbage you could buy. I quit buying from them by the mid 90's and found Real electronics stores selling quality parts instead of generic junk. The budget line of electronic devices they sold were pretty bad too. Overpriced and poorly made for the most part. I still have a couple pieces of gear of theirs but they're value is next to nothing.

 

By the end, the store by me had a few small cabinets of oddball parts and rarely had anything you actually needed. Online sellers wiped them out because they simply didn't change with the times. Analog electronic repairs died long ago. I saw it coming in the late 70's when I got my degree and started working in the field. Even a blind man could tell you everything was moving to digital. Music electronics and some radio applications are the only manufacturers using tubes any more. Much of your amplification is quickly becoming a cross breed between a cross breed between analog and digital and all of that is a good 20 years behind the times, simply because musicians are slow in changing their thinking, and because there are still many well made vintage amps out there still kicking.

[Phil O'Keefe]

6 months ago, there were 4 Shacks in my city, today, none. They have all turned into phone stores. Gone are the days where, on a whim, I could walk in, buy a 6 position switch, some caps and solder, and enjoy a rainy Sunday reeking havoc with a guitar's electronics. Looks like eBay, and waiting two weeks from now on. RIP Shack....

 

Amazon Prime will cut the time down to two days on the shipping... but I hear ya. While Rat Shack often didn't have everything I wanted or needed, it sucks not having a place with basic electronic supplies in town anymore.

[doublecross]

I always thought RS sucked, Although I have a Fry's Electronics near me, It's the electronics version of a WalMart or Costco, Hated going to RS, First thing they did was try and sell you a cell phone plan, then when time to pay wanted your name, phone number, Email and address, I once told some dumb little RS cashier my name was Andrew Jackson and lived at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave, Washington DC, while of course throwing a 20 spot on the counter, She typed it in then asked my email and phone number, Told her I didn't have one, where she tried to sell me one, By this time the lady behind me is laughing pretty hard and pipes up, Miss I think the gentleman just wants his change, Of course I'm laughing now and this little girl is just pissed off confused, so she gives me my change and I leave with a friendly but laughing, Have a wonderful day, Wonder if the lady behind me explained it to her? But then again I also wonder if the White House got bombarded with junk mail addressed to Andrew Jackson

[gardo]

2 more stores in my area are closing leaving us with 2 in the whole county. Fortunately one of these is a franchised store and the owner has no intentions of closing. It's actually a cool store,because it's franchised he is not locked into RS products..

[bluesmann]

I remember Radio shack being the last place on earth to get a hald decent Stereo system and now their no where to be found. They always had a selection of speaker cabinets and receivers from 20 watts on up. Does anybody make a stereo system anymore? You know Hi Fi . As a music lover I find this sad. Digital has ruined hi fi music with mp3s and wave files etc. I recently went back to cassette tape seeking out all the analog stuff I could find. There is a big difference along with a little hiss that never really got in my way. Digital lacks soul and the spirit in the music. Listening to CDs copied from analog (music recorded on 2" tape) has never come close to sounding the same. I believe what Don Potter said about the subject is true. 5:45 to 10:43 ish

[gardo]

interesting idea. and something to think about . I'm not sure I'd go quite as far into the spirit of the music theory.but there is a difference.

Home stereo system? whats that? I can't remember the last time I saw good hi-fi equipment for sale anywhere

[Phil O'Keefe]

Very sad... but quite funny!

[bluesmann]

There sure is a difference. What do you think that difference is? if its not spiritual in nature. Low freq. can brings out more of the Neanderthal and the dark side. What freq brings out the chill bumps? the spiritual part, intention, the heart etc. imo. have you seen the rice experiment? one marked with love and the other hate. They were spoken to each day. One with anger and hate and the other with love. One of the rice jars turned black and rotted. guess which one. There is a difference.