You'll MISS Me When I'm Gone....

[Sandy G]

Like MOST of the rest of us here, I was kinda Dismaide over the long,painful DEATH of Radio Shack. I'm old enuf to remember when they sold stuff that maybe NO "Audiophool" would want, yet most all of us,I feel,prolly had quite a bunch of their stuff... Speaker wire, fuses, bulk cassette/R2R tape"DooHickeys" of every kind & sort.. Guys like Moi chaseddown the correctamperages so our projects weren't quite so "homemade" looking..

 

[Ds2000]

Definitely miss having them around too.

 

[OutlawSun]

It's a shame they killed off brands like Realistic and got away from what they were. Which was a place that sold cool electronics and any assorted parts you could ever need. Those old catalogs were completely loaded with interesting stuff. They lost whatever draw they had and didn't adjust to the rise of online sales very well.

 

[g..v]

Hey...I have a T shirt with that on it. I've had it since the late 80's A bunch of us at work wore them as a silent protest.

 

[KrisM]

They've been such a non-factor up here for so long that I didn't really give this situation much thought.
Kinda like Sears closing up shop. Times change.

I also worked for them for a couple of years in the early 90s while in highschool. They stiffed me on some paycheck money, so I'm not not exactly upset about them hitting the ditch. Screw 'em.

 

[Condorsat]

Maybe w/ Radio Shack gong down for the count ... Parts Express will expand.

 

[jdsalinger]

I've NEVER had a good experience in RS (recent years). Almost every store I went to (no matter what city), the staff was indifferent & un-knowledgeable. Prices were typically inflated too. Every time I walked out of their store, I swore I'd never go back.

RS in the 80's was a different story. We actually had one in my small hometown of 1,500. Dad bought his entire stereo there. STA-240, dual cassette deck, LAB-40 TT, Big Nova mains and Nova 6 or 7 rear speakers and headphones. Sounded wonderful and had great tactile qualities. I was still using that LAB 40 as of 2007.

 

[KrisM]

Sears screwed themselves (when the gent who was the CEO of K-Mart bought them). my mother retired from Sears and can tell you all kinds of horror stories that guy wanted to do. The store managers tried to push back but he had the board with him. When the initial idea blew up, he kept trying shitty ideas. it was a very short-sighted board - like what happened with Kodak.

Is Sears the same in Canada as the US?
The one up here has been a mess for years.

I got married 14 years ago, and because of where some relatives lived we did a gift registry there. Every single gift that came through was a mess to try and track down.
Awhile back my dishwasher was clunking out, and I found a steal of a deal at Sears. Afterwards they used the email address I gave them to send me suggestions. Kinda like amazon does. What did they suggest to me a week after I bought a new dishwasher? Dishwashers.
How a company that big, and with that big of a footprint, can be that clueless is beyond me.

 

[OutlawSun]

I honestly think it's a shame there aren't really big dedicated audio equipment retailers anymore. There's not many places where you can walk into a showroom with a bunch of options and get a feel for all the toys or get odds and ends.

 

[tyeeslayer]

Don't scare me Sandy, I thought you were saying goodby to us!!!!!

 

[OutlawSun]

I've NEVER had a good experience in RS (recent years). Almost every store I went to (no matter what city), the staff was rude, indifferent & un-knowledgeable. Prices were typically inflated too. Every time I walked out of their store, I swore I'd never go back.

RS in the 80's was a different story. We actually had one in my small hometown of 1,500. Dad bought his entire stereo there. STA-240, dual cassette deck, LAB-40 TT, Big Nova mains and Nova 6 or 7 rear speakers and headphones. Sounded wonderful and had great tactile qualities. I was still using that LAB 40 as of 2007.

Yeah they got cheap and treated their employees like crap from what I've read in recent memory. So the turnover was high. That company completely lost sight and didn't adapt.

 

[toxcrusadr]

Back in the 70s and early 80s, even the shopping mall store was loaded with electronic parts racks. You could go in the back of the store and ogle at all kinds of stuff you wish you had a reason to use. I loved that.

 

[the_nines]

Never was really into any of the Radio Shack stuff back in the day so I can't say I will miss them.

Matter of fact, for whatever reason, their audio stuff was considered sub-par back then (early-mid '70s).

Would rather be sporting something that said Marantz on it instead of Realistic.

Even for little things like solder we would rather buy from local independent electronics stores. It's just the way it was. Radio Shack sold the cheap stuff as far as we were concerned.

 

[dosmalo]

When they started asking for my phone number and address at the checkout I bailed.

 

[braincramp]

I thought maybe I was the only one who always had a crappy experience anytime I went into a RS. Guess not. I can honestly say that never once did I get a question I had answered to the point that I thought they really knew what they were talking about.

 

[Will S.]

Never was really into any of the Radio Shack stuff back in the day so I can't say I will miss them.

Matter of fact, for whatever reason, their audio stuff was considered sub-par back then (early-mid '70s).

Would rather be sporting something that said Marantz on it instead of Realistic.

Even for little things like solder we would rather buy from local independent electronics stores. It's just the way it was. Radio Shack sold the cheap stuff as far as we were concerned.

Exactly my recollection. Good riddance.

 

[SPL db]

 

[ETLS]

Don't scare me Sandy, I thought you were saying goodby to us!!!!!

+1

It was bad enough when you went on a Coke binge. Even if was just spilled on a keyboard.

 

[electronjohn]

Yeah, I'll miss 'em...particularly thinking back to when I was active in broadcast engineering. There were times when I HAD to have a bunch of 1A/1000v diodes and needed them in an hour instead of days. RS to the rescue! With the arrival of the "maker" movement, I'd think that metro areas of, say, 75 to 100,000 or more could support a Parts Express "mini store". Time will tell.

 

[AdamAnt316]

I'm lucky enough to have a few real electronics stores in my area. One of them, Electronics Plus, used to be a Radio Shack franchisee back in the '70s and '80s, but is now independently run, and carries a nice selection of electronic components and tools (plus some vintage stuff). Another, Electronic Surplus Services, has a nice selection of components in addition to all sorts of funky test equipment and surplus parts. Finally, there's the two-story colossus that is You-Do-It Electronics. All within an hour or so of me, and all nicely stocked with parts well beyond what Radio Shack tended to stock (and NO cell phones! ).
-Adam