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

I didn't deal with RS back in the 70s and 80s only because I was too young and too poor.I discovered the quality of RS gear in the early 2000s.It was good.I think those old catalogues are the bomb.
 
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.

:dunno:


Me too. I always thought Radio Shack Realistic audio components were lesser than Marantz, Pioneer, Sansui, etc.

I grew up in western NY State and when I needed parts and supplies I went to Lafayette and Olsen Electronics. The people working in these shops were much more knowledgeable and helpful than the RS employees.

However, back in about 1983-84 I met a gorgeous blonde girl at a Radio Shack in California. I ended up dating her for awhile. That is my best Radio Shack memory. She was really something!
 
Me too. I always thought Radio Shack Realistic audio components were lesser than Marantz, Pioneer, Sansui, etc.

I grew up in western NY State and when I needed parts and supplies I went to Lafayette and Olsen Electronics. The people working in these shops were much more knowledgeable and helpful than the RS employees.

However, back in about 1983-84 I met a gorgeous blonde girl at a Radio Shack in California. I ended up dating her for awhile. That is my best Radio Shack memory. She was really something!
We also had a Lafayette, and another great store called Etco. Everything needed for projects were bought from these two stores. Never disappointed.
Oh .... I would probably do the same if I had met a gorgeous blonde girl at a Radio Shack (or any other store for that matter). ;)
 
Sears was another outfit that SHOULD have made it.. Back when I was a pup, they had a line of clothes that were warm, wore like IRON, & were basically hard to beat. My parents got me a heavy outdoors coat that after I outgrew it, my mama commandeered it, & still wore it until she died. You could run it thru the washing machine & drier, & you'd be hard pressed to NOT be convinced it was practically New. The big Sears store in Knoxville always had a goodly array of stereos, speakers & other assorted goodies & trinkets.. They also had an "Omigawd !" display of toys starting right about now, & their toys weren't limited to liddle Kiddies' stuff, or too heavy in dolls... I'm THINKING I saw my 1st Pocher kit at the Knoxville store... And I'm almost positive when Sony brought out their infamous transistor set, the 5-303W the Nocksful store had 'em... Their Kingsport,TN, store, the Boys' room was right at the back door.. THAT was a Lifesaver numerous times..
 
I was in the business from the late 60's to 2004. The only time I used Radio Shack was if I was to far away from the office, just skip over to RS and get the necessary part. When I retired with office being 20 miles away and the Radio Shack a few blocks away it was faster just to drop in. But as Radio Shack tried compete with Telephone stores, sell computers, and cut back on basic quality parts I had to look to Parts Express etc. So today I have stock of cables, cleaners, and connectors, etc I never needed before. But every now and then its very frustrating to need a simple dollar part that now costs $10.00 and you have to wait for delivery. Life was so much simpler when servicing the customer was the goal and not the bottom line on the tally sheet.

Do I miss Radio Shack? A big expletive, Yes I do.
 
Me too. I always thought Radio Shack Realistic audio components were lesser than Marantz, Pioneer, Sansui, etc.

I grew up in western NY State and when I needed parts and supplies I went to Lafayette and Olsen Electronics. The people working in these shops were much more knowledgeable and helpful than the RS employees.

However, back in about 1983-84 I met a gorgeous blonde girl at a Radio Shack in California. I ended up dating her for awhile. That is my best Radio Shack memory. She was really something!

Depends on the audio components too. On turntables, the LAB 300, 400, and 420 are equal to or slightly superior to your Marantz 6100 and 6300. And they have in this case a lot more in common than you think, both were made for them in Japan by the same OEM builder, CEC/Chuo Denki in Japan. The difference in price, is called "The Marantz Tax" Plus the LAB series top of the line changers were built by ELAC/Miracord who changed nothing for Radio Shack except for a badge which said "Realistic by ELAC/Miracord".
 
Depends on the audio components too. On turntables, the LAB 300, 400, and 420 are equal to or slightly superior to your Marantz 6100 and 6300. And they have in this case a lot more in common than you think, both were made for them in Japan by the same OEM builder, CEC/Chuo Denki in Japan. The difference in price, is called "The Marantz Tax" Plus the LAB series top of the line changers were built by ELAC/Miracord who changed nothing for Radio Shack except for a badge which said "Realistic by ELAC/Miracord".

Thanks for the update. Agree that some of their audio equipment was better than I ever knew. Keep in mind I was an impressionable teenager.

Even when I was just buying parts for kits or repairs, I never liked the RS selection or the layout as much as Olsen's or Lafayette. Their competitors tended to have more knowledgeable and helpful employees too. These are my experiences.
 
Yeah as a teenager, was caught up in the whole cb thing.
17' antenna on the roof slide mount in the car.
I had a big ugly Navajo combo base station mobile.
Every thing came from rat shack ( maybe a bit from Lafayette).
Cables mounts swr meter.
Used to build, / fix ( probably break too:rolleyes:)
Things.
We used to collect the yellow receipts (looking back I don't know why, we just did)
I knew the manager, all the salesmen on first name basis.
They actually knew their stuff.
I had a pretty nice 60wpc integrated I bought on sale (probably closeout. )
As a kid the retail was above me.
Later some pretty speakers (Maybe early 80s)
They looked better than they sounded. I don't remember what they were. Had nice wood (veneer?) Cabinets and IIRC a passive and active woofer (8-10") that looked very similar to each other.

On the sears demise, if you think about it they were Amazon 150 years before Amazon.
 
A nice touch in the second season of Stranger Things was to introduce a character who works at Radio Shack. That series punches all sorts of nostalgia buttons.
 
The Ratshak catalog was a LOT of fun, too...- Take the new one into the Loo w/you,& dream up all sorts of Nifty Neato stuff to build... Ratshak was a WONDERFUL place for budding Mad Scientists-Like MOI, f'r instance. to dream Big Dreams.. And it WAS Big, Nasty FUN to screw w/the clueless dweebs who "Worked" there. There was a girl in this one who was SO far outta her league, I took Pity on her. Told her I wanted a 15GP22-Which was the CRT for the 1st color sets back in '54-And she had No Idea. Gave her about a 15 minute tutorial on Things Tubage, she acted interested, & thanked me for "Splainin" stuff to her.. See, even I can be a semi-Nice Guy if the situation warrants..
 
The Ratshak catalog was a LOT of fun, too...- Take the new one into the Loo w/you,& dream up all sorts of Nifty Neato stuff to build... Ratshak was a WONDERFUL place for budding Mad Scientists-Like MOI, f'r instance. to dream Big Dreams.. And it WAS Big, Nasty FUN to screw w/the clueless dweebs who "Worked" there. There was a girl in this one who was SO far outta her league, I took Pity on her. Told her I wanted a 15GP22-Which was the CRT for the 1st color sets back in '54-And she had No Idea. Gave her about a 15 minute tutorial on Things Tubage, she acted interested, & thanked me for "Splainin" stuff to her.. See, even I can be a semi-Nice Guy if the situation warrants..

Did I ever look forward to their catalogs... And of course getting the battery card punched or the little free flashlights you would get from time to time w/Coupon didn't hurt... Its all about staff and quality of merchandise. Once sears and RS cut back on both, it was the beginning of the end.

To those slightly older folks, did your sears have over the top Christmas Toy displays? Mine had this elaborate toy train set that wound around much of their toy department display. I could not get enough of it...
 
Here in Wichita there is one cool RS store left. It is half amateur radio stuff, half Radio Shack, and half awesome. :D
 
Did I ever look forward to their catalogs... And of course getting the battery card punched or the little free flashlights you would get from time to time w/Coupon didn't hurt... Its all about staff and quality of merchandise. Once sears and RS cut back on both, it was the beginning of the end.

To those slightly older folks, did your sears have over the top Christmas Toy displays? Mine had this elaborate toy train set that wound around much of their toy department display. I could not get enough of it...
Did they Ever ! Talk about Dyin' & goin' to Heaven... Again, the Knoxville store was their biggest , baddest store in upper East Tennessee- Knoxville & environs had a lot of population that was very well paid, w/UT, Oak Ridge, Bunches of factories in & around Knoxville. They REALLY "Put on the Dog" at Christmas, & they catered big time to antisocial spoilt brats like Moi who got off on model cars, rather than gettin' the Chit pummelled out of us that the jockohomos apparently did. (Are we not Men ?!?) The Knoxville store fairly screamed "!957"- I think it might have been built then, was a bit out of date by the mid/late Sixties, but they took VERY good care of it. But Sears was still a big article of faith in Sixties America-Wally World hadn't taken over & made everything so disgustingly cheap, shoddy, & third rate. Like I said B4, you could buy a nice coat for yr son at a Sears, that he wouldn't be ashamed to be seen in, & would likely last as long as you wanted it to... Bonus points if you caught the blurb about the Truth about Devolution...(grin)
 
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