Lafayette Recevers?
- Thread starter mc1822d
- Start date
Man you were young back then! I feel old now.May be you should change your moniker to "Spiteful Young Cuss"
Lavane
Lunatic Member
Any idea when they closed the doors? It was 1980 or '81 when I bought a few manuals for some tube shortwave radio's I had. One of the radios was really nice. VFO, BFO, AFC and a "Q" multiplier. Once you learned how to use the Q multiplier you could isolate weak stations from stronger ones in either side along with the hash. If remember right, it picked up SSB also.
Lafayette LR-5555 looks a lot like my Viking SC-5814 that Eaton's of Canada sold
Looks the same alright.
1tumbleweed
Kozmik Kowboy
Bankruptcy was 1981. Story as I remember it is that they placed an order for thousands of 23-channel CB radios, at the exact time the FCC expanded the band to 40 channels....meaning LRE was stuck with obsolete radios they couldn't sell, except at a loss. Other info suggests that LRE simply couldn't compete with Radio Shack, which was by that time a far bigger chain than Lafayette.
Binkman
Lunatic Member
I just remember Allied. So perhaps this store was a independent and carried all available. I have a photo memory.. my dad took me to this store many times. At home we received "stamped store" label addressed more than one brand catalogs from that store I saved and read. Poughkeepsie was no where near a large city at that time. If I rode a few more miles I'd be in farm country.
anyway long gone.. just memories.
anyway long gone.. just memories.
Lavane
Lunatic Member
Soon after the 40 channel CB's came out using PLL circuitry the truck drivers and others found they weren't as easy to mod. Like adding illegal channels, VFO's and the like. The 23 channel radios became more popular again for a while. I remember seeing the 23 channel radios with selector switches loaded with crystals.
1tumbleweed
Kozmik Kowboy
"The like" being most especially the craze for linear amps. I remember those things all over the place in the '70s (I think). From less than 5 watts to over 100 in the blink of an eye!
Lavane
Lunatic Member
A friend had a big Phantom tube linear amp. The house lights would dim when he keyed up the mic."The like" being most especially the craze for linear amps. I remember those things all over the place in the '70s (I think). From less than 5 watts to over 100 in the blink of an eye!
peteCWA
Active Member
In the early solid-state equipment use, I believe both Lafayette and Trio (and maybe even others) used the same board manufacturer.
peteCWA
Active Member
Allied Radio stores never carried Lafayette branded equipment.
In the early days, Allied’s main competitors were Radio Shack, Lafayette Radio, Olson Electronics, Newark Electronics, Burstein-Applebee Co, and local independent dealers.
peteCWA
Active Member
Since I was their longest part-time employee(as I was told by the main office), I have roughly 75 catalogs which includes both the main yearly catalog and the quarterly supplements with an occasional holiday or clearance sale type catalogs.
peteCWA
Active Member
Over the years we had a number of "dogs" that were part of our offerings to customers.
Selling is money and some times you have to leave your conscience at home.
peteCWA
Active Member
The parent organization of Lafayette Radio was founded in 1921 as Wholesale Radio Service Co. In roughly 1931, radios sold by them were trademarked "Lafayette". So, over the years, "Lafayette" became of the house brands for Wholesale Radio Service Co. As time progressed and not in any chronological order, there was Radio-Wire Television, Lafayette Radio Manufacturing Corp., Lafayette Radio Corp., Lafayette-Concord Radio Corp., Lafayette Radio Electronics. (i might have even missed a few)
Lafayette didn't move to Syosset, NY until 1961/62.
At the 100 6th Ave., NYC location, Lafayette engineering design and manufacture were done on the upper floors for years.
For further Lafayette Radio history, this is good reading: https://people.ohio.edu/postr/bapix/LafArt_60_3.htm
peteCWA
Active Member
I acquired much of Lafayette's, late 50's to the end, manual inventory. Been working off the inventory for the last 40 years.
Also acquired lots of the service part inventories from the majority of the NJ stores after they closed.
peteCWA
Active Member
Lafayette declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1980 with roughly 60 immediate store closings. In latter part of 1981, the final bankruptcy was declared with the closing of all the rest of the corporate own stores with the exception of 4 of 5 stores. These 4 or 5 stores were in metro locations and were sold to Wards (Richmond, VA), I believe to test the area for expansion. Between roughly 1969 to 1982, Wards had acquired numerous electronics retailers and operated stores from New York to California. In 1984, Wards changes its name to Circuit City Stores Inc. The 4 or 5 stores mentioned were closed and within a few short years Circuit City stores were popping up in all these metro areas.
peteCWA
Active Member
Actually the real last series of Hi-Fi receivers were the Lafayette Criterion Mark I, Mark III, Mark V, and the Mark VII. These appeared only in the 1978/79 and 1979 catalogs. They weren't bad receivers (I tried them all) but they weren't around long enough (nor was the Company) to get a good customer opinion.
Binkman
Lunatic Member
I'm sorry I'm not inaccurate. I had at least 50 catalogs from various mfg's from that store that were labeled and addressed from that store. They did have an order counter that on saturdays was waiting customer lined.. So again I believe it must have been independent and just had the Laf. logo along with many others. NYC fits about right but that is long shot shot from then rural NY then. I'm sure from above if Macy's carried Laf.. then it wasn't exclusive retailing as marketing products was pretty wide open.
Memories can be what you want but I can , when I was 5 years old and replay & remember taking a big thorn out of a 1200 lb. bulls foot without sedation including the fence, the owner trucks and cars etc, conversations mentally visual . even posts on a.k. (not the content but the post header) I don't remember trivial or repeat what I see that's of no interest. I'd be banned from Las Vegas if I could. LOL.
regardless historically... nobody really gives a crap.
