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Radio Shack Coming Back ?

PS, just looked.
There appears to be one in Toms river (opposite side of state, NJ isn't so wide but probably an hour under good conditions )
Then a couple in PA probably a little further .
I guess I'm stuck with the big online sources
 
being a REAL hobby geek I don't go to Hobbytown because they don't carry much in the way of deep end hobby stuff like good paint brushes, extensive brands of paint etc. Mostly its kids doing D&D like role playing games and painting teeny figures. NO expertise in any advanced hobbies.
 
I
HTHMAN said:
Even though I only went there 2-3 times a year, I miss not being able to drive down the street to pick up the occasional part I might need. What I really miss is the Radioshack of the 70's. Used to spend a lot of time in them.
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I know how you feel.
I used to ride my bike there 15 -20 minute ride (2x3 times a week).
Times change:dunno:
Not necessarily for the better
 
nj pheonix said:
PS, just looked.
There appears to be one in Toms river (opposite side of state, NJ isn't so wide but probably an hour under good conditions )
Then a couple in PA probably a little further .
I guess I'm stuck with the big online sources
Click to expand...

It's worth an hour just to scan the hobby shop. Not to many around anymore.
 
There's a pretty nice hobby store about 10 minutes from house.
Aside from electronics, there's little a hobby store has for me. (Never got some of the other rabbit hole afflictions):oops:
 
My other hobbies require machine and dive shops mostly :(. Wish I could get away with Hobby Shops.
 
saying RS is back is sorta like saying pan am came back cuz someone got the logo and has bus trips or something...
 
HTHMAN said:
Even though I only went there 2-3 times a year,
Click to expand...

This is why they're gone.
Many of us didn't go there that often in the past 20 years.
Not your fault or mine.
Market tastes ,models changed, maybe poor management, maybe read markets wrong, maybe just something that wasn't needed any more (like the milkman or the paperboy)
 
vwestlife said:
There are still quite a few independently owned Radio Shack stores that never went out of business. But at this point the name and old Tandy Corporation inventory they're still selling off is the only thing "Radio Shack" about them.
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I have one of those locally, and you're right about the name being the only RS thing there. I haven't been in there in a while, but every time I had gone in, the place was more and more empty. Looks like as they sell items they just spread the remaining ones out so there are no holes. Solder was the only thing I got there for years just because they had nothing else of use to me. I think the last time I went in there I needed some TO-220 mica insulators and thermal paste and they didn't have either.
 
The one in West Seattle still had a decent amount of pieces parts, but that’s was at least 5 years ago probably.
 
I went and scoped out the Hobby Town near me. They say they are stocking over 1000 RS products, not old stock but current. Bulbs, fuses, switches, relays, capacitors ,diodes, resistors- Most of what our last decent RS shop had. They are not messing with cell phones and Bluetooth speakers, etc. The poor lady working the counter spent most of her time on the phone explaining the RS products they carry. I didn't buy much, some bulbs, 2.5 mm screws and nuts for cart mounting, and some medium weight CA glue. They also had Ardurino products- I may have to try setting up a music sever with one of those. Nice to have some stuff in a brick & mortar store near by again.
 
GChief said:
May I be enlighten as to what a REAL hobby is? I may want one. Unless your proudly letting the world know of your geekiness, I am proud also.

:beerchug:
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When you spend more than a grand or two a year THAT is a real hobby. I've done HO scale model railroading with brass steam models, RC airplanes, Studio Scale sci-fi models (I have a 4' diameter Jupiter 2 cast from the original Hero), RC sailboat racing, Audio, Classic stop motion movie collector, large scale sci-fi models, and I cosplay as Walter White.
 
^^^ I almost asked about your furry sex animal but that wouldn’t be appropriate :cool::D
 
nj pheonix said:
You know, on that note, I seem to remember Heath (Heathkit?) Supposedly rising from the dead a while back.
I think I even got on their email list and got some kind of pre opening blather.
That was a bit back. I haven't heard anything in a long time.
As far as RS, I'm not terribly optimistic its going to resurrect much of its pre fade glory.
I hope I'm wrong :rolleyes:
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I agree. Even after being with RS for 25 years as a Joint-Venture during their meteoric rise to fame from 1967 ~ 1993, I ejected when I recognized that they were were committed to a disastrous change in direction that was certain to result in an even more rapid decline, crash and burn. Sure enough, it happened. I have now been away from them for longer than I was with them, so don’t blame me for what they did to themselves or for what they became. And please, don’t do the math! I am not surprised that they managed to make things worse for themselves every time that they attempted to reinvent themselves. I am surprised that they somehow managed to hold on for as long as they did.

I no longer hold onto any hope that RS will be able to return to any small shred of their former self from back “In the good old days of Radio Shack”. (That reference is to an old thread buried somewhere in the AK archives.). As much as I would like to see that happen, this time as a customer, I really do believe that all hope is lost, at least for whoever RS is these days. Now, could someone else do something similar? I think that possibility does exist in a much more up to date form and fashion, maybe as part of a Hobbytown empire. Several of us old Joint-Venture old timers tried to convince the RS/Tandy mis-management team to do essentially that as they were kicking us all to the curb in 1993. But no, they had a better plan. Yup, they sure did, didn’t they?

Fools.
 
nj pheonix said:
PS, just looked.
There appears to be one in Toms river (opposite side of state, NJ isn't so wide but probably an hour under good conditions )
Then a couple in PA probably a little further .
I guess I'm stuck with the big online sources
Click to expand...
Yeah, just saw the Tom's River location on the map - about 45 miles away from me. :dunno:
 
I must say, I miss having Radio Shack around. When I was growing up, I read the catalogs until they fell apart. My first stereo system was based around Optimus components, and some of the first computers I myself owned were from the TRS-80 series. In more recent years, I would stop by a Radio Shack store whenever I happened to be in the area, even if there wasn't anything specific I needed. Sometimes I did buy stuff, usually an audio cable/adapter or parts for one of my many projects (when they had something I could use, anyway). For awhile, they were a great place for obsolete formats, like 5.25" floppy disks, reel-to-reel tapes, and Betamax tapes. This changed over the years, as they switched more and more to cell phones, and the 'good' stuff went away.

Of course, I'm lucky to still have a few old-style electronics stores in my area. Two of them are 20-30 miles away, but one of them happens to be in the next town over from me. They used to be a Radio Shack franchisee back in the '70s and '80s, but went independent in the '90s. Most of the store is floor-to-ceiling racks of NTE and Philmore components (resistors, capacitors, transistors, ICs, etc.) plus cables, CB supplies, telephone stuff, etc. Not as wide a variety as Mouser or Digikey, but they have a pretty good selection. Also, they still have some of the old Radio Shack inventory left over, which the owner digs out from time to time.
-Adam
 
I miss the old Radio Shack and hope this new idea works out.
Back in the day going into the store gave me the same feeling of waking up and peeking under the tree on Christmas morning.
All of those shelves and drawers and racks. So many possible projects.
Good times.
 
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