"White Van Audio Stores"

[Lavane]

I was reading a post in another thread about how cool it was back in the '70's when Stereo shops were common. Heck, we had eight to ten at any given time in my area, not including department stores. But this one store, in a now closed up mall, was just named "The Stereo Store". It was the perfect name. I remember seeing very little in the way of any name brand equipment in this shop. Some brands were closely worded to sound like a name brand, others weren't. They even had cheap knock offs of those JVC globe speakers. We would go into the store from time to time to laugh and crack jokes about what we saw. The salesmen hated us. But still, they had about a 3 year run before the levee broke and flooded the mall. So, has anyone else seen a shop like this back in the day? I'm guessing they were more common than you would think.

 

[Dave_1962]

Yeah we called it Radio Shack. Then they came out with Mach Ones so we got on board.

 

[pskaudio]

The Shack... even the product name they chose "Realistic", as if it's not quite "real". Of course the later "Optimus" spoke more about potential sales volume.
I ran a Shack in the early to mid 90s. Anybody remember "You've got questions, we've got answers"?
Unfortunately due to the lack of training it should have been: "You've got questions, we've got puzzled expressions".

 

[pskaudio]

If I remember correctly, Homer and Bart Simpson went to a discount electronics store for a new TV. The brands were "Magnetbox", "Panafonics" and "Sorny".

 

[ETLS]

If it were a combo bakery and stereo shop, it could be called Pie&Ear.

 

[Lavane]

Even Radio Shack in the same mall had better made equipment. I remember "Venturi" speakers being sold st that store. 16 ohm all three models, and no they were made by BIC.

 

[jobrewer1983]

The Shack... even the product name they chose "Realistic", as if it's not quite "real". Of course the later "Optimus" spoke more about potential sales volume.
I ran a Shack in the early to mid 90s. Anybody remember "You've got questions, we've got answers"?
Unfortunately due to the lack of training it should have been: "You've got questions, we've got puzzled expressions".

With ya there on rat shack, but I think "realistic" is a play on "realistic sound"...

 

[red 111]

Yeah...i remember that type of stores in Manhattan...lots of refurb stuff sold as new...Walkmans were big then...there were so many of these shops...i went in one of these '' lot our lease '' going out of business stores & they were pushing Coffin Amps...i ask him if you have to use Vampire ICs with them...went right over his head..if you tried to return something you purchased...you were out of luck...never took anything back & no exchange..lots of these shops were around Times Square & preyed on tourists..

 

[quaddriver]

we had one in johnstown PA, thing was, it had a rare collection of the 'laser' discs (those 12 inch capacitance behemoths that used needles, not lasers) for rent and the player, so us in college, rented them a lot for dorm gatherings. But they had piles of pyles and other stuff that boasted 200 watts for car and home stereo, but was plastic, had tiny wires and weighed nothing. the owner finally got tired of us cracking wise, but didnt boot us as we provided his only rental income on a 'fad' that never took off. I did put a 50w (claimed) amp and EQ that accepted speaker level inputs to run my 6x9 decks in my cutlass and it didnt suck...with that and the dual glasspacks prolly explains why I got a little hearing loss in my right ear

people crack wise about the shack, in many cases the rep is earned, but in the golden years of the 70's and early 80's the shacks 'good, better, best' lineups were not really that bad, a bit over priced IMO compared to its pioneer, kenwood, technics bretheren but also consider this: in the 70's and 80s electronics OEMS were like distributors for just about any other large scale product - they had minimum purchase requirements and they had aggressive (read: $$) floor plan charges, so unless you could afford to offload a trailer of stuff at once, and do this again AT LEAST quarterly - there was no way the little shops could carry what we consider 'big' names. so if you wanted better than 'eltectrobrand' or 'soundesign', off to the shack you went, who also: financed

that being said, given my travels and restoration history - there are gems just about everywhere. snootiness prevents most of them from living today.


oddly, jcpenny MCS and sears LXI were on par with the shack, and I usually sell every MCS I do, BEFORE I am finished with it. go figger.

 

[WobblySam]

Your title - White van audio stores - caught my eye. In the 70s, there were literally "white van" audio "stores". Most any large parking lot had at least 2 or 3 guys selling speakers and audio gear out of their vans or trunks. Haven't seen much of it in the last 30 years.

 

[Lavane]

we had one in johnstown PA, thing was, it had a rare collection of the 'laser' discs (those 12 inch capacitance behemoths that used needles, not lasers) for rent and the player, so us in college, rented them a lot for dorm gatherings. But they had piles of pyles and other stuff that boasted 200 watts for car and home stereo, but was plastic, had tiny wires and weighed nothing. the owner finally got tired of us cracking wise, but didnt boot us as we provided his only rental income on a 'fad' that never took off. I did put a 50w (claimed) amp and EQ that accepted speaker level inputs to run my 6x9 decks in my cutlass and it didnt suck...with that and the dual glasspacks prolly explains why I got a little hearing loss in my right ear

people crack wise about the shack, in many cases the rep is earned, but in the golden years of the 70's and early 80's the shacks 'good, better, best' lineups were not really that bad, a bit over priced IMO compared to its pioneer, kenwood, technics bretheren but also consider this: in the 70's and 80s electronics OEMS were like distributors for just about any other large scale product - they had minimum purchase requirements and they had aggressive (read: $$) floor plan charges, so unless you could afford to offload a trailer of stuff at once, and do this again AT LEAST quarterly - there was no way the little shops could carry what we consider 'big' names. so if you wanted better than 'eltectrobrand' or 'soundesign', off to the shack you went, who also: financed

that being said, given my travels and restoration history - there are gems just about everywhere. snootiness prevents most of them from living today.


oddly, jcpenny MCS and sears LXI were on par with the shack, and I usually sell every MCS I do, BEFORE I am finished with it. go figger.

I forgot about the off brand crappy car amps! I had a few friends who bought them. 200 WPC! Ya right, they tended to burn up in about a week or so. You would usually find them mated with cheap Kraco tape decks that didn't last much longer than the cheap amps.