Radio Shack Bankruptcy Near?

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I ordered an OTA antenna from them a few weeks ago. They gave me a free $10 online voucher for spending $30+, and I used it to buy a mast today. But going into one of the stores is a completely different experience. It's probably been 5 years since I've done that. ;)
 
Man, this is making me feel old too...I remember looking at calculators one time MANY years ago in the check-out counter display case, and a fairly basic unit was BIG, heavy, had a red-colored LED display and cost around $40-$50...I wasn't surprised, really, because calculators were a fairly new invention then. Now, bought one at Staples for my business, it's sleek, has a nice-sized LCD display, doesn't need batteries and cost a little over a $1...
 
I went in my local one and asked for a Female to Male XLR to 1/4" connector and they looked at me like I had two heads.

I said give me a catalog and I can show you. They didn't know was a catalog was... wow has it been that long? I always LOVED getting the catalog in the mail each year! But now with new things coming out every day a catalog would be obsolite by the time it left the printers.
 
Scott Greczkowski said:
They didn't know was a catalog was... wow has it been that long?
Click to expand...
The last catalog was printed in 2002. It was the one with the really awful cover with a girl holding an R logo neon sign and wearing something akin to a hair shirt and jeans with the wasteband cut off.

http://www.radioshackcatalogs.com/catalog_directory.html

The one thing that hasn't changed since the discontinuation of the printed catalogs is that the hired help has always complained bitterly about how slow their Internet connections where when trying to access the RS website.
 
I bought a 1955 Radio Shack catalog on ebay years ago. Cover says" Our 33rd Year of Leadership". RS has been around a long time. The catalog is 224 pages of vintage speakers systems, tube amplifiers and of course every individual component you could think of. Note to Scott: XLR connectors are in the 1955 catalog! (Cannon male XLR was 88 cents)
 
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Radio Shack is nothing more than a cellphone store with a weak selection of electronic components where I live, when I lived in Orange County California we had these great electronic surplus stores where you could find all kinds of great stuff. I miss Heathkit more than I will ever miss Radio Shack. I feel bad for the people who will lose their jobs even though they mostly gave you blank stares when you asked them a question.


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First went to radio shack in about 1966,my buddy just got back from viet nam,and was an electronic wizard.He got hired on the spot and became store manager.In those days the store had lots more electronic goodies.I think radio shack could make a come back by being an internet store,and close all the local stores.It's just like everybody posted above,no one at the store seems to know to much about anything.Can't blame the kids that work there,plus I'm sure they don"t pay squat.Everytime I've tried to buy something,they don't have it in stock.I seldom go there anymore.It's a shame,it used to be fun to go in and look around.
 
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Like everyone else, I used to love Radio Shack from the 80's to the mid 90's. I still have a functioning Radio Shack/Tandy Color Computer 2 & 3 with floppy disk, the works! I used to buy alot of my stereo items, cables and electronic parts there. Back in the day the people working there would actually help you get the correct components and literally help you with your project. I used to buy all kinds of stuff there, I only went to the big electronics warehouse for the rare hard to find items. But sometime in the late 90's management got greedy, jacked up the price high on everything, went from computers to satelite TV, to cellphones, drove away customers and eliminated alot of good stuff along the way; even other Radio Shack stores selfishly won't help each other out regarding much needed items. Now I only go to Radio Shack every two years for a new phone and maybe a now hard to find emergency cable I will pay three times for, just to get it. It is pretty sad watching the beginning of the end to an otherwise good chain of stores. Looks like I may have to dish out alot more money at the AT&T Store for my next phone upgrade, I won't care for that too much. :-(

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harshness said:
The last catalog was printed in 2002. It was the one with the really awful cover with a girl holding an R logo neon sign and wearing something akin to a hair shirt and jeans with the wasteband cut off.

http://www.radioshackcatalogs.com/catalog_directory.html

The one thing that hasn't changed since the discontinuation of the printed catalogs is that the hired help has always complained bitterly about how slow their Internet connections where when trying to access the RS website.
Click to expand...
 
I still miss my see through telephone that lit all up when the phone range. Radio Shack was the only store that carried it back in the day.

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RS has been sliding downhill for a long, long time. When I was a kid my father did repair work for RS and a bunch of other local shops and I went with him a lot to RS. Built my first VOM from a kit from RS when I was like six or so and I'd go there for resistors, etc, the local one by us the owner would even order TV schematics, OEM parts and stuff like that for me. All the kits were great, you could build cool equipment for cheap money, I think that VOM kit was right around ten dollars. Was great when I was a kid, but now, they're pretty much useless.
 
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The 65 then the 100-in-One project kits were major influences in my forming my interests and career.

Radio Shack unsuccessfully reinvented themselves several times since they started the decline in the 80's. Their attempts to remain relevant alienated the core buyers.

Dear Radio Shack, you are missed. Because you died 25 years ago...
 
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Titanium said:
The 65 then the 100-in-One project kits were major influences in my forming my interests and career.
Radio Shack unsuccessfully reinvented themselves several times since they started the decline in the 80's. Their attempts to remain relevant alienated the core buyers.
Dear Radio Shack, you are missed. Because you died 25 years ago...
Click to expand...

Yup. Built a few of those kits.
The Radio Shack FM transmitter kit put out waaay more power than allowed by the FCC ! And transmitter did a great job of jamming the sound on quite a few TV channels as well. My neighbors figured out what was going on and raised hell (thankfully not with the FCC).
 
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