Radio Shack Radio Sunk

[BassGuitari]

...and the computers we sold were not radio shack branded at all, they were all from an early 90's computer company called AST.

I've actually got an AST laptop. Neat machine except the power supply doesn't stay connected (and the battery is long dead) and the LCD screen has seen better days, but I can still just hook it up to a monitor for some 386 DOS gaming action.

 

I tried to research it when I got it, but couldn't turn up much information about it or the company.

[Omega-TI]

The Battery Club was amazing, and something I'll think back on fondly, along with the cool Forrest Mims books.

 

Dude, as a kid those Mims books with all their schematics and great ideas kept me BROKE!

[Omega-TI]

 

I love it! I'm gonna print this up on photo paper, frame it and put up on the wall in my den!

[Omega-TI]

It's really kind of sad to see how Radio Shack has suffered such an agonizing and lingering death. I spent a good deal of time and money in those stores as a kid in the 70'. Met and dated my then future wife there in the 80's, and had some real good times. Now they are just a shell of what they once were and I could not longer stand to go there and tarnish the legacy of so many fond memories.

 

[fujidude]

It is kind of strange that it is a bit sad, yet it is.

[Omega-TI]

Remember P-Box Kits?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dAiPIJLjvRs

[Jess Ragan]

 

I love it! I'm gonna print this up on photo paper, frame it and put up on the wall in my den!

 

Silly me just kept reading that as "Radios."

[John_L]

I worked for Radio Shack on a couple of occasions in the early 80's and again in the mid 90's, and their big selling point was that when you bought their brand, they serviced it if it needed it, freeing you from paying for, and shipping the product yourself to get serviced. You'd simply run it down the street, drop it off, then pick it up when it was ready. On top of that, they were an early, and one of the biggest players in the home computer market. Apple, Commodore, and Tandy were the "big 3" of the day. Then, once IBM released the biggest piece of shit computer possible, everyone decided that must be good because it's "IBM" the only name in computers everyone knew. The PC market, which Tandy eventually had to follow like everyone else (sans Apple), became a very low profit margin business, so that's why Tandy checked out of that market. At the same time, shrinking electronics dropped the prices of electronic hardware to the point where "repair" meant "toss and buy a new one with more/better features". The loss of PC profitability and obsolescence of repairing electronics killed the major cash flows for the company, and so they started initially repairing anyone's stuff, which killed their repair exclusivity, but kept them alive for a while longer, but eventually no one was bringing in anything for repair. The electronics parts biz was always a niche that couldn't support the company, and the only thing they seemed to come up with was to be cell phone central and started being a dealer for all the major carriers. If you buy a cell phone though, you usually go through the carrier, or if it's Apple, the carrier or Apple, so why bother adding a 3rd party with Radio Shack? In the end, extremely poor management, and not moving fast enough to keep up with changing times, and slow, poorly thought out Internet presence killed them. They were a big name in electronics, and if they would have played their cards right, they'd be the "Amazon.com" of the Internet rather than Amazon. They could have owned online electronics shopping, but again, poor management that just showed up every day, but never came up with the right ideas, and simply put all the eggs in the cell phone basket expecting that to carry them, when it never would. Their last ditch effort in recent times was to re-image stores (expensive), and close some stores (again, expensive to buy out leases and slosh inventory around), which was again the wrong move. They were already dead by then anyway, they just needed a year or two to run out of money, which they were burning through like mad, until the inevitable. As someone who worked for them, and cut my teeth on a Model I and Cocos, I have many fond memories, and it's sad to see them go, but it just wasn't meant to be with that sort of management running the show.

[fujidude]

I totally agree with you on the internet presence thing. I remember a time when anyone who was anyone had a nice web site where you could easily find lots of products and details about them... but not RS. I remember leaving them feedback about it. I got a reply to the effect that they were "looking" towards doing something along those lines in the future. I noticed it took them quite a while to do it, and when they finally did it was not as good as it could have been. HUGE mistake. I mean HUGE.

[DaytonaUSA]

Got some RCA cables, converters, and a wire organizer there yesterday. Got huge savings, and left the store with a $13 bill. I was so excited about this (as their cords alone start at $15-$20) until I started walking back to the Jeep, and realized I could have probably got all this for even cheaper online, haha.

 

I didn't go for the sale, I simply needed some cords for my new gaming room setup. It was only when I turned the corner and saw sales signs everywhere and a half-cleared out store did it hit me. I got the last cable and converter on my list, so stock was going fast.

 

Still, prices aside, I will miss being able to go to a place that has video and audio cable needs when I want it now, without waiting a week or so for eBay purchases.

 

I will say this, they could have honestly kept their high prices and survived if they had just stocked the right stuff. I remember when I was a kid, you could go into a Radio Shack and buy everything you ever needed to build a computer. They had multiple colored LED lights, too. Towards the end, they carried nothing. A few over-priced cables, some RC cars, a couple cell phone choices, and a needlessly over-priced random HDTV in the back.

 

They said one of the locations near me will stay around. So Radio Shack isn't completely dead/converted to Sprint, I guess. Still, kinda sad to see another store I grew up with kick it.

[BigO]

They said one of the locations near me will stay around. So Radio Shack isn't completely dead/converted to Sprint, I guess. Still, kinda sad to see another store I grew up with kick it.

Where's the one in Phoenix that's sticking around? I hadn't heard that.

Drove past one on East Bell Rd. the other day and was tempted to stop. But, they haven't had much of anything I've needed for the past 10-15 except a couple of capacitors so I kept on moving.

 

It is somehow going to feel weird when they're gone.

Edited February 15, 2015 by BigO

[DaytonaUSA]

Where's the one in Phoenix that's sticking around? I hadn't heard that.

Drove past one on East Bell Rd. the other day and was tempted to stop. But, they haven't had much of anything I've needed for the past 10-15 except a couple of capacitors so I kept on moving.

 

It is somehow going to feel weird when they're gone.

 

The guy said the location on Baseline road will still be open. Not sure if that's true, but here's to hoping. I don't like going on Baseline because of all the speed cams, but still nice to know.

[Jinks]

Radio Shack? Been dead for probably 10 years here. I wonder if the source" I want that " will close in Canada?

[Gamemoose]

Just discovered today that the other Radio Shack in my hometown is gone. I went to Target to see if they had a Ouya system andvon my way to the car I looked at the strip mall and the sign was gone.

 

Dang....a long-time friend of the family worked there after being transferred from the mall location. I still have the "Technology Center" beach ball he gave me not long ago that he found in his basement.

[MarkO]

<< SNIP >>

 

Dang....a long-time friend of the family worked there after being transferred from the mall location. I still have the "Technology Center" beach ball he gave me not long ago that he found in his basement.

I remember those Beach Balls.... My Uncle worked at a Radio Shack in the Early 1970's...

 

MarkO

[Opry99er]

Even as recently as the late '90s, you could go in there and get all the crap you needed for virtually any electronics project. I remember buying a "Build-a-Robot" kit from the one in Louisville KY.

 

The market for that kind of user-interactive stuff died with the onslaught of touchscreen devices and cheap, disposable crap computers. I remember buying a breadboard and some LED lights for a microcontroller science project in the mid 90s from Radio Shack. Last time I went into one (couple years ago) I asked if they had breadboards... The kid stared at me like I was speaking Martian.

 

Shame, truly.

Edited April 19, 2015 by Opry99er

[+OLD CS1]

I noticed the change in Radio Shack in the mid 90s when I applied for a job at one. The guy started asking me all sorts of questions about PCs and crap. I told him, "well, I use Amiga at home and have never seen Windows, but I know how to repair crystal-radio circuits and power supplies, and I have built and troubleshot a lot of devices from kits with 555 circuits and whatever." I did not get the job, and the guy accused me of bullshitting my way through the interview because I did not know what the F1 key does -- "it's HELP," he says, and I tell him on the Amiga we have a REAL HELP key, but I thought I was there to sell electronics, not computers.

 

I was a bit of a prick after that. I went in a few times asking for specific components I needed like a certain transistor or value capacitor and watched the kids eyes glaze over like I had hit them with a soggy trout. I literally had one tell me he had not idea about components, but he really wanted to show me the latest Compaq they had just got because he had installed a 3D video card in it.

[MarkO]

Even as recently as the late '90s, you could go in there and get all the crap you needed for virtually any electronics project. I remember buying a "Build-a-Robot" kit from the one in Louisville KY.

I bought my Original Vex Robot kits at Radio-Shack, in AUG-2006. They had discounted the kits to %50, $150.00 instead of $300.00.

 

The market for that kind of user-interactive stuff died with the onslaught of touchscreen devices and cheap, disposable crap computers. I remember buying a breadboard and some LED lights for a microcontroller science project in the mid 90s from Radio Shack. Last time I went into one (couple years ago) I asked if they had breadboards... The kid stared at me like I was speaking Martian.

 

Shame, truly.

 

You were unlucky...

 

I got these on 11-MAR-2015, for $6.60 each.

[MarkO]

I noticed the change in Radio Shack in the mid 90s when I applied for a job at one. The guy started asking me all sorts of questions about PCs and crap. I told him, "well, I use Amiga at home and have never seen Windows, but I know how to repair crystal-radio circuits and power supplies, and I have built and troubleshot a lot of devices from kits with 555 circuits and whatever." I did not get the job, and the guy accused me of bullshitting my way through the interview because I did not know what the F1 key does -- "it's HELP," he says, and I tell him on the Amiga we have a REAL HELP key, but I thought I was there to sell electronics, not computers.

For those that remember the Word Processor, Word Perfect, Help was F3.

 

I was a bit of a prick after that. I went in a few times asking for specific components I needed like a certain transistor or value capacitor and watched the kids eyes glaze over like I had hit them with a soggy trout. I literally had one tell me he had not idea about components, but he really wanted to show me the latest Compaq they had just got because he had installed a 3D video card in it.

I can remember in the late 1980's yelling at the poor kid at Radio-Shack about the little Receipt Books that that they need your Name and Phone Number and why they hadn't moved to a computer based system... My Girlfriend game me a lot of grief about that..

 

MarkO

[Opry99er]

I went back in to Radio Shack a day after my last post. They had one breadboard... 19.99. LEDs were sparse... $3.99 each.

 

 

Spools of thin, solid core wire: $7.99

 

Sorry, thems crack prices.

[+OLD CS1]

Sadly, as I was perusing around our two closing stores I was thinking to myself, even at 50% off I can get these things cheaper on-line.

[Omega-TI]

<< HERE >> is good deal... $13.95 delivered to your door.

[+wongojack]

I noticed the change in Radio Shack in the mid 90s when I applied for a job at one. The guy started asking me all sorts of questions about PCs and crap. I told him, "well, I use Amiga at home and have never seen Windows, but I know how to repair crystal-radio circuits and power supplies, and I have built and troubleshot a lot of devices from kits with 555 circuits and whatever." I did not get the job, and the guy accused me of bullshitting my way through the interview because I did not know what the F1 key does -- "it's HELP," he says, and I tell him on the Amiga we have a REAL HELP key, but I thought I was there to sell electronics, not computers.

 

I was a bit of a prick after that. I went in a few times asking for specific components I needed like a certain transistor or value capacitor and watched the kids eyes glaze over like I had hit them with a soggy trout. I literally had one tell me he had not idea about components, but he really wanted to show me the latest Compaq they had just got because he had installed a 3D video card in it.

 

I'm a career IT guy, and it wasn't until I just read this post that I realized the F1 key opens "help." The keyboard I'm typing on even has the word "help" on it. Ya learn something every day.

[Opry99er]

<< HERE >> is good deal... $13.95 delivered to your door.

That sh** is ridiculous...

[fujidude]

 

I'm a career IT guy, and it wasn't until I just read this post that I realized the F1 key opens "help." The keyboard I'm typing on even has the word "help" on it. Ya learn something every day.

 

Are you serious? I'm not sure I would go around telling people that. Anyway, without looking it up... do you know the what alt-f4, cntrl-esc, cntrl-c, cntrl-v, cntrl-x, cntrl-alt-del do at least?