Dick Smith Electronics was a huge part of my childhood. The "Fun Way" electronics books (written by Dick himself) was fascinating to me and the VZ-300 computer they sold was how I got into computers as a kid. It was great to discover as an adult that Dick himself was also such an amazing character.
Dick Smith (Entrepreneur)
21–30 of 115 posts
Re: Dick Smith (Entrepreneur)
#22Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yeah Disk Smith came in to NZ and replaced a perfectly good electronics parts wholesaler with over priced retail crud
Are you talking about the Kogan-clone that took over the online store about 5 or 6 years ago, or prior to that? The online part of the business was sold off to Kogan and became another online store front.
I'm talking about what happened in the 80s
Re: Dick Smith (Entrepreneur)
#23Dick Smith is a legend. Great sense of humour, prioritising philanthropy and buying local. My favourite product of his was the parody of Redhead Matches, a box of matches with a woman’s face on it. Dick sold matches called “Dickheads”, with his face on them. A friend of mine growing up had Dick perform an emergency landing on their property (in his plane). He must still be an avid flyer as we both attended the same a…
> Dick Smith is a legend He was a legend. For many of us in Australia he is remembered more for his racist, xenophobic views and efforts in advising the One Nation party.
> racist, xenophobic views and efforts in advising the One Nation party
Mind elaborating? If you were referring to the news item from 2016, it seems to me that you may be misrepresenting Smith: https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2016/dec/06/dick-...
Re: Dick Smith (Entrepreneur)
#24Yeahh I used to go to the shop in Sydney. But when I was there it already wasn't owned by him anymore.
Re: Dick Smith (Entrepreneur)
#25Earlier quoted context omitted.
That reminds me... on top of the shifts in society because of COVID, it's a shame that there's no place like Dick Smith, Frys, Radio Shack, computer stores, etc., where young geeks can go and meet each other. I was a geek among geeks as a kid, but even then I still liked that I could go to electronics stores, comic shops, hobby stores, and just be around people who were kind of weird like me and also had a love for t…
Jaycar still does a lot of this! The one in Central Park Sydney still does a lot of workshops, they have a maker hub, sell a lot of the class electronic components and things like that. Nothing like it used to be with Dick Smith and Radio Shack everywhere, but there's still a few places around.
Jaycar has taken over the "over-priced retail" segment of the electronics store market that DSE used to hold (and Tandy before that). But most of the old stores are gone as everything has moved online.
Re: Dick Smith (Entrepreneur)
#26He is a persona non grata since he started advocating for sustainable population policies.
Funny how nobody talks about that any more. I've had an "environmentalist" get red faced and belligerent toward me for daring to suggest the most effective way to reduce humanity's environmental footprint would be to reduce population. Insisting that the earth's human carrying capacity was 100 billion(!!) and therefore I was wrong and population didn't matter. Scary.
Re: Dick Smith (Entrepreneur)
#27Earlier quoted context omitted.
DSE was an absolute rip off, but it was pretty much the only game in town. As a kid it was an amazing place for me to spend an hour on the weekends pottering around all the electronic kitsets and latest computer parts/gadgets. I would credit DSE with fostering a lot of my love of computers and technology. I am quite sad it no longer exists.
That reminds me... on top of the shifts in society because of COVID, it's a shame that there's no place like Dick Smith, Frys, Radio Shack, computer stores, etc., where young geeks can go and meet each other. I was a geek among geeks as a kid, but even then I still liked that I could go to electronics stores, comic shops, hobby stores, and just be around people who were kind of weird like me and also had a love for t…
Indeed, the places that sell 5 cent resistors etc were where I would hang out. But nobody does that anymore. People just buy the cheap crap from Aliexpress :'( And nonbody makes enough money selling individual components.
It's such a stark difference. I remember there being a Radio Shack in mainstream retail centres like Broadway Shopping Centre.
Now if you find a similar shop it'll be in some run-down industrial estate :'(
Re: Dick Smith (Entrepreneur)
#28Tricky Dicks!
'Dick Smith Electronics - A conversation with Dick Smith' from 2010 for State of Electronics https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVQTZluvrUs
Re: Dick Smith (Entrepreneur)
#29Earlier quoted context omitted.
That reminds me... on top of the shifts in society because of COVID, it's a shame that there's no place like Dick Smith, Frys, Radio Shack, computer stores, etc., where young geeks can go and meet each other. I was a geek among geeks as a kid, but even then I still liked that I could go to electronics stores, comic shops, hobby stores, and just be around people who were kind of weird like me and also had a love for t…
Jaycar still does a lot of this! The one in Central Park Sydney still does a lot of workshops, they have a maker hub, sell a lot of the class electronic components and things like that. Nothing like it used to be with Dick Smith and Radio Shack everywhere, but there's still a few places around.
I didn't encounter DSE until the mid 2000s when I moved to NZ, but the Jaycar of today stocks way more components than did the DSE of 20 years ago. Jaycar even keeps a stock of 74LS TTL chips behind the counter!
Re: Dick Smith (Entrepreneur)
#30Dick Smith is a legend. Great sense of humour, prioritising philanthropy and buying local. My favourite product of his was the parody of Redhead Matches, a box of matches with a woman’s face on it. Dick sold matches called “Dickheads”, with his face on them. A friend of mine growing up had Dick perform an emergency landing on their property (in his plane). He must still be an avid flyer as we both attended the same a…
> Dick Smith is a legend He was a legend. For many of us in Australia he is remembered more for his racist, xenophobic views and efforts in advising the One Nation party.
I thought he was just a proponent for "Small Australia" and by extension of that anti-immigration?
Never really heard anything racist or xenophobic from him but to be fair having paid that much attention.