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A Eulogy for RadioShack

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Re: A Eulogy for RadioShack

#141

Post by kjs3 »

georgemcbay wrote: post #133
CamperBob2 wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I still use them all the time for just that. You no longer get a choice of 10 different bipolars and 3 different VMOS FETs, but the parts drawer is still pretty useful when all you need is a relay or an Arduino board.

Same here, though it depends on the Radio Shack. There are a few of them near me and one is still a pretty decent "need it right now" electronic components place (with very limited selection) but the other two just sell cellphones and HDMI cables and basically nothing else.

Yeah...this is my experience. I hear people say their local RS has components, but all the ones near me are exclusively cell phones, crappy knock-off RC toys and batteries.

Fortunately, my local Frys has a very good components selection.

Re: A Eulogy for RadioShack

#142

Post by anonbanker »

dragonwriter wrote: post #74
brianberns wrote: post #60

I learned to program in the early 1980s by playing with a TRS-80 floor model for an hour or two at a time while my mom shopped elsewhere in the mall. My first program animated a sine wave in BASIC by printing a single character one line at a time, and letting the lines scroll up the screen. I would've loved to own one of those computers, but my dad refused to buy one because he said it would be too tempting for me. H…

> My opinion of them started to go south about a decade ago when they began insisting that they needed to know my zipcode every time I bought something. When I worked for RS just out of high school (1990) that was already corporate policy.

Every time I'm asked for a postal code (in Canada) I always use V4G1N4. They never notice.

Re: A Eulogy for RadioShack

#143

Post by rbanffy »

bdunbar wrote: post #108
T0m_Paine wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We have a fantastic Radio Shack in our town too. Granted, they've branched off quite a bit and sell firearms and ammo as well as electronic components, but the owner is incredibly helpful and knows that his business only thrives because he is service minded. I've long swore off Radio Shacks as a whole, but spend money there whenever I need a component or two even if things are cheaper online.

> Granted, they've branched off quite a bit and sell firearms and ammo A RS that sells electronics and guns. I would patronize that store so _hard_.

It all depends on the kind of drone you want to build.

Just to make this clear, I want to not know what you'd do with it ;-)

Re: A Eulogy for RadioShack

#144

Post by squozzer »

No matter what happens to RadioShack the stories were told masterfully. Stoned Craig is my hero, who reminds me of myself. Hacking the merchandise in an anti-social way is what being a RadioShack customer is all about!

Re: A Eulogy for RadioShack

#145

Post by rbanffy »

What saddens me most is that RadioShack was one of the pioneers that sparked the personal computer revolution. I can easily remember my first interactions with a TRS-80 (a clone - I live in Brazil), reading avidly their manuals, understanding how their block graphics worked and writing my own small programs I would go to a computer store to test.

It's a little bit tragic, but we all know RadioShack's time has passed. We appear to be living in a time of rapid transformation. RadioShack will soon no longer exist. Like payphones, printed newspapers and magazines and soon books and bookstores will follow the video rentals and record stores into history. Change can be difficult for those who live through it, but in return, we get stories to tell our grandkids.

It's not that bad a deal.

Re: A Eulogy for RadioShack

#146

Post by morganvachon »

frost_knight wrote: post #135
morganvachon wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well like I said, he'll just revert back to the original name, " Electronics" (where is the name of my hometown). He answers the phone as " Electronics RadioShack" as it is, so he could just drop the RS branding. I say it's sad because it's a strategic location for a RadioShack; the one in the nearest town over dropped the franchise long ago and the owner merged his business with a local hardware store. So for about…

Maybe the day he drops the franchise and reverts to his own brand a bunch of us HN folks could come out and throw a huge party for him.

Depends; how many of you are willing to travel to the back woods of northwest Georgia? :)

Re: A Eulogy for RadioShack

#147

Post by conductr »

My SO worked at RS corporate for a few years during late 2000s. The Internet is definitely what killed this company. They had loyalty with a older generation and that's how they survived until now. They never found out how to bring young people into the stores in an Internet age. That's what the whole "the shack" thing was all about. It failed. Now that loyal customer segment they did have is 1) aging out of the market 2) coming around to online shopping.

I can't really say much about how store ops ran, but I'm sure it was a result of the financial pressures the company was under just trying to survive.

Re: A Eulogy for RadioShack

#148

Post by cpach »

ams6110 wrote: post #72
ChuckMcM wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is an idea I've toyed with for a while, I called it 'prototype electronics' where the 'store' part had inventory that was known to work together so that projects could be designed, built, and sourced out of the store parts. (this was true early in the RS era as well of course) There are some annoying liability (ie expensive) issues with letting minors operate soldering irons on the premises or while using solder…

It's a shame really. I learned to use a soldering iron when I was about 10 years old. My dad used to buy home electronics from Heathkit and we would put them together. I took an electronics course in middle school and we would use soldering irons there also. Also a shop class where we used drill presses, sabre saws, all kinds of oil-based paints and stains, etc. (the table saw was one of the few tools that were "off…

I learned to solder at that age as well. I even had a side-job that included soldering :)

Re: A Eulogy for RadioShack

#149

Post by ArtDev »

The RadioShack employee I spoke with had no idea there was a Mini-Maker Faire in Portland. RadioShack could have had a presence there. When the company finally dies, where can you go to grab some Arduino kits or components? I hope another company takes its place. Places like BestBuy don't even carry cables, let alone components.

Re: A Eulogy for RadioShack

#150

Post by [deleted] »

chipotle_coyote wrote: post #102
dragonwriter wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> (I suspect it's only the Sears captive brands that have let it hang on as long as it has, given how woefully it's been managed its last decade.) The Sears you are thinking about before the last decade was already dieing -- the current "Sears" is the result of KMart buying Sears in 2004 (during a brief profitably period shortly after KMart's own bankruptcy, and the combined entity -- which was called Sears Holdings…

It's the holding company that bought KMart and then bought Sears which I'm thinking of as the mismanager (so to speak), actually. Sears had its share of issues pre-merger but they weren't in as bad shape before KMart bought them as they ended up afterward. It's my admittedly anecdotal impression that when someone ends up in a Sears these days it's probably to buy a Sears-specific brand. That could certainly be wrong.…

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