eevBLAB #7 - Radio Shack Declares Bankruptcy!

[Stonent]

According to Forbes, we will wind up with 2400 stores that sell a mixture of Sprint and RadioShack merchandise.  It's probably Sprint that will select what RadioShack stuff remains in the stores.   Probably not Archer kits, Micronta  multimeters, or a single LED on little card for $2.99.
Google "RadioShack catalog".  They are all online.  I'm reliving my childhood.

Interestingly all the kits that RadioShack used to sell under the Archer and Science Fair brand are now sold by Elenco and Maxitronix.  I wonder who the actual OEM is?

My favorite thing to do with the 200 in 1 was to connect the relay to itself and turn it in to a buzzer.  If you touched the coil connections, you'd get shocked. It was fun telling the neighbor kids I could shock them with a few AA batteries.

If anyone, perhaps Dave, has a 200 in 1 still. Can you tell me what the second IC was on the board? I remember the top one was a quad nand gate, but I can't remember what the second one was.

[VK3DRB]

Tandy changed my life.

In 1971 I got the Tandy 50-in-1 kit back as Chrsitmas present back in the early 70's... got me into electronics, a life long passion.
In 1975 I saved up my money and bought a Realistic DX-160 short wave radio... got me into ham radio, a life long hobby.
In 1976 I walked into a Tandy store when a customer had purchased a Tandy IC Cookbook... I was in awe of him and I knew that was path I wanted to follow.

I am an electronics engineer who has worked with the IBM here and overseas, a telecommunications R & D company, automotive R & D, fire and security electronics R & D and now medical electronics in R & D.

I owe a lot to Tandy.

Vale Tandy.

[VK3DRB]

Times have changed because most people don't care how things work. Furthermore, people don't need to make things because can buy cheap stuff easily and cheaply made by poor people in countries where human rights don't matter. Dick Smith Electronics has become Dick Smith Irons and Toasters because they stocked suck crappy items as "electronics", in the latter days few people bought their kits or electronics parts and in general their "Techsperts" knew nothing about electronics. When I saw more women visiting Dick Smith I knew the end was near.

Long gone are...

McGraths
United Trade Sales
Rod Irving Electronics
Dick Smith (might as well be gone)
Radio Parts (might as well be gone)
Ellistronics (a fantastic electronics store)
Japanese Radio Parts
Ham Radio Supplies
Stewart Electronics (the best in the east)

The only electronics store left in this entire state of Victoria now is Rockby Electronics www.rockby.com.au, with Altronics and Jaycar trailing along in the background. I guess RS and Element 14 are the Tandy's of today to some extent... expensive prices and mail order only. Crap.

[vk3yedotcom]

My start in Tandy was a 8 transistor radio kit. I was too young and unskilled and never got it going.  A crystal set (a given kit) and a DSE Funway 1 organ (which worked) were next. 

Then came a Tandy 150-in-1 kit which really opened things up. 

Along with a multimeter kit - the cheapest type - 1k ohm per volt in a grey/blue case with sockets around the outside (rather than a range switch). 

Plus of course the free monthly batteries.

A bit later on I had a computer trainer kit - lots of springs and switches.  Found that less interesting than the 150-in-1 (which had lights and sounds) but no doubt some were fascinated.

The video below is a Tandy kit bought a few years back from an op-shop.



[youtube]lmzvk-AW2CE[/youtube]

[vk3yedotcom]

The only electronics store left in this entire state of Victoria now is Rockby Electronics www.rockby.com.au, with Altronics and Jaycar trailing along in the background.

Is Truscotts in Croydon still going ( http://www.electronicworld.com.au/ ) ? 

Or Preston Electronic Components off Bell St  (http://www.pecparts.com/ )  ?

[VK3DRB]

Dave mentioned Tandy's prices. They were a LOT more expensive than their competitors for electronics components. $1.99 for two Archer pretty packed 1/2 W resistors in 1976. That's about $10 per resistor in today's currency! They sold them because they were usually local. It cost a lot more to travel into the city to get your parts.

Most of the Micronta and Realistic stuff was substandard by design. My Realistic DX-160 was a crap (low selectivity and sensitivity) compared to the FRG-7 which I bought a couple of years later.

But at least all the Tandy stuff had CIRCUIT DIAGRAMS, even their $12.99 AM radios. I heard Tandy's stuff had circuit diagrams because in Germany it was a legal requirement that all electronics products like radios, TV's, stereos had to be sold with a circuit diagram. I don't know if that is true or not. It certainly would not be the case now.

[johnh]

Times have changed because most people don't care how things work. Furthermore, people don't need to make things because can buy cheap stuff easily and cheaply made by poor people in countries where human rights don't matter. Dick Smith Electronics has become Dick Smith Irons and Toasters because they stocked suck crappy items as "electronics", in the latter days few people bought their kits or electronics parts and in general their "Techsperts" knew nothing about electronics. When I saw more women visiting Dick Smith I knew the end was near.

Long gone are...

McGraths
United Trade Sales
Rod Irving Electronics
Dick Smith (might as well be gone)
Radio Parts (might as well be gone)
Ellistronics (a fantastic electronics store)
Japanese Radio Parts
Ham Radio Supplies
Stewart Electronics (the best in the east)

The only electronics store left in this entire state of Victoria now is Rockby Electronics www.rockby.com.au, with Altronics and Jaycar trailing along in the background. I guess RS and Element 14 are the Tandy's of today to some extent... expensive prices and mail order only. Crap.

You forgot "All Electronic Components" in Lonsdale st  Melborune. Taken over by Rockby and then closed down
I would catch the trains from Blackburn, get off the train at Flinder St Station and trudge up to Lonsdale Street , when I was a lad

[VK3DRB]

You can still find a few Rod Irving labelled parts in Rockby's side alley "backroom". Been on the shelf for 20 years. There is a still gold mine of electronic components in that backroom... all at give away prices.

VK3YE, I stand corrected. It is good to know there are still some places around, but they are a bit far out for many. 73, OM!

[GK]

The lamenting over the supposed end of an era in the retail of electronics components is just a load of crap. Electronics components are readily procurable to the hobbyist in far greater variety (not to mention affordability) than they have ever been, period.

However on a nostalgic note, is anyone here from SA? Robbies Radio in Queenstown, that existed for decades, was a place no enthusiast would ever forget. The only thing I miss is the demise of the electronics surplus stores. The last I remember here in Adelaide was KABs (or was that KAABs?) Recycling on prospect road. Got a mint condition, 100% operational Tek 575 transistor curve tracer from there for fifty bucks.
 

[calexanian]

As somebody mentioned before Sprint will take over about half of the locations. Radioshack as a brand will no longer exist. Those stores will become boutique Sprint stores carrying phones, smartphones, personal media players and bluetooth speaker type things, along with offering value added services (Added to them anyways)  such as security surveillance systems, TV and internet services, etc etc. Much like the AT&T stores. The radioshack down the street from me already liquidated. They are using it as an learning exercise to see how the liquidation of other stores in the area will go. Everything was 50% off lowest ticketed price so I stocked up on some various audio patch cables, PCB etchant, DeOxit, and the like.

Let me put it another way..

The shelves had been pretty much picked bare of all cameras, cell phones, radios, toys, etc.. All of the electronic components and related supplies were there still there. The general public does not give a rats ass about electronic engineering and there are not enough hobbyists to keep something like that going anymore. The infamous Radio Shack metal sliding drawers were all still full.  What does that tell you..

A side note. There were a stack of about 30 classic desk cassette  recorders. Sad.. I also got about 10 seed studio arduino uno Ethernet shields for a couple bucks each. They are the older discontinued one, but they still work.

[VK3DRB]

The lamenting over the supposed end of an era in the retail of electronics components is just a load of crap. Electronics components are readily procurable to the hobbyist in far greater variety (not to mention affordability) than they have ever been, period.

Rubbish. In the old days, I could get pretty much any IC or passive component I wanted right here in Melbourne. Today, I cannot get most of the SMD ICs I want without ordering them from overseas. Try getting high voltage capacitor here. Or power resistors. Walk into a Dick Head Electronics store and ask for a 1K resistor and see how far you get. Many hobbyists are using SMD these days. Professionals use them in most cases. The range available here is sparse. Despite electronic components in general being cheaper these days, you have to buy from an on-line retailer, often at a high cost (parts or delivery) and with a several days waiting time. RS and Element 14 (Farnell) stock next to nothing in Australia compared to the 80's. You do have eBay where plenty of cheap but dodgy parts can be found if you wait a month or so, assuming Chinese New Year is not around the corner.

Electronic component supply exists where there is demand. Electronics has been in demise since our technically inept and foolish politicians threw out the "knowledge nation" vision in the early 2000's. IBM's huge manufacturing facility in Wangaratta existed because of government preferential treatment if the PC's are made in Australia. That plant became the biggest exporter of non-primary products in Australia in 1995, beating GM and Kodak. All that is dead and gone, mainly because our politicians and indeed the dumb voters have no vision. It will be come more apparent as the effects of the mining bust are realised.

 

[GK]

Blah blah blah blah. You probably didn't have a need for a wide variety of parts then! And good luck to you for having once lived a practical commute from so many once viable component retailers. Tough titties to everyone else! All of the defunct retailers that you list didn't have combined the inventory that Digikey, RS of Farnell (not to mention numerous others) each have today. Banging on about local availability is besides the point. With only a few exceptions the bricks-and-mortar store-front is dead, deal with it. That hardly means that the hobbyist can't get his/her cherished electronics components anymore or that we are all doomed to taking up alternative hobbies, such as fishing or basket weaving.
 
I sure don't miss the "good old days" of having to procure almost any kind of semiconductor that wasn't generic, like a 74 series logic chip or a BC5XX transistor by hunting down and telephoning an authorized distributor (which almost as a rule only cared about supplying items in bulk to industry) for the specific manufacturer of the desired part and hoping that they'd be willing to sell me one or two; that is if they just so happen to actually import that desired part for one or more of their somewhat more lucrative customers.

It's funny, but we are having (and have been having for quite a while now) a major clean out a work due to an eventual re-location and I've binned literally piles of ancient telegrams and written back-and-forth correspondence between numerous authorized distributors and my predecessors (a few generations removed) just to secure a small quantity of something like an Analog Devices DAC, or even something as bland as a small stock of TO3-packaged adjustable voltage regulators! What an absolute PITA building anything even remotely specialized in low quantity was back then! (I work in scientific instrumentation that is produced for in-house use, not commercial mass duplication).

[Dataforensics]

I remember taking a convoluted bus route back from school a few* times a month to collect my free battery from the Tandy in  Walthamstow High Street.

* of course I had multiple "Free battery club"

Back around 1974 I remember using the Chingford branch as well, although the free batteries only seemed very low capacity and lasted hardly any time at all.
With a Sinclair Scientific the 9V one lasted around two calculations!!

[Tandy]

Yes the red batteries were zinc carbon, very low capacity. Still have some lying around and they are light as a feather.

[cosmicray]

According to Forbes, we will wind up with 2400 stores that sell a mixture of Sprint and RadioShack merchandise.  It's probably Sprint that will select what RadioShack stuff remains in the stores.   Probably not Archer kits, Micronta  multimeters, or a single LED on little card for $2.99.
Google "RadioShack catalog".  They are all online.  I'm reliving my childhood.

So the moral seems to be that RS is down, but not out. I'm having a problem with the loss of mindshare. People in my area will remember that RS went bankrupt, and closed the store. Very few will grasp the fact that RS is still functional, at a location in the larger city 40 miles away. If the store in the larger city was the same size as this one (~2500 sf) then I see no advantage to driving there just to see what they happen to have. that is close to what I want. I'm also left with the impression that the other carriers (AT&T and Verizon) will no longer be represented at RS. Or do I misunderstand how this is playing out ?

[cosmicray]

Walk into a Dick Head Electronics store and ask for a 1K resistor and see how far you get. Many hobbyists are using SMD these days. Professionals use them in most cases. The range available here is sparse. Despite electronic components in general being cheaper these days, you have to buy from an on-line retailer, often at a high cost (parts or delivery) and with a several days waiting time. RS and Element 14 (Farnell) stock next to nothing in Australia compared to the 80's. You do have eBay where plenty of cheap but dodgy parts can be found if you wait a month or so, assuming Chinese New Year is not around the corner.

The name Radio Shack had a particular connotation when it was first used. They primarily sold to the tinkerers, the hobbyists, and the parents of kids from the baby boom era. They also sold a bit of consumer electronics (larger TVs, stereos, etc). But consumer electronics was very limited in that era. The average consumer contact was probably a guy with a box of tubes, testing them one by one, to see which one failed and killed the TV.

Perhaps what we need today is a different moniker, one that hasn't been co-opted like RS has. Perhaps Maker Shack would be closer to todays tinkerers.

[cosmicray]

A request concerning RS ... does anyone know where RS sources the little plastic project boxes from ? I piked up some on clearance yesterday. The smallest one (3x2x1 inch) I'd love to have a source for, possibly in large quantity. The one that RS sold had the RS part number (270-1801) molded on the inside, so I assume it was a custom run for them. I found other sizes on Aliexpress, but not that size.

[tszaboo]

Interesting to see, how Conrad is still going with a very similar business model (at least it used to be like 10 years ago).
Except they have 1/3 the revenue while 1/8 the employees, and 1/100 the number of shops, maybe that made the difference? Or the fact that they adopted to the 21 century?

[drcheap]

Just like Dave, my first multimeter was the Micronta from the 'shack, and here it is ...



I have had this thing since I was a kid in the 80s, and still use it on the bench and around the house!  Of all my meters, it's the only analog one, and sometimes that comes in handy.

Dave said his is the 22-201U, but mine says 22-201A.  I wonder what the difference is?  Only thing I have found so far is the A model has an extra warning label on the back about not using it if you don't know what you are doing.  Maybe it's a later revision thanks to some silly lawsuit 


For anyone else that has one and needs it, there is a manual available, complete with schematic!

[SeanB]

Picked up yesterday from the ham meeting a Hansen AT20 meter, exactly like the Radio shack meter, probably was rebranded for them. Even has the 15V high resistance range battery inside, and new energiser low range AA cells. Was worth it for $4.

[Red Squirrel]

I used to love Radio Shack as a kid, back when it was actually still called Radio Shack.  It's called The Source here now, and since they changed they're probably closer to a Future Shop (but much smaller) than RS.

I have one of those Science Fair all in one kits that I used to like messing with as a kid.  I really did not understand any of it and was just following steps, then sometimes change random stuff to see what happens.







I also have a Radio Shack soldering station, a 20w/40w, and I STILL use it. Still the original tip too since can't find any that fit... which I used to melt all sorts of things like plastic as a kid... I should really get something better.   

[HighVoltage]

I only got to know RadioShack when I lived in the US. When we needed any small part right away, it was RS that had it, But it was always outrageously expensive. And of course, with all the online low cost stores, someone like RS can no longer survive with high priced retail stores.

[KedasProbe]

Brings back memories
I forgot that I still had the 50 in 1 and 200 in 1 in storage. (I went to check)

[Monittosan]

The only electronics store left in this entire state of Victoria now is Rockby Electronics www.rockby.com.au, with Altronics and Jaycar trailing along in the background.

Is Truscotts in Croydon still going ( http://www.electronicworld.com.au/ ) ? 

Or Preston Electronic Components off Bell St  (http://www.pecparts.com/ )  ?

Yep Preston Electronics is still around!!! I actually visited them recently and told the owner about the EEVblog which he had never herd of before. Still some kits floating around even some dick smith electronics stuff. Everything had the old prices on them so it was all ONO.
Seems like that place will be around for ever he still had customers and where willing to pay some crazy prices for stuff hmm 

[AlfBaz]

Good riddance I say.

I use to frequent Dick Smiths, they had the little cardboard draws and you would grab however many passives or IC's you needed. Knew about Tandy's but there were no stores near by

A Tandy store opened up near me, I walked in to see 2 1/4W resistors in packaging that had to be worth more than the resistors for nearly $1.50. They were going for 5 cents each at dick's and the guys behind the counter were absolute cocks. First and last time in a tandy store

Then for quite a few years I was blessed with 3 electronic stores close by (jaycar included) and eventually walked into a dick smith store and all they sold were answering machines, mobile phones and digital cameras... That was the end of that