eevBLAB #7 - Radio Shack Declares Bankruptcy!

[EEVblog]

Radio Shack has gone bust, declared bankruptcy!
or Tandy as it is known in Australia.
Dave reminisces about the good'ol days

TRS-80 Model 100 teardown:
TRS-80 Model I teardown:
Forest Mimms Interview: http://www.theamphour.com/171-an-interview-with-forrest-mims-snell-solisequious-scientist/
Dick Smith talk:

[GK]

I still have the 200-in-one kit sitting somewhere under my bench, got it when I was 9 or 10 years old. Some years after its initial introduction (about mid nineties IIRC) it was redesigned with different-look front panel (ugly, IMO) and the battery compartment shifted from the bottom of the case to the top. Coincidentally, just two days ago, I received an Altronics catalog with a parts order and, flicking through, I was surprised to see that they are now selling it, design unchanged:

http://www.altronics.com.au/p/k2209-maxitronix-200-in-1-electronics-lab-kit/

This is a pretty good run for one product, IMO. The good'ol days aren't exactly over in that regard. I also recognize in the current Altronics catalog the exact same spring-terminal AM crystal radio kit that I also had ~25 years ago!

[miguelvp]

Chapter 11 doesn't mean they are gone, but in my mind they've been gone for 2 decades anyways.

Not the same place and now sharing the space with sprint phones for whoever uses that service and there is no much space on those newer RS stores to begin with.

I recall part bins galore a long time ago but it's long gone as I remember them when I was younger.

[Artlav]

Fond memories...
Actually, i never heard of it before EEVBlog.
I don't think they had any presence in the post-soviet space.

Tandy, on the other hand, sounds a touch familiar.
Somewhere along things like ZX Spectrum and Commodore 64.

[Kjelt]

Here in Holland they already disappeared over 16 years ago.
When I was a kid I remember the stiff not very friendly or helpfull personell that would like to sell you the expensive stuff but did not bother to answer any question about which capacitor I should use.
I remember the odd US components, transistors we never used, relays with 110VAC rating in our 220VAC country 
Then the prices exceeded a factor two of what you paid at the local electronics shop so buying components at Tandy naaaaaaah

Then the computer age emerged and I was drooling at those green character CRTs with their magic'ness, I could get a catalogue after lying that my father wanted to buy a computer and wanted me to pick up the catalogue. So I had this shiny computer catalogue but the prices exceeded a thousand times my monthly pocket money so they were totally out of reach. If only my father had bought one then and I had started programming already back then my current situation could be totally different 
Later on I owned the model 100 and even 200 (gave it away to a friend collector few years back) which had a Microsoft OS and the millenium bug on their RTC

Oh well, as said they went belley up about 17 years ago, the whole supplystock was sold to a 3rd company that started selling it by the bags in their shop, and I ended up with a lot of inventory that lasted me 16 years of hobbyprojects already 
So this is for instance my left over supply of switches and I have another box of relays and other stuff from them. But looking at those prices, more than 4 guilders that is around 2 euros for a single switch , they were way too expensive, too many personell and an expensive site (city is high rent).

[david77]

Being German I know next to nothing about Radio Shack or Tandy. My childhood electronics memories are of Conrad Electronic and some long gone companies like Radio RIM or Holzinger Elektronik that used to be around the main station in Munich.

The memories are kind of the same as Dave's though. Conrad is still around today, not quite the same as it used to be, but they're still doing pretty fine and they still sell components in every store and sometimes you even find people at the counter who know a bit about electronics.

Radio RIM had brilliant kits, mainly audio and T&M stuff. Their paper catalogue was legendary in its day, it was a valuable source of information in the pre-internet days. Today they are collectors items, I have a few from the 70ies and 80ies - brilliant stuff.
They went away in the early 1990's, I've only been in the shop two or three times as a kid. Sad.

[jancumps]

[jancumps]

[GK]

Tandy down here was always a ripoff, as far as I can remember. It was the first electronics store that I discovered as a youngster and I shopped there with all of my pocket money religiously only until I knew better. Back in the early '90s a 555 timer was $3.95 a pop. Getting only 50c a week pocket money (and rarely a dollar) saving up for a "build" would take ages. I recall just randomly visiting the store when I had a few dollars and spending ages in the cubicle-like section of racking for the electronics components agonizing over how best to blow my bucks. A pack of OA91 germanium diodes?, or maybe a LED or two? Hmmmmm... Once I elected to spend all of my birthday allowance (ahead of the date) there, mostly on discrete component packages. There were several dozen individual items and the store clerk took up half the morning writing out a separate form for each and every single item, complete with my full name, address and telephone number. By the time he finished he could spell my surname without having to ask.

About every two weeks a new, complete Tandy catalog and other associated promotional material would turn up in the letter box, addressed to me personally, which I found really amazing at the time. That relentless (Readers Digest-like) "spamming" must have cost the company a lot of dollars, and I guess went towards their inflated prices. I remember drooling over the HiFi systems detailed in the catalogs and really wanting the portable ghetto-blaster with a built-in B&W CRT TV, but at $399 it was well out of reach. I recall the TV ghetto-blaster being reduced to $299 in a Christmas sale one year, but mom still said no. It was a year or two after that that I discovered Dick Smith electronics. They stocked the exact same TV ghetto-blaster, only sporting a different name badge. RRP was $249! 

The end to my Tandy shopping days came the day I visited the very first established bricks and mortar outlet for a new firm called Force Electronics, and almost fell over when the dude behind the counter charged me only 65 cents for my (albeit non-packaged) 555 timer.


   

[ryanmoore]

Tandy left the UK market in 1999, and I don't think anyone mourned the loss. They had a silly gimmick of using hand-written receipts, and you couldn't buy a £5 item without them trying to talk you into buying it on credit.

We've still got Maplin, and they seem to be doing pretty well considering all the complaints about Radio Shack apply equally to them - aisles full of phone cases and LED computer fans, and all the components kept in the back room so you have to ask a staff member to get them.

[Razor512]

In the US, they used to be quite popular in the past since it was convenient in terms of getting that one part that you needed. Then they made changes that made them self irrelevant.

Radioshack stores are typically very small with limited selection, but even with that, they tried to compete with stores like best buy and circuit city, by selling cellphones and cellphone accessories. If you walk into a current radioshack, you will see roughly 90% of the floorspace dedicated to smartphones, bluetooth speakers, and beats headphones. (basically everything that you would find at the smartphone section of a bestbuy.

Another issue is poor/ outdated management and pricing. They dedicate 90% of the store to selling products that you can find for less money at stores like bestbuy. The electronic components are then massively overpriced. e.g., I needed 4 capacitors for a project, and they had it in stock (they were some unheard of brand but 105C rated, and I was just making something for short term use. They wanted $10 for them. So instead i spent about $10 on the element 14 store ($7 went to shipping and handling, and ordered  8 capacitors ( 105C rated Nichicon branded caps which I think may be better than the unknown brand that radioshack was stocking).

Overall they became more and more overpriced for electronic components (to a point where even with shipping, online stores were a far better deal (even with priority mail)

For the poor management, they regularly stocked outdated parts that were overpriced. e.g., you would walk into a store and see a socket 939 motherboard being sold for $200 in in the year 2014. (they overcharged for it in 2004, and probably through a lot of cocaine sniffing, thought they they could still make $200 off of it in 2014.

Overall, overpricing products, poor management (not stocking the right stuff), and transitioning from an electronic component store, to a smartphone store, lead to their downfall.

[Radio Tech]

Dave,
Wow is all I can say. Nice video and old memories.... Last week I was thinking of doing my next video on Radio Shack since it is what led me to electronics. Glad to see you do it first

I grew up on a farm way out in the country here in North Carolina. What we ate we grew and raised. We only went to town once a month for the things we did not have on the farm.
When I was 10 years of age someone gave me an old tube short wave receiver and a ton of old electronic magazines. But the bloody receiver did not work. So this is when I got my first start in electronics and my first look inside a Radio Shack store. When mother would go to the market I spend an hour in Radio Shack looking at parts. Across the street was a TV repair shop. I would spend the next hour rambling threw his dumpster for parts (with his permission). He gave me a bunch of old electronic books also. After my third dumpster dive I finally found the last tube I needed to fix the old receiver. So much fun sitting in my room and listening to folks on that thing.

I have so many Radio Shack related stories, unopened gadgets, parts and equipment from there.
To me they died 15 years ago but I always hoped they would come back to be part of what they used to.
I guess the end is here.

[spackard]

A lot of experiments when I was young, with those spring board kits.  Built my first am radio with one of those.

Took me ages to figure out if you want a half watt 330 ohm resistor you don't ask for that, you ask where is 271-1113?
They know where everything is by their store part number!

Still have one of their VOMs, which I "built" as a kit, mainly by soldering in all the resistors and putting in three battery of the month club batteries.

[cosmicray]

Another fine product from 20-30 years ago.

[codeboy2k]

I too started out with with the 65-in-1 kit and a tandy meter, and a tandy battery club member  

I went there all the time to get a single transistor or resistor in a single plastic bag for $3

I had a model 1, model 4P, and a model 100.

[Radio Tech]

Another fine product from 20-30 years ago.

I had and worked on quite a few of those in my time when I ran a cb repair shop here.
At times I felt like I kept RS in business back in the cb hay day.  I probably sold more Realistic radios for them and JC Pennies than they sold. I would buy up their lot, modify them then resale.
The good ole days.

Here is just a scratch of some of the RS stuff I have around. There are 3 items never opened and used in the photo. The meter with the red "X" is not Radio Shack

[G7PSK]

I still have one those voice recognition chips, I bought it when the local Tandy store was closing down in Kings Lynn Norfolk. The surprising thing is that H. Gee electronics the shop that I got stuff from when I first started is still going strong in Cambridge must be the University trade.


http://cambridge.openguides.org/wiki/?H_Gee

[ornea]

The Free Battery of the Month Club got me in the door but the high prices meant my visit was a window shop.

[Tandy]

Tandy left the UK market in 1999, and I don't think anyone mourned the loss.

I bought my first components from a Tandy store and worked there for a while, so I was somewhat disappointed when the UK stores closed. That is why I bought the remaining assets of Tandy from RadioShack and started re-establishing Tandy in the UK.

See this thread for more info https://www.eevblog.com/forum/chat/radio-shack-bankrupcy/

[Stonent]

RadioShack was my favorite store as a kid. Here's some of the stuff I had

Electronics: 50 in 1, 60 in 1, 200 in 1 (the 80s one, just like Dave had), many many parts, that stupid "computer" thing with the lights that switched on and off.

Meters: One similar to what Dave had, but with more ranges and the "Range Doubler" switch.  I also had a smaller pocket one.  My dad had a digital meter that was about the size of an iPhone that had a pocket case. Oh yeah forgot about my digital meter.  It was made by Metex, and had a serial port on the side that you could use with some software that came with it.

Mimms Books: Getting Started in Electronics, Engineer's Mini Notebook, Digital Circuits (forget the exact name)

Computers: TRS-80 MC-10 with 16K expansion, Color Computer 2 (64K), Tandy 1000 HX (final config was 3x 3.5" drives, 640K)

Misc: A 200 channel scanner, and an unserialized engineering prototype 2 channel CB radio that I got at the RadioShack Clearance center.  It even had a sticker that said "Engineering Sample" on it, I don't know how it got out, but it was, as far as I could tell a final revision of the product.

Stories:  The RadioShack Clearance center just outside of Downtown Fort Worth had a monthly swap meet for HAM guys.  Lots of neat stuff there.

At 18, I worked at Incredible Universe, which was one of Tandy's attempts to compete with large retailers like Best Buy. My original job was a service coordinator.  I would sit in the back room and wait for the repairs to come in from the Tandy Service Center (on North East Loop 820, in Fort Worth).  Then I would open all the packages, call all the customers, and log it in the computer.

Most of the Realistic brand products were rebadged RCA, Philips, Magnavox etc products.  I had a set of Yamaha speakers that I bought at Incredible Universe that after a few years had started rattling internally.  They had a 5 year warranty so I sent them off to the Tandy Service Center.  They somehow lost them and after a couple of months of fighting, they gave me a refund.  Since Incredible Universe no longer carried those speakers I just happened to go to Radio Shack and saw the EXACT same speaker set branded as Optimus.  So I bought those instead.

A year or so ago, I had heard that Radio Shack was clearancing out a lot of kits, so I picked up a Velleman PIC development board (the one with the bit-bang serial), and a PIC based Velleman Tennis game.  Both were $5

There is still nowhere else that I know of that's within driving distance of anyone's house in the US that you could go to if you needed a capacitor RIGHT NOW.  Sure you could look up a repair shop (if many are still around) and buy one.  But they typically close at 5:00 and aren't open on the weekends typically.

[radiomog]

All this talk of Tandy/RadioShack... I went to one near me yesterday in the US

While there, I was told that "they came in the other day and removed a lot of the higher value items/fixtures to relocate to another store.  Everything else in the store is 25% off."
They didn't know what was going to happen at this particular store, other than it's one that is slated for closing.  There was rumor of a buy out by Sprint and another company I don't remember.
Also mentioned that supposedly there are store representatives going round, looking for people to relocate to other stores (~).  The employees seemed to be taking it very well

I looked at what little stuff was left for sale.. not much for value.  A lot of the "Make" and Arduino based kits I looked at, were still overpriced at 25% off (heck, even at 50% they would still be over priced)

[jzoeller]

Radio Shack was my favorite store as a kid too!

[DIPLover]

Wow, reading you guy's stories, I wish we had that store up here in Canada.

I'm 34 and as far as I can remember, Radio-Shack here was this ultra-overpriced junk store where you could buy crappy speakers at 3 times the price, a phone cord extension, crappy headphones at 10 times the price, a smoke machine, a karaoke machine...

Just junk all of it and oh so expensive. And the blue NiCad rechargeables... 8 of which would last 2 hours in an original Gameboy... just dreadful...

Then they switched to Compaq computers and cell phones, then they sold to circuit city and became a smart phones and useless gadgets store.

I even worked at one of them during christmas season just after being laid out post dotcom bust... They had us wear a tie to sell that junk, never understood why. They paid comission and we would see the cost and markup on everything we sold. It was sickening. Digikey is a charity in comparison.

[Stonent]

Rather than add videos to this thread, I created another one.

In the early 1990s RadioShack signed a deal with Sprint to sell phones at their stores and Sprint services.  The commercials used the Jetsons to promote it.  I put a few of those here:

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/chat/this-is-when-radioshack-lost-their-way-(jetsons-commercials)/

[nixfu]

It is their time to go

... but darn it. 

It still makes me sad.


>I'm 34
You are just about 10 years too young, and you just missed the heyday, RadioShack's good days were over by the mid-90s.

[angelioto007]

We can say, that i´m still starting, ´cause im 14yrs old, but it is relly interestinig, and even today i´m still surprised, when i was young, like around 3 to 5 yrs, i was scared of those electric cars for kids, dunno why, but i was. Today it´s my "hobby".
When I was around  6 yrs old, parrents bought me the kit with the steel braces and screws and so, it´s called Mercur i think. Well, that´s where i got my first screwdriver and i still use it today, i do even use the screw with nuts from the kit, they´re ideal for heatsinks! Well anyway when i got the screwdriver, i´ve started to dissasemble toys appart to see, how they´re working.
I´ve started the hobby around 6 months ago, when my dad showed me, that there´s a shop for these "low voltage" stuff. It´s on my way from the school, so i and my friend are visiting the shop every friday, because yunno, friday, the day when the freedom begins...
When i was around 11, i with my dad were making a small experiment, we´ve been charging a battery (rechargable of course) with a small solar panel from other kit. Succesful, we have charged the battery, and that was the first time i´ve seen a multimeter. When i was 12, my dad gave me that multimeter. Today i still have that multimeter, but i call it "the ham", beacuse it´s that kind of class "el cheapos". Over the xmas i bought myself a new multimeter, the uni-t ut61c and bought an Arduino Uno, because why not.
Before this hobby, my main fun was playing on xbox, i was addicted on it, but nowadays, this hobby takes so much time, that i don´t have time for playing games...
Btw, I had a kit, where were those springy contacts, i have lost it, but interestingly, i still have the wires from it, hmmm...
Anyway, that´s how i started the electronics epidemy

[AG6QR]

My fondest Radio Shack memory is of the Science Fair 100-in-1 Electronic Project Kit I got for my birthday when I was 11 or so.  I still have it packed away in my garage.  It featured a "Space Age Integrated Circuit", which contained a grand total of one transistor, one diode, one capacitor, and four resistors, on a HUGE piece of substrate, covered by some sort of transparent potting compound or something.  The kit also had two germanium 2SB56 PNP transistors.  I spent endless hours building radios, sirens, buzzers, etc., mostly without understanding much about what was going on.  I need to dig it out and build some of those circuits again, and probe around with my oscilloscope this time.

Someone else put up a page about the kit which I had:

http://www.rcgrabbag.com/archives/radio-shack-100-in-1-electronic-project-kit


I really miss the Radio Shack of my youth.  But I'm ambivalent about the demise of today's mostly-cell-phone RadioShack with a little parts cabinet in the back.

[Dave Turner]

I knew the Tandy people well in my home town in the UK. Not because I could afford to buy much, but because we had a common interest. If I remember correctly the manager of the local store used to be the owner/manager of a government surplus electronics store (from whom I blagged stuff in the 60's).

Dave reminded me of two crude micronta units that I still have in my kit, which still have their place.

[DIPLover]

My fondest Radio Shack memory is of the Science Fair 100-in-1 Electronic Project Kit I got for my birthday when I was 11 or so.  I still have it packed away in my garage.  It featured a "Space Age Integrated Circuit", which contained a grand total of one transistor, one diode, one capacitor, and four resistors, on a HUGE piece of substrate, covered by some sort of transparent potting compound or something.  The kit also had two germanium 2SB56 PNP transistors.  I spent endless hours building radios, sirens, buzzers, etc., mostly without understanding much about what was going on.  I need to dig it out and build some of those circuits again, and probe around with my oscilloscope this time.

Someone else put up a page about the kit which I had:

http://www.rcgrabbag.com/archives/radio-shack-100-in-1-electronic-project-kit


I really miss the Radio Shack of my youth.  But I'm ambivalent about the demise of today's mostly-cell-phone RadioShack with a little parts cabinet in the back.

WOW, that little guy in the yellow striped shirt... You would NEVER see a kid with teeth and ears like that on a "modern" (80s+) product shot. He looks a little bit like a gremlin...

[Codemonkey]

I remember as a child standing staring for seemingly ages in the components bit when they were still Tandy in the UK. I always recall they stocked some sort of speech synthesiser IC that I fancied playing with. Didn't know enough about electronics at the time to be able to do anything useful with one even if I had one though.

Eventually I discovered the local wonder that is Bardwells in Sheffield. No flashy store front, just a counter, men in blue lab coats and racks and racks of just about any component you could ever want for far better prices than Tandy could ever offer. Don't think I ever set foot in one of their stores again after that!

[Tandy]

I always recall they stocked some sort of speech synthesiser IC that I fancied playing with.

That would have been the GI-SP0256 cat # 276-1784, sadly General Instruments don't exist any more or we would stock them just for that cool retro Stephen Hawking voice.

[Codemonkey]

Awesome, yeah that's the one, just found a youtube clip showing one in action:



Could have had loads of fun with one of those!

[DIPLover]

Awesome, yeah that's the one, just found a youtube clip showing one in action:



Could have had loads of fun with one of those!

Oooh this brings back ancient memories of the Speak and spell (though that was another chip).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speak_%26_Spell_%28toy%29

That thing was awesome (OK I was 3 !)

[ivan747]

I chacked the local phone book... I CAN'T BELIEVE Radioshack is still going on in Dominican Republic. They should have closed down a long while ago. In fact, by the lack of stores I thought they did close down. There were only about 5 stores at most in the entire city of Santo Domingo, population, 3 million. Now apparently, apparently... one store remains.

They should close down, really. They are just a loss for the franchise owners...
Now we got this thing called Steren, which is the latin american equivalent of Radio Shack. The Radio Shack model works okay in the latin american market, if prices are kept reasonable. Case in point: Steren. They sell A/V stuff, phone accesories, audio stuff, (basic) test equipment for electronics, networking, some electronics components (the clerks CAN get you chips, enclosures, chemicals and resistors) all in an air conditioned space.

Their competition consists of small shops on a market called "la 30" (on the 30 de Marzo street), which mostly sell equivalent stuff at cheaper prices, but they don't offer returns, exchanges, catalog, online or physical, air conditioning, cleanliness, they don't often sell  kits, no small enclosures, nor chemicals, so Steren sells some niche products locally, all under the same roof. I'm sure I could get all of that if I look hard enough in la 30 de Marzo, but you would have to walk a lot, ask a lot, waste time, have no safe parking space and still sometimes you won't find the thing you look for. Oh and these 30 de marzo stores sometimes sell some of the cheapest crappiest stuff I've ever seen, specially the cables an A/V stuff.At least Steren is not as abysmal and gives you some form of basic warranty.

Case in point: I went to search for some ULN2803 ICs. Searched the online catalog and found out Steren them. Went there and they had 2. I had to go to la 20 de marzo, walk more than a kilometer up-street in our hot and humid weather to find the missing 2 of those.

Second case in point: they sell (the most basic) scope probes. Others don't. I got a couple of BNC-alligator cables the other day. RGB LEDs too. Nobody else sells those.


TLDR:
For the general public (jeez, even for me, sometimes), Radioshack imitator called Steren is preferable, better than the local market.
Yet Radioshack was here before Steren couldn't do this even before Steren arrived to the country.

Conclusion:
Radioshack doesn't know what management is.

[Dave Turner]

Darren Grant - Tandy.

Where are you based now? I recall a good sized warehouse sited between Wolverhampton and Birmingham where I was invited to visit back in the 70's. It used to be visible from the M6. (For non UK people the  M6 is a motorway/ autobahn etc.).

[Tandy]

That is correct the main warehouse used to be the Birmingham area.

We are now in Oxford.

[rigrunner]

Sad to see them go.

My range doubler is still in working order though the leads are starting fade.

[Bob S]

My first job in electronics was doing repair work in the back room of Radio Shack in there biggest Boston store. I recall  riding my 10 speed bike back home with a few extra components in my bike pack (from time to time) . Years before, my dad bought me my first 6 transistor radio in that same store. How important I felt. They will be missed.

[mikeselectricstuff]

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" cards and made sure it was a different person serving when I used each one!

And a touch dimmer kit I bought with instructions that were hilariously badly translated form some foreign language - the only bit I remember is that the filter inductor was for "depressing parasites"

[Kjelt]

Oh yeah the free battery card 

[David_AVD]

I always recall they stocked some sort of speech synthesiser IC that I fancied playing with.

That would have been the GI-SP0256 cat # 276-1784, sadly General Instruments don't exist any more or we would stock them just for that cool retro Stephen Hawking voice.

I think I still have a brand new one of those chips somewhere, still in the plastic box with datasheet.  Was there a companion chip as well - one did text-to-phenom and the other did the actual speech?

[Tandy]

Yes CTS256A-AL2 Text to Speech Controller, Cat # 276-1786

[wn1fju]

I actually found the box for this too.  Says "custom manufactured in Korea for Radio Shack."  Of course, the best part was that it was a kit and I got to solder a few wires and resistors.  Don't remember when I bought it.  The box has a price tag still on it that says $19.95 (US).

[poundy]

I got a "something-in-1" kit in a timber case for Christmas or a birthday when I was a kid. Don't know if that was from Tandy or Tricky Dick's, or somewhere else...

Battery Club got me in their doors more often than not as well.  Our "local" one was Orange NSW, a 40km drive from home, so about once a month was the maximum visit frequency I got, more often it was once every two months.  What was lucky was that DSE were just around the corner so I got to go to both places when we did go.  I had many a kit from DSE that I built over the years, none of which I can lay my hands on now though - I did find some kits and parts from both DSE + Tandy when I was clearing up some stuff my dad had, after he passed away. Ah the memories, soldering lessons, battery voltage testing on the tongue, and all kinds of other shenanigans

[GoldSrc]

I remember going to a Radio Shack with my dad only once when I was like 8-10 years old,
prices were higher than what we could get from local electronic stores.

I don't remember ever buying something else from RS after that.

[Dinsdale]

They gave me my first job in electronics. I could bitch about management, but, instead I'll tell you about a fortunate situation that occurred. I first worked as a tech in the TRS80 factory fixing boards that came off the assembly line. There were boards that you could get a good idea of where the problem was just my looking at the pattern of trash on the screen. Others were really tough and could take a lot of time. Some seemed impossible to fix and were sent to the "dog pile".
Well, one day management came and decreed that we would have to fix 10 boards a day. At first, I thought that would be impossible. But pretty quickly we realized that we could just fix the easy ones and send the though ones to the dog-pile after about 10 or 15 minutes. Turns out that you could fix 10 in at least 4 hours using this method.
What to do with the other 4 hours of the day? Work on your programming skills! I did some graphics stuff, some actual test code that helped fix systems, and just whatever else I could think up for an app. I really learned a lot about assembly language, digital electronics, and the Z80. I remember a software UART that I was especially proud of.
What did management think? They got their 10 boards a day (we threw in "bonus" boards so no suspicion was aroused). The dog-pile grew like crazy, but they never said anything. And they for sure could not tell if we were troubleshooting or programming or what.
So I traded a good education for crappy pay and being treated like dirt. Really not too bad for career start.

[TooOldForThis]

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.

[radiomog]

this showed up today, in timely fashion..

not sure if I should give it a thread of it's own or share here or the other RS/T thread...

so, here is where I'll share it...

http://motherboard.vice.com/read/the-worst-employee-of-the-worst-radioshack

[plexus]

Your video was blowing my mind because its where I got started too! However I got into it in a little bit of a different way. story, and music, here: https://soundcloud.com/musicofplexus/ode-to-radio-shack-thats-what-you-want-to-hear-v1

I also have my copy of Engineer's Notebook 1980 edition! the pages are very yellow. So I got into music and electronics through Radio Shack. My parents asked the assistant manager to help them put and electronics kit together for me. he designed a 7-segment LED counter for me to build and put all the parts and tools I would need together. they bought it and gave to me as a present. that was amazing. I made it and hit a major stumbling block. no 5V power supply! I had to go into the store to power it up to play with it.

I never really became anything of an electronics designer but I am handy with electronics and can do repairs etc. testing. and music is also a hobby. and that's my radio shack stories.

Oh and my friend and I were hired on quarterly weekends to help do store inventory. that was fun!

[Stonent]

* of course I had multiple "Free battery club" cards and made sure it was a different person serving when I used each one!

I would have lost all respect for you if you didn't 

[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

[Razor512]

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..

Seems to tell me that it is not the best idea to charge 5-10 times the price that an online store is charging for the same item.

[Stonent]

I stopped by a nearby Radio Shack today.  All the cell phones except for the Verizon display were gone.  The very back area where they keep the home security stuff was completely empty.  There seemed to be a few things on sale or clearance but nothing out of the ordinary.

[cosmicray]

I stopped by a nearby Radio Shack today.  All the cell phones except for the Verizon display were gone.  The very back area where they keep the home security stuff was completely empty.  There seemed to be a few things on sale or clearance but nothing out of the ordinary.

Stores that are not closing, are likely going to be Sprint stores. Stores that are closing are clearing out the little stuff, and sending the good stuff elsewhere. Either way I would expect the cell phones to grow legs and move elsewhere. I was in the local store less than 60 minutes after he opened Friday morning. The Apple stuff had been sent out before the bankruptcy was announced.

[TheNewLab]

Radio Shack is not gone. They filed Chapter 11. This is re-organization. Renegotiating debt liabilities, usually dumping all upper management and providing a business plan to the courts of how they can re-invent themselves when they come out of bankruptcy.

My question is what are they going to be selling? Maybe become a mini Best Buy? or a cell phone store like PC Metro??  Who know
Maybe they might become a leather goods store. Sell Tandy leather goods. the same company that bailed them out in 1962. We'll see.
Personally, I have no fond experiences of them, except a hot Asian chick that worked at a local store the last two Christmas seasons.

[EEVblog]

[xrunner]

My question is what are they going to be selling?

How about a game? A re-make of the ubiquitous Monopoly, call it -

Radioshackopoly

You could buy and sell Radio Shack stores in different priced areas of town and try to guess what kits would be hot. Even buy shipments of cell phone cases?

The cards would be like "Get out of Bankruptcy Free" and "All your stores have just been over-supplied with Arduinos - you lose $50,000" 

[cosmicray]

The cards would be like "Get out of Bankruptcy Free" and "All your stores have just been over-supplied with Arduinos - you lose $50,000" 

Speaking of which, they had a Yun on the shelf. Price rang up $30, thought that was a bit much. Upon checking after I got home, maybe I should have grabbed it. I think I'm spoiled by the sub $10 32u4 boards I picked up on Black Friday.

[JNB]

I still miss Heathkit way more than I will ever miss Radio Shack.... Life goes on and nerds will always find a way.

[mtdoc]

Our local paper today had an article about the bankruptcy and the fact that none of the 3 stores in our area are slated for closure.

We are a rural area in a county of 60,000 people. 2 of the 3 stores are franchise stores.  The owner of the 2 franchise stores is quoted as saying:

"We aren't going to close,” and “We have no financial liability for their problems.”

Also:

“I feel that we're direly needed here "
“We get people in here every day that reiterate that.”

Who'd a thunk?

[orin]

Here, it's only the stores in the "high rent" areas that were on the list for closure when I looked last week.  The others in out of the way strip malls weren't on the list.

One particular store is/was in a mall where even Barnes & Noble couldn't get a reasonable lease:

http://seattletimes.com/html/businesstechnology/2016417727_barnesnoble06.html

They're not dead (yet)*.

*misquote

[miguelvp]

That's quite alright since Malls are a dying breed as well and converted to data centers and even apartment complexes.

[TSL]

G'Day from a fellow ex Tandy repairman

I joined Tandy almost right out of high school in 1980.

 I had learned basic electronics at school with a bit more in depth stuff because my physics teacher was a ham and the school had an active amateur radio club. My parents had bough me a 50in1 and I did the same with my pocket money and bought the same meter

It was still known as Tandy then, not Interntan , that would come later.

I got the job over another chap who had gone to uni  because even though he had all the theory, he couldn't solder for shit!

Soldering and desoldering components was a good 1/2hr+ of the interview. The manager also pulled many schematics and pointed at various parts and asked me what they were and/or questions like... "What voltage would you expect at this point?"

I suspect, that being a 17yo, I was pretty cheap to hire too!

It was an education. As a repairman you were expected to fix any thing in the product line in 45 minutes. It didn't matter if it was a radio control car, a 3in1 stereo or a communications receiver like the DX160 - 45 minutes was it. DX300 was a nightmare to repair and align often taking a couple of hours!!!

Needles to say you got to know things intimately and my knowledge increased at a rapid rate. The pressure was relieved somewhat when items developed common faults.

I remember a certain digital clock that would slowly gain time until the display looked like a stop watch running, the fault... a leaky capacitor - badly made, that faulted in the entire run of these clocks.

I was there when the first TRS80m1 came out and we didn't actually have a computer dept at the time and a single chap, Manfred ?, did all the repairs on them.

Who remembers the CoCo aka "Colour Computer" ?

That too had a cap fault that involved the entire service dept spending a week or two doing nothing but cap replacement on the entire Australian stock! I can still remember the forklift bringing pallets of the things into the back of the service dept

We had fun - the obligatory green service tag sometimes ended up with odd repair descriptions to send back to the customer.

"Found short circuit - lengthened it"

"Replaced broken spoke in megacycle"

Sometimes, the gear would almost kill us.

I had an amp come in - "doesn't work" - didn't notice the customer had replaced the 3 pin mains plug.

Did notice when I took the timber shell off and touched the  metal sub-frame!!

One of the oddest repairs was a combo record player/amp/radio came in from out west with a fault report of "doesn't work"

A colleague scored this repair and gave out a great shout when he loosed the sprung screws holding the turntable down and tiny black snakes came wriggling out. There was a small nest of snakes hatching in the unit, and a mouse must have found the eggs since its fried carcase was draped across the input of the power supply.

Most mains stuff didn't have the heat shrink or shielding it does today so it was awful easy to come in contact with, something that happened way too often.

I have more stories from those days I might share at some other time

Anyway suffice to say, repairing stuff at Tandy gave me a great breadth of knowledge in electronics that's buried somewhere underneath the pile of computer knowledge I have today.

I spent a few years there until I moved on and ended up repairing Apple kit for a dealer. Moved on from that to other computer based endeavors these days.

cheers

Tim

[Stonent]

Who remembers the CoCo aka "Colour Computer" ?

My first computer was the MC-10 and second was the 64K CoCo2.

[alien_douglas]

No matter what you think of Radio Shack, it is a sad day when these sorts of stores shut down or morph into just another electrical appliance store like Dick Smith Electronics in Aussie and New Zealand has done.

I used to love visiting Tandy in Australia (Although Jaycar was always better.) and Radio Shack on my visits to the USA.

Even coming from a small city like Wellington, New Zealand, I can still remember all those that have disappeared from the local scene in the last 30 years.
(Wiseman Electric, WR Sturm, Kit Parts, David Reid Electronics, VSI Electronics etc)

If it wasn't for these guys I would not have gotten into electronics.

RIP Radio Shack

Regards
Alien

[PJTirino]

I worked at Radioshack just a couple of years ago. Yes, me, with my BS in Mathematics, a certified high school instructor who teachers Arduino workshops on the side, thought it would be fun to work at the local electronics store for a summer. That's how much I liked Radioshack. I even would have stayed if the job was halfway decent.

Like Dave, I started learning electronics with a Radioshack spring terminal breadboard IC chip lab playing with 555 circuits. Once I got good with that I began learning about guitar and audio effects circuits. Those circuits have lots and lots of RC filters in them that had to be tuned to frequencies which required capacitors that were far beyond the small stock of caps that Radioshack had. I had to do a lot of online ordering. My scope, power supply, LCR meter, etc... my only option was online! If it wasn't for Dave doing his reviews and teardowns, I would have had no idea what I was looking for or what I was ordering... Thank you Dave.

One of my first costumers at Radioshack came in looking for a meter. I asked him how he was doing and I got a dirty look. I said a few more words to him, and I think he realized that I wasn't going to say - I have no idea about a meter but would you like a cell phone. So we talked about meters for a bit. I sold him on an Extech 430 (I have one too) as well as a probe set and some other stuff. After he left, the boss comes out from the back and asks me if I FOUND OUT WHAT TYPE OF CELL PHONE HE HAD!!! and then he YELLS AT ME!!! I began to like Radioshack or more so what it had turned into less and less.

We need a good electronics hobby store. One that isn't going to charge $30 for an ultrasonic distance sensor I can get on ebay for $3 a piece. But I still hate to see Radioshack go.

[Skimask]

Who remembers the CoCo aka "Colour Computer" ?

My first computer was the MC-10 and second was the 64K CoCo2.

Same here.
Thems was the days...

[cosmicray]

RS here has moved all the parts in the drawers to 70% off, last day will be the 26th (which I think is one week longer than originally expected). Sign said all the fixtures were for sale, but the lady behind the counter had no information about what will cost how much.

[xrunner]

The parts drawers were $175 at the last store I went to (one module with ~8 drawers).

[cosmicray]

The parts drawers were $175 at the last store I went to (one module with ~8 drawers).

The ones here must be gold plated. $250 for each module, one vertical column is 2 modules, so $500. The parts section is 4 columns wide, so $2k for the entire section. I'll wait until the final day and see if anyone bit at that price.

[TheNewLab]

LOL! LOL I fell off my chair!

Dave's link to video

Re: eevBLAB #7 - Radio Shack Declares Bankruptcy!
« Reply #80 on: February 10, 2015, 12:08:32 PM » the youjtube link


Thank YOU!   still laughing

[1xrtt]

Out of curiosity, what is the status of RS bankrupcy?
I just happen to be in Guayaquil, Ecuador this week and, lurking around in the mall, I just found a regular Radio Shack store, working normal, business as usual. Did they bankrupt only in US?

[Tandy]

In Mexico Grupo Gigante bought the store leases and Mexican trademark, so now operate as an entirely independent business.

The trademarks in Latin and South America, the Middle East and Africa have also been sold, so the business in those countries will continue under new ownership.

In the United States Standard General bought 1,743 store leases, most of them are currently being run as joint Sprint / RadioShack stores. Standard general are able to use the trademark for 6 months. In the mean time the US RadioShack trademarks are to be sold in May. If Standard General buys them, then essentially they will be the new RadioShack. They will sell batteries, charges, headphones and mobile accessories. Electronic components, audio gear, computers etc will no longer be sold in the stores.

There are also 800 or so independent dealers/franchisees in the US and around the world that use the RadioShack name. They are under contract arrangements with RadioShack, those contracts are being offered for sale with the trademarks in May. As yet it is uncertain what will happen with the dealers. If the buyer of the trademarks does not also acquire the dealer contracts, or does not wish to maintain the dealer relationships they will have to stop using the RadioShack name and find alternative sources for their products.

[SeanB]

There is a Radio shack in ZA?

[Tandy]

I don't think there are any RadioShack stores in Africa but there are trademarks in ZA.

[SeanB]

I don't think there are any RadioShack stores in Africa but there are trademarks in ZA.

They are not enforcing it then, there is Radioshack.co.za which is in no way affiliated with the US operation.

[Tandy]

Trademark law is complicated and implemented in different ways in different countries.

Trademarks however are registered for particular classes, there will be trademarks for..
NICE Class 9, Electronic goods. This means actual products that carry the RadioShack name either on the goods or packaging.
Class 35, Retail services, for selling electronic goods as a retail store or catalogue (inc on-line) under the RadioShack name.

The web site you point to appears to be a Radio Enthusiasts site with a forum. They don't appear to be selling goods or producing anything with RadioShack branding on them so would not be infringing on the registered trademarks.

If RadioShack or the new owners run an on-line or mail order catalogue that ships to ZA they are using Class 35 in commerce and their trademark is sound. If they sell RadioShack branded products to ZA either directly or through a distributor then they are using their Class 9 trademark in commerce making it valid.

[Lisbeth]

I would show a picture of my 200 in 1, but I took it apart to build some electronics. 

[allen.gordon]

From what I gather via different sources (Forbes, The Wall Street Journal, etc...) the bankruptcy hearing resulted in a restructuring of the corporation. They are still in business, but downsizing drastically.

The ruling doesn't affect independently-owned franchises.

There are multiple store locations in the Greater New Orleans Area. The one closest to my house is not closing, however, the next closes location IS.

I continue to frequent the liquidation sale and keep scoring on passive components, Skull Candy earbuds and headphones for my teenage son, and other stuff I don't need.

Not only did I buy transistors, diodes, resistors, rectifiers, MANY LED's, and other various components for 70% of the original prices, but the disgruntled employee facing termination upon closing in June keeps throwing random items in the bag without scanning. Yes, KEEPS... As in, yesterday was my 3rd visit...

The Parallax products are lagging in the reduction game to maximize profits, but I still managed to get accelerometers, Basic Stamps, joysticks, and other fun items I'll probably never need for 60% of MSRP.

Also, I only had a $100 bill on me, and the clerk adjusted my final price even further to accommodate me entire selection for $100.07!!!

This is a fun game, and now I have to try to design something using these components for the sake of it!!!

[Tandy]

allen.gordon

Not quite, RadioShack Corporation is in Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. This means they are required to submit a plan to the bankruptcy court and their creditors can not call in their loans. During this time contracts can be rejected, this means for example they can cancel a 25 year lease agreement with a landlord.

The plan that RadioShack corporation has is basically to sell everything. So far they have sold around about half of their store leases to Standard General and closed the rest. They have sold some international trademarks and operations. Tuesday 12th May they sold the RadioShack Trademark, copyrights, domain names, customer data and contracts to Standard General.

Standard General created a new corporation called General Wireless that will use the RadioShack name to run a new RadioShack with a vastly reduced product range.

So now RadioShack corporation have no stores, no name, no website and no contracts with manufactures etc so can not remain in business. RadioShack corporation will proceed to sell anything else they have left such as warehouses and pay a percentage of the debt they owe to creditors. At that point they will become functionally insolvent so will be bankrupt.

You are correct that the independent franchises are not directly affected. However their franchise contracts have been sold to Standard General meaning that if Standard General assume the contracts or negotiate new contracts with them that they will continue to use the RadioShack name on their stores. If Standard General attempt to impose an unfavourable new contract on the franchisees they may choose to drop the RadioShack name and use a name of their own choosing. One perhaps less obvious way that the independent franchisees will be affected is that the products supplied by the new RadioShack will consist of 1/4 the number of products. The franchisees are not big enough to deal with the manufacturers of most products directly due to large minimum order values. A switch manufacturer for example is not going to supply 100 each of a dozen different switches, they will likely have a minimum order of 5k per item. As a result unless the franchisees find suitable alternative sources a number of product categories will disappear from their range.

[allen.gordon]

  Thanks for that clarification Tandy! Each of the articles I read seemed to lead the readers in different directions with no clear-cut summary!   

Now I know to keep an eye out for the store closest to me to start liquidation sales. They have an impressive inventory of Parallax components that I will fight over this round!   

A side note...   

I attend a leather workshop 2-3 times a month at Tandy Leather Company. The owner of the location I visit claims this chain to be a division of the original Tandy Corporation that was once part of/affiliated with Radio Shack. OR, is this misinformation as well?!? 

[Tandy]

It is true, Tandy was originally a leather goods company that bought the then small RadioShack chain. They expanded it in to the large network of RadioShack stores in the US and Tandy electronics stores elsewhere. As the electronics part of the business became the primary business the leather part was separated from the electronics business and sold. So yes Tandy Leather Company and RadioShack have a shared history.

[allen.gordon]

Thanks for the clarification on Tandy as well, Tandy!