Adafruit buys Radioshack?

[mikeselectricstuff]

I don't think the brand name RadioShack will have much value in the UK anymore

It never did - Radio Shack was Tandy over here - I think some products had the RS branding, but few people would recognise the name as having any value.

[JoeN]

Is it possible to buy or get permission over the brand name only? Radio Shack like Heathkit is a brand deeply rooted in people's minds

That was already sold for 15 million dollars earlier this year (to Kensington Capital)

Well then that would be the entity to negotiate with.  No reason they can't part it out or sell limited licenses to use the name under certain conditions.  See it all the time.  When you see TGI Friday's in the frozen section you know they aren't making that.  "Distributed under license by the H.J. Heinz Company, L.P."  TGI Friday's is operating restaurants.  Or was, anyway.  They sold a license to sell products in their name similar to their restaurant products and they get a cut.

Here in the US, we have ultra crap electronics sold by "Westinghouse". 

I'm pretty sure that is just one of these marketing deals.  Let someone else do all the work, license your famous brand name for their crap Chinese product, get a cut. 

[Old Don]

Radio Shack probably still has enough memories for people that it would be worth something as a "name brand" to  attach to an otherwise nondescript product.

Here in the US, we have ultra crap electronics sold by "Westinghouse". 

Ditto with Bell & Howell and other old well respected company names. Now attached to junk products.

Tandy was the parent company for Radio Shack and they started, I believe, selling products for leather goods. Years ago (late '60's?) Radio Shack/Tandy bought Allied Electronics, out of Chicago I think, that was a maker of kits that competed with Heathkit. I bought a 7" reel-to-reel tape recorder kit in the fire sale at the time and built the electronics up that attached to a barebones tape drive included in the kit. I think Allied Electronics was a side business for the Allied electronic parts dis't business that lasted for many more years after that.

[Richard Crowley]

Radio Shack started in Boston as a local dealer of electronic stuff, particularly for amateur ("ham") radio operators. (Hence, the origin of the name.) Tandy was an established purveyor of leather goods, particularly for hand-crafting types making fancy belts, boots, gun holsters, etc.  For whatever reason, Tandy bought RadioShack and took them national by opening hundreds and then thousands of retail storefronts. 

Alas, they mismanaged them into bankruptcy by assuming RadioShack was just another storefront selling a particular line of goods.  They seemed to hire people with zero passion (or even basic knowledge) of electronics, and they were seemingly managed by people in the general retail trades with no particular knowledge or understanding of electronics.  Many of us thought they were doomed when they started selling more consumer goods, particularly cell phones, and televisions and toys, etc.  Of course, maybe they were just trying to stay in business by expanding their product line to appeal to a wider audience.

Allied was an established general-line industrial distributor of electronic components, etc. but with a strong mail-order retail business. They also developed a line of kits ("Knight Kit") that was a minor competitor to HeathKit. I grew up as a kid looking forward to the Allied catalog like other kids pursued toys.  It was always puzzling to me that Tandy bought Allied when they seemed barely competent(?) to manage Radio Shack.  But that only lasted for a few years, and thankfully Allied lived through the experience and continues on today.

And there are many examples of former respected name-brands now just a meaningless label slapped on generic junk made in a 3rd world factory somewhere.

Here in 2017, I can typically get anything I used to buy at RadioShack from Amazon. Typically for the same or better price, better selection of good-quality items (or cheap Chinese stuff if I choose).  And delivered right to my door in a couple of days.  It used to take me that long to arrange time away from the office to drive to a RadioShack storefront shop and then have to deal with the ignorant retail clerks.  So maybe RadioShack was doomed as a neighborhood brick-n-mortar retail shop even if Tandy hadn't mismanaged them.

The concept of Adafruit buying RadioShack seemed like completely preposterous "fake news" from the moment I heard it.  But Adafruit is making themselves into an impressive manufacturer of products sold by the likes of Mouser, DigiKey, Newark/Element14, Allied, et.al.  Their "how-ya-doin" style of online videos leaves me rather cold, but I have to sit through the fooling-around to see some decent content eventually.

[Old Don]

Richard,

I'm glad your memory is better than mine. I forgot the name of the Allied's kits -->  Knight kits. Plus more details on Tandy and Radio Shack.

[eugenenine]

They seemed to hire people with zero passion (or even basic knowledge) of electronics, and they were seemingly managed by people in the general retail trades with no particular knowledge or understanding of electronics. 

they wouldn't even hire me at the college (electronic engineering) job fair and I knew every single one of their products inside and out and pretty much had their catalogs memorized.

[Richard Crowley]

The biggest thing I miss about Radio Shack was that bundle of test connectors they had.  If you had some orphan gadget with a weird DC input connector, you could go to the local RadioShack storefront and try out the different plugs (over two dozen different "inverted phone" styles alone) to see which one fit.  And then you could buy the mating plug "off the hook" (providing they kept it in stock).  They were originally priced at 1-2 maybe 3 USD. But the prices kept inflating to the point where it costs nearly (or over) US$10 for 20 cents worth of plastic and metal. Of course, if you are desperate to keep your gadget running, you will pay the piper.

There is no online equivalent to actually, physically, trying different connectors to see which one fits.  I see that RadioShack continues to sell online including the "Adaptaplug" line.  And now, they even include the dimensions. But most people have no way of measuring the diameter of the barrel and the diameter of the inside pin.  An you can buy them on Amazon as well. But Amazon, in their typical style, offer only the most useless of details about the product (like the blister pack card dimensions)

[Old Don]

I ran a laptop repair business and I purchased two of R.S.'s 1st generation universal laptop AC adapters that used the 1st style Adaptaplug tips. The only tip I wanted, but found was discontinued was the one for Dell laptops. Still have the 2 of them and they've proved to be very useful over the years.

[JoeO]

They seemed to hire people with zero passion (or even basic knowledge) of electronics, and they were seemingly managed by people in the general retail trades with no particular knowledge or understanding of electronics. 

they wouldn't even hire me at the college (electronic engineering) job fair and I knew every single one of their products inside and out and pretty much had their catalogs memorized.

That is because you knew too much.  They didn't want people like you to chit chat with the customers and waste their time sharing your knowledge.