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Crazy Radio Shack price
rdl:
Back before the internet Radio Shack was about all there was for electronics hobbyists. Your only other option was mail order. And you literally mailed your order in with a check and then waited a couple of weeks to get your stuff. Probably if you had a credit card you could use the phone to place your order and that would be quicker. Hopefully you called an 800 number because long distance was a thing back then. I didn't have a credit card in those days.
DonKu:
My first solo Radio Shack shopping experience happened around the age twelve. Everyone else in the store at the time towered over me as a taller adult. A few smiled down at me and a few frowned as if to say, "Get what you want kid and get out." But I only wanted to browse the merchandise as the adults did.
Besides mail order and Radio Shack, St Louis sported a Layfayette Radio Electronics outlet and Gateway Electronics, an electronic surplus store with a collection of components, books, and magazines.
Denver used to have electronics stores all over the place. The Internet's impact on the stores is unknown to me.
One of my online vendors, Universal Radio, successfully transitioned their brick and mortar to the Inet. But now the second generation's retired both themselves and their showroom. https://www.universal-radio.com/location.html
My last solo Radio Shack visit took place at a much later date. Radio Shack contracted with me to install a back room device at the two stores in my small town. Finally, the keys to the kingdom became mine long enough to see the all of the expensive goods locked up in back.
jrmymllr:
--- Quote from: rdl on March 16, 2024, 01:19:37 pm ---Back before the internet Radio Shack was about all there was for electronics hobbyists. Your only other option was mail order. And you literally mailed your order in with a check and then waited a couple of weeks to get your stuff. Probably if you had a credit card you could use the phone to place your order and that would be quicker. Hopefully you called an 800 number because long distance was a thing back then. I didn't have a credit card in those days.
--- End quote ---
I ordered a kit from Heathkit when I was a kid. Mailed in the form, and waited about a month. That was a long, long month.
EPAIII:
Actually, there were parts stores for the radio and TV repair trade and industrial electronics. As an hobbyist you had to find one which would accept your business. I was lucky as there was such a store in New Orleans called Southern Radio. I even had a personal charge account there.
They must have been doing something right because they are still in business, with a small change in their name to Southern Electronics. I guess "Radio" was too much of an image of the past.
Oh, and quite often their prices were better than Radio Shack. I shopped both in the 1960.
Then DigiKey came on. They had a better selection and discounts that were, at first, pinned to the amount of the total order. That gradually went away in favor of today's quantity based prices: over time more and more of their prices were marked as ND, for non-discount. It was often worth the wait as they had things you couldn't get locally without it being a special order (in other words, wait for it).
Of course, in other countries your mileage WOULD have varied.
--- Quote from: rdl on March 16, 2024, 01:19:37 pm ---Back before the internet Radio Shack was about all there was for electronics hobbyists. Your only other option was mail order. And you literally mailed your order in with a check and then waited a couple of weeks to get your stuff. Probably if you had a credit card you could use the phone to place your order and that would be quicker. Hopefully you called an 800 number because long distance was a thing back then. I didn't have a credit card in those days.
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