About five years ago I went into a Radio Shack and was looking for their parts bins when a sales associate came up and asked me if she could help me find something and so I ask her if they still carried germanium diodes. She said, "We sure do -- and it's free with a two-year contract." Apparently anything that didn't sound familiar must be a new kind of smart phone that, of course, they carry and can give away for free with a two-year contract until proven otherwise. I told her that what I was looking for was about the same size and shape as a resistor. She asked if that was a flip-phone. It took several minutes to explain to her the basic type of thing I was looking for. I told her that usually there was a set of cabinets with drawers that had small parts in them. That rang a bell and so she led me to the back and there was a breadbox-size cabinet that had some resistors and silicon diodes and not much else in it. When I opened the top drawer and pulled out a bag with two resistors, she asked ME what those were!

I remarked that I remembered that days that the name "Radio Shack" actually meant what it said, to which she replied, "We sell radios!" and pointed to an AM/FM clock radio near the checkout counter.

I think that might actually have been the last time I was ever in a Radio Shack store until I stopped by the one nearby during their closing sale.

 

For people my age, Radio Shack was a lifesaver for young electronic types in small communities.

Any decent size city would have electronic warehouses like we have electrical warehouses now.

But for small places one knew Radio Shack well. I even did contract work for them in the 70's.

They were great to work with. When they stopped stocking all the little components in the stores, I quit going.

And with few electronics warehouses now..... it's all mail order.

 

Has anyone seen or been to one of these new incarnation Radio Shacks? I don't mean the remaining independents, but this new Hobby Town Radio Shack Express as per post #133?

It interests me because I am curious as to whether the approach they are taking is the old tradition or a modernization.

 

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I told her that usually there was a set of cabinets with drawers that had small parts in them. .

When they shifted from components hanging on the wall to being buried in a drawer was when they ceased being useful to experimenters and hobbyists.

 

When they shifted from components hanging on the wall to being buried in a drawer was when they ceased being useful to experimenters and hobbyists.

I would probably agree. I missed the shift itself as I had largely given up on them well before and so was completely taken aback the first time I went into one and discovered that all the stuff that I considered "Radio Shack" has been related to a few large cabinets -- cabinets that seems to get smaller and smaller every time I went into one.

 

I also remember the Radio Shack ads saying "You have questions... We have answers".

I remember those days and I always responded with "What's the square root of 2?" Their expressions were priceless. The answer was few and far between.

 

Several years ago, during the cell phone epoch

About the same time frame, I took a 89 cent battery holder to the counter to pay for it. The first words out of the "salesman's" mouth were "would you like a free cell phone?"

A perfect example of poor training. He wasted both his and my time with a stupid question. I definitely was not about to buy a "free" cell phone. Why would he think a buyer of a battery holder could be sold a cell phone on the spot?

 

I remember once walking in and asking the staff member for a 3.5mm stereo-to-mono adapter plug. His response was he didn't think they had it . Then I just walked over and took it off the rack.

 

I remember once walking in and asking the staff member for a 3.5mm stereo-to-mono adapter plug. His response was he didn't think they had it . Then I just walked over and took it off the rack.

I would have shown you how to wire it.

 

I remember once walking in and asking the staff member for a 3.5mm stereo-to-mono adapter plug. His response was he didn't think they had it . Then I just walked over and took it off the rack.

I had the same experience the last time I was in an Radio Shack store, but it was some 50 foot spools of #36 kynar insulated wire wrapping wire. She stood there her mouth hanging open as I went to the pegboard wall and collected a couple of spools.

Clearly, the store was only there to sell cell phones and the occasional audio cable. That makes sense since even by then, around 2006, there was a huge falloff in the number of electronic hobbyists and what they now call "makers".

 

https://abc13.com/radioshack-texas-electronics-cryptocurrency-company-business/11403659/

Seeking to capitalize on RadioShack's global brand name, Miami-based owner Retail Ecommerce Ventures is propelling RadioShack (once based in Fort Worth) into the promising yet murky territory of cryptocurrency.

 

https://www.nbcnews.com/pop-culture...r-wasnt-hacked-just-sell-crypto-now-rcna36112

Electronics retailer RadioShack said it was not hacked on Twitter after a series of tweets filled with vulgarities and expletives caused widespread confusion.

In fact, the person behind RadioShack’s official account tweeted Wednesday that they knew the tweets "would go viral" because they were "fire AF."

"No we didnt get hacked, and no im not fired," the tweet read.

Damn sad end to a once great brand.

 

https://www.nbcnews.com/pop-culture...r-wasnt-hacked-just-sell-crypto-now-rcna36112


Damn sad end to a once great brand.

I was sure that article was satire until I wasn't

 

The last thing that some of these outfits have to sell is their names. That’s why you see names like Westinghouse, Bell and (+) Howell, Packard Bell, Polaroid et. al. slapped onto things that have nothing to do with the original companies and disrespect their storied histories and contributions to technology.

 

https://petapixel.com/2025/01/27/ra...-exists-it-sells-suspiciously-cheap-sd-cards/
RadioShack Not Only Still Exists, It Sells Suspiciously Cheap SD Cards

 

As a brand, yes. That's typical in bankruptcies of well-known names. The name goes on, the business is dead.

The electronics retailer has changed hands multiple times since its collapse in the 2010s which saw it delisted from the New York Stock Exchange in 2015 and filing for bankruptcy two years later.

 

I can walk into a surplus store that sells electronic components still in the RS/Archer bubble packages.

 

Even respected brands like GE, Westinghouse, Whirlpool, etc, etc…..have been reincarnated.

 

Radio Shack in Canada has changed hands many times and today the former locations have become Best Buy Express.

Reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Source_(retailer)

 

Radio Shack is alive and well down here in Mexico. One could almost say it's thriving : https://www.radioshack.com.mx/store/radioshack/en/