All of the local stores are gone but one. Stopped by the home improvement store today and noticed a sign on the last open store. Store closing 60% off. I stopped in and bought up all of the bags of screws and nuts they had left over. I paid $ 0.25 a bag. They are great for small projects.

I inquired about their hardware drawers. I love those things! But they want $300 each. I don't love them that much.

 

My fondest memory is when I was working for a company that manufactured building wide security systems. We had a bunch of boards in stock that no one could fix. I knew it was a timing issue with a particular chip but did not know exactly what, I could never could track it down. We got in a new scope with all the latest bells and whistles. I knew that with the scope I could solve the problem with that board.

Within no time, I tracked the issue it down to a single chip. I don't remember the chip number. It was in the 40xx series. If I recall, it was used to lengthen the pulse of the input pulse. I noticed that when the input went high, there was a delay, when the output pulse started , of only a couple of micro seconds (maybe even less this was eons ago). I went to the stock room to get more chips as I am sure so many techs before me. Replacement caused the same issue. I asked an engineer about the time delay issue when the output pulse started and he said certainly that could be the issue with the boards.

I thought possibly that it could be a design issue with the circuit so I set up my own test circuit. Same issue.

I began to wonder if there was something wrong with all of the chips we had in stock as they were the same manufacturer and same batch number. I made a quick trip down to the local Radio Shack. Bought a couple of chips (back in the day when they had EVERYTHING). Got back to my office, plugged the new chips into the board and the board was up and running!

I then talked to our buyer and told him about the issue with the chips in stock and how they are the reason we had a bunch of boards in stock not working. I instructed him to buy new chips. I gave him the chip number, the manufacturer and batch number of the problem chip. I told him under no circumstances should he buy chips with that batch number. To be safe don't buy chips from that manufacturer. I gave him the manufacturer of the chips from the Shack and told him to buy those if he can.

Three long months later I get my chips in. You guessed it, same manufacturer, same batch number of the hundreds of chips we had in stock. Of course they had the same issue.

I told my boss the whole ugly story and told him about the chips at Radio Shack. He told me to go back to the store, buy up everything in stock and to put it on my expense report. I did so and bought enough to repair all of the boards we had in the junk bin. Probably cost us 50 times more than from our supplier but it got the job done.

 

Sad, but I don't think there are any more nails that can be driven into Radio Shack's coffin.

 

Yeah, I miss those days. My wife grew up in a little coal mining town. Most of the houses were built form the end of the war and on. They had a little (not to little) hardware store that had everything you might need to keep those houses up and going strong. Three floors-and the manager could put his hand on what you needed in a matter of seconds.
Wonderful smell of fine oil and wood floors.
I went to work for a start up and there was an electronics parts place a block away. Maybe 5000 square feet. He turned into our parts warehouse. I'm sure he retired after the prototypes were done and we moved to a bigger building, but time was more important to us and he paid for the inventory. Sometimes great relationships just "happen."

 

The last Hardware store here is Palmers. If Home Depot doesn't have it, Palmers will, and the workers know where to find it. The place is too cramped for two people to pass in an aisle, but that's OK. Waiting for an employee is quicker than finding it yourself, and that's a rare event in today's world!

I told my boss the whole ugly story

Once upon a time in Southern California, I worked in a place where the parts were obtained by my Mexican boss. He would buy counterfeit transistors with a 35% failure rate if they were "Heche in Mexico". I couldn't get out of there fast enough! The first customer that wanted to steal me from the company didn't have to ask twice.

 

The last time the Shack had a round of closures? I got some great deals. A bag full of Arduinos for $5/apiece.

 

The few which were around me are long gone but I did get a bunch of Arduino stuff and packs and packs of jumper wires. Damn shame they are gone as every now and then they came in handy. Now I just ask my wife to check Amazon for stuff and she uses her Amazon Prime so free two day shipping but I miss the old rat shacks.

Ron

 

Probably cost us 50 times more than from our supplier but it got the job done.

My brother-in-law, Bill, worked at a large book printing and binding plant doing equipment maintenance and repair. One day their own power substation blew up due to carbonized ink and paper dust. One phase of the 3-phase power was lost to the motors in the presses and paper handling equipment. This caused a huge number of motor fuses to blow. These were big fuses for big motors -- not teensy quarter inch glass fuses.

There were about a dozen of these multi-million dollar presses. They had to be running fast since crews were not getting any work done for customers. Bill ordered fuses from Newark because he knew they would have them and would deliver quickly. Bill told me that he, personally, wrote orders for $10,000 of fuses.

When Bill said he ordered from Newark, I was about to say, "Newark is awfully expensive, you could have saved a lot of money ordering them from another distributor". I am glad that I kept quiet because later I realized that at the cost of downtime on the presses it would have been a bargain to pay for a first class seat on a passenger plane just to get the fuses there a few hours sooner.


p.s. When I commented later about the million dollar presses Bill replied, "If we could only get them anywhere that cheap...".

 

He would buy counterfeit transistors with a 35% failure rate if they were "Heche in Mexico".

Remember when "Made in Japan" used to mean "Sucky Quality"? ... things have changed dramatically down here... and it's spelled "Hecho en Mexico", btw

 

Remember when "Made in Japan" used to mean "Sucky Quality"? ... things have changed dramatically down here... and it's spelled "Hecho en Mexico", btw

And made in Taiwan.

 

I now live in the house I grew up in. Five years ago I could drive literally any direction from home and find a RS within a 10 minute drive. The last round of closings did away with this glut, leaving just two last locations.

I have used the local store right in town since I was a young teenager. I can remember stacking up battery of the month cards to get extras. The place had tons of part stock in those days and I could not have built my first few projects without them.

Last time I was there was to return an inexpensive alarm clock that did not have a permanent power cord as the clerk swore it did as he prevented me from opening to check. That clerk tore everything apart and even checked it powered on and all buttons worked before refunding my 15 bucks.

With but a few resistors and connectors left it was rare I would go there. Last month I saw the final closing sale poster as I passed... And kept going. Knew there was nothing I would want but still felt like loosing as old friend.

 

And speaking of stores closing at an accelerated pace, I miss the experience of going out with my wife and pick a movie to watch for the night:

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/be-kind-rewind-blockbuster-stores-kept-open-in-alaska/​

"Today, he owns nine of the last 12 Blockbusters left in the entire country. (There were once over 9,000 worldwide.)... The first Blockbuster opened in 1985. By 1989, one was opening every 17 hours."

 

I now live in the house I grew up in. Five years ago I could drive literally any direction from home and find a RS within a 10 minute drive. The last round of closings did away with this glut, leaving just two last locations.

I have used the local store right in town since I was a young teenager. I can remember stacking up battery of the month cards to get extras. The place had tons of part stock in those days and I could not have built my first few projects without them.

Last time I was there was to return an inexpensive alarm clock that did not have a permanent power cord as the clerk swore it did as he prevented me from opening to check. That clerk tore everything apart and even checked it powered on and all buttons worked before refunding my 15 bucks.

With but a few resistors and connectors left it was rare I would go there. Last month I saw the final closing sale poster as I passed... And kept going. Knew there was nothing I would want but still felt like loosing as old friend.

I stopped to see the "80% off LAST DAYS" sale. Sadly, even at 80% off, stuff was still too much.


Ironically, I think wireless technology Brought down Radio Shack. With Bluetooth, nobody needs an $80 "monster cable" with RCA jacks. killed "Radio" shack.

 

Hello,

In Holland RadioShack operated as TANDY.
They converted to phone shops a long time ago, of wich most already have dissapeared.

Bertus

 

Hello,

In Holland RadioShack operated as TANDY.
They converted to phone shops a long time ago, of wich most already have dissapeared.

Bertus

In the end, that's what they were here too. But AT&T and Verizon had dedicated stores in the same strip mall as Radio Shack. The phone plans at Radio Shack were more expensive (offering AT&T plans) and the accessories were junky and expensive compared to the other two stores.

 

The loss of Radio Shack is just the last in a long line of closures due to the transition from discrete analog electrics to complex analog and digital ICs, and the resulting cheap electronics from Asia this spawned.

When I started out (way, way back) I looked forward to the latest, 2 inch-thick Allied Radio Catalog, which at that time had mostly hobby electronics and HiFi (ancient term) stereo amplifier kits, test equipment kits (Knight Kits), speaker kits, and other do-it-yourself electronics. (Digital electronics was non-existent of course).
Another catalog, which had a lot of cheap Japanese low-quality (at that time) electronic parts was Lafayette Radio.
And there were also many other electronic kit manufactures such as Eico, Heathkit, Dynaco, and others.

During that time I made an Eico VTVM, a Knight Kit tube stereo amp, a Heathkit Color-Bar generator, a Heathkit automatic garage door opener, a pair of Heathkit AR-2a speakers, a Dynaco stereo (tube) preamp, Dynaco (tube) FM tuner, and Dynaco 60W/channel transistor stereo basic audio amp, all from kits.
(A friend of mine assembled a Heathkit color TV. That was likely one of the most complex electronic kits ever made and it took him several months to complete it).
I learned a lot about electronics from all that.

It was such a great time for do-it-yourselfers, and I really miss the passing of all that.
But I'm just being nostalgic, and you can't fight "progress".

 

The loss of Radio Shack is just the last in a long line of closures due to the transition from discrete analog electrics to complex analog and digital ICs, and the resulting cheap electronics from Asia this spawned.

Internet based virtual stores are what's putting a huge pinch on almost every major brick and mortar chain store now.

Too many manufactures have figured out that they can sell their goods either directly to the customer or through a virtual store middleman , one they may own too, and make more money than they did selling exclusively to major chain corporations.

Same with those operating such virtual storefronts as the middlemen. They have no floor space or any operating costs associated with such operations and thus can afford to pay the manufacture more per item and still sell it delivered to the customer's front door than the big chain stores can ever come close to touching and staying profitable.

I see this constantly with trying to buy local when I can but it really hard to justify spending $100 locally when a online place will get me the exact same item for half that but with a 3 - 4 day wait to spend locally on anything that's not a absolutely one of a kind need it now item. Even then way too often I am finding that with many local places too many items they do have still have a 1 - 2 day wait while they get their item shipped in from one of their warehouses.

 

The loss of Radio Shack is just the last in a long line of closures due to the transition from discrete analog electrics to complex analog and digital ICs, and the resulting cheap electronics from Asia this spawned.

I have to agree with tcmtech. My wife uses Amazon Prime and it is really hard to beat. Our once real nice community is not what it once was and car hijackings and parking lot robberies are becoming more common. Many of the once great and safe large malls are becoming less and less safe. I can point, click and my stuff is here in two days. Brick and mortar, including many large chains are suffering and many cutting back or closing. It's like watching the end of an era.

Ron

 

Internet based virtual stores are what's putting a huge pinch on almost every major brick and mortar chain store now.

I agree that's quite true for brick and mortar stores.
It's not much related to the disappearance of all the other electronic manufacturers I mentioned.
(But I suppose that was somewhat off topic from the discussion in this thread).

 

My wife uses Amazon Prime and it is really hard to beat.

The same way at our house
Not only is it convenient not to have to go out, and saves time and gas, but the selection is much larger than even a dozen B&M stores have (if it's even in stock), and usually at a lower cost.

.............Brick and mortar, including many large chains are suffering and many cutting back or closing. It's like watching the end of an era.

Where do you suppose it will end?
Will it be with only those brick & mortar stores that sell stuff you want/need to physically examine before you buy?
I suspect even Walmart is in serious trouble.