OT: The Death of Radio Shack

[GARTHWILSON]

cbmeeks, I agree.

Dave Jones just posted his EEVblog #1240 about Tandy Radio Shack catalog memories, at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWxTCQf5gOU .

[BillO]

I used to love the RS and Heatkit catalogs. I'd pour over them time and time again.

cbmeeks wrote:

Agreed. If they want to come back, they need to cut out a niche for themselves.
4) Make a profit, but don't be obscene. I would be happy paying $5 for a pack of resistors. But it needs to be more than FIVE resisitors! Maybe that pack of 100 resistors costs $0.50 from China with free shipping. RS should charge $5 for 50+ of the same resistors. That's still a profit for them and I don't mind the $4.50 hit. It's a low enough impulse buy where the convenience is worth it to me.

I'm not convinced this will work. I tried. I had (still have - sorta) an on-line electronics shop. I used to sell 3 RGB LEDs for $1.00, Sparkfun sold them for $3.00 a piece. They sold thousands a day, mine stayed on the self. That's just one out of hundreds of SKUs we had in common. Even att hat price I was making about $0.90 - Sparkfun were making abut $2.97. The average consumer has no clue about value.

[GARTHWILSON]

GARTHWILSON wrote:

Radio Shack was one of the wonderful things I "discovered" as a 14-year-old when we came back to the U.S. in 1974. At the time, Lafayette was a competitor that I also enjoyed. [...] It's fun to reminisce in looking through old catalogs I remember

I was just helping our older son search for a particular book on the shelves of what used to be his bedroom, and came upon a 1973 Lafayette catalog!  It's a little over 6"x8" and half inch thick.  Nostalgic!

[Dr Jefyll]

Spotted recently here in Stratford -- in a surplus store...

GARTHWILSON wrote:

a 1973 Lafayette catalog! It's a little over 6"x8" and half inch thick. Nostalgic!

Yes, indeed! I remember catalogs like that as a major educational resource. Of course the level of technical detail tended to be limited, but it was inspiring simply to become aware of a whole world of fascinating products that are available! (And BillO seems to share that sentiment above.)

-- Jeff

[1024MAK]

As some of you may or not may know, in the U.K. we had Tandy electronic stores. These were our equivalent to RadioShack.

These died out many years ago (Wikipedia entry).

In the U.S.A. RadioShack got into trouble (Wikipedia entry)

A U.K. company, Maplin Electronics moved from a mail order only operation and started expanding across the country. Last year (2018), that ended as it went into administration (see here).

Now all three brands have come back from the dead, with new on-line stores, and with new owners. They are very different from each other.

U.K. Tandy www.tandyonline.com

U.K. Maplin www.maplin.co.uk

I wonder if they will expand and grow, and will they last.

What do Americans think of the “new” RadioShack?

Have any U.K. members here used the U.K. Tandy or the U.K. Maplin?

Mark

[Chromatix]

I remember buying stuff from both Tandy and Maplin on occasion, back in the day.

[brionl]

I'm sure Fry's Electronics is going to be next. I've been in there a couple of times lately, and the shelves were practically empty. Lots of junk, not much in the way of electronics.

[GARTHWILSON]

brionl wrote:

I'm sure Fry's Electronics is going to be next. I've been in there a couple of times lately, and the shelves were practically empty. Lots of junk, not much in the way of electronics.

I had a similar sad thought the last time I went into Fry's.  It seems to have diminished a lot just in the last two or three years.  [Edit, 2021: Fry's is gone.]

[BillO]

This is sad.

Where does this lead?

[Dr Jefyll]

BillO wrote:

This is sad.

Where does this lead?

I agree it's sad in a way. But one door closes and another door opens, as the saying goes. Let's not forget what online shopping has done for our hobby! Mouser, Digikey, Farnell, E-Bay, to name just a few.... I remember the good old days with fondness, but no way do I want to go back.

-- Jeff

[GARTHWILSON]

Dr Jefyll wrote:

Let's not forget what online shopping has done for our hobby! Mouser, Digikey, Farnell, E-Bay, to name just a few.... I remember the good old days with fondness, but no way do I want to go back.

In the 1970's I used to mail order from Burstein-Applebee, Poly Paks, Newark, Allied, Lafayette, and maybe one or two more I'm forgetting.  It involved looking in paper catalogs, filling out an order, asking my parents for a check (before I had my own checking account, and of course giving them the cash for it), mailing it, and waiting for the check to clear before the company would send my stuff.  The only reason I wanted a credit card later was so I could call them up with CC in hand and get my order sent today.  That was still before everyone had computers and before we had heard of the internet.  It was still fun to browse surplus electronics stores and get ideas of how I could solve various problems of constructing things.  I can sure do more now, because of the internet and because my income is a hundred times as high; but which one was more fun?  I don't know.

[GARTHWILSON]

GARTHWILSON wrote:

brionl wrote:

I'm sure Fry's Electronics is going to be next. I've been in there a couple of times lately, and the shelves were practically empty. Lots of junk, not much in the way of electronics.

I had a similar sad thought the last time I went into Fry's. It seems to have diminished a lot just in the last two or three years.

And there you have it.  Shut down, this week.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2021/02/24/ ... ob-layoff/

[GARTHWILSON]

The link to the article BDD's original post about RS's demise isn't coming up, so here it is on archive.org:
https://web.archive.org/web/20181008073 ... ewell.html

[BigDumbDinosaur]

GARTHWILSON wrote:

The link to the article BDD's original post about RS's demise isn't coming up, so here it is on archive.org:
https://web.archive.org/web/20181008073928/http://nemesis.lonestar.org/tandy/radio_shack_farewell.html

I edited the lead post to mention your post with the wayback link.

[BillG]

Dr Jefyll wrote:

Spotted recently here in Stratford -- in a surplus store...

GEDC4138.JPG

-- Jeff

Did you buy it?

That model of breadboard has a quirk. The four bus strips do not run the entire length. There is a break at the halfway point. You have to jumper the two halves if that is what you need.