A eulogy for RadioShack, the panicked and half-dead retail empire

SB Nation ^ | November 26, 2014 | Jon Bois

[SamAdams76]

RadioShack won't be the only store to open on Thanksgiving Day, but it might be the only one of its particular makeup to do so. This isn't Walmart or a call center, in which volunteers who want overtime pay can be chosen first. Most RadioShack stores have just a handful of employees, most or all of whom will work Thanksgiving whether they want to or not. Retail employees have very, very little in the way of perks, of things that are understood to be sacred. Having Thanksgiving Day to themselves was one of them.

RadioShack is a company of massive real estate, and is peddling a business model that is completely unviable in 2014. It's very likely to go extinct soon, and I doubt there's anything its operators can do about it. In scenarios like this one, there aren't happy stories or easy answers, and if this were any other company, I'd concede that, perhaps, opening on Thanksgiving is a regrettable but necessary stab at saving the company, employees and all.

RadioShack is a rotten place to work, generally not a very good place to shop, and an untenable business to run. Everyone involved loses.

These are stories from my three and a half years as a RadioShack employee.

[arderkrag]

Ah, Radio Shack. Sometimes I miss the eighties so much.

[RedMDer]

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[ansel12]

That is because the second photo is a beam shot of the Fenix
TK-75, no Radio Shack flashlight has ever been able to come close to that.

Here is a 3 minute video review of the TK-75 with 4 settings.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRYlcngkw-E

[headstamp 2]

I remember Radio Shack during the CB craze of the late 70’s. It was a great time. The stores were always packed.

[Dalberg-Acton]

I still have love for Radio Shack. Check ‘em out again. (No, I don’t own any stock or work there)

[headstamp 2]

I felt a tear roll down my face.

Thanks for that.

[Fresh Wind]

You can buy a lifetime supply of 2N3904s on eBay for a couple of bucks. You can have ‘em in a couple of days.

[Fresh Wind]

Twist two pieces of insulated wire together. Trim the twisted part to a length of about 1/4".

That's just a gimmick.

[minnesota_bound]

#1 I bookmarked the site. I remember some of the catalogs from the 70’s and early 80’s.

[Larry Lucido]

The last clerk I had “help” me did not even know what a RCA jack was...

You mean Nipper, the Jack Russel? Why would they sell those?

[Dr. Sivana]

only thing they’re good for nowadays is hard to find batteries, and how often do you need one of those?

And Batteries Plus has that covered and then some.

[Oliviaforever]

Who needs a Mac a Dell of an iPad, when my TRS-80 gets amazing internet speeds?

[Dr. Sivana]

I guess RS and Heathkit will have alot to talk about on the ash heap of history.

Don't forget Lafayette!

[El Laton Caliente]

Kidding?

if not: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qATH05l8QLc

[Dr. Sivana]

Who needs a Mac a Dell of an iPad, when my TRS-80 gets amazing internet speeds?

They also helped Superman save the day! Do note that according to Bill Gates, the BASIC he provided for TANDY/Radio Shack was one of the few times he felt he was taken. It was a flat rate deal. And given Bill was actually coding in those days, the LEVEL II BASIC was actually pretty good. Loved those machine level PEEKS and POKES, and INKEY$ graphics (Level II BASIC only). Gates knew his way around the Zilog Z-80.

[Dr. Sivana]

[glyptol]

You’ve got questions.they got...................

[glyptol]

I was talking to an engineer a few weeks ago and he told me he could switch 1 amp in a microsecond.
I said “wow, you can switch a million amps a second?”
Got that deer/dear in the shiny things on the front of the velocipede look.

[Darksheare]

In our little latrine in the backroom was a poster that read “on the road of technology we’re on every street corner” to which someone added “asking directions.”
Manager blew a gasket over it after a visit by the district head.
It was the manager himself who put it there.

[MamaB]

My late husband loved Heathkits. He put at least 2 tvs together plus ham radio rigs. Long time ago.