[operation clinton cleanup]

I remember when RS was the only electronics store. As a teenager in the early 80's, it was like going in to a toy store! These days they are overpriced and have to much competition.

[PCBMan]

Yeah, I remember going there in the '70's and there was so much neat stuff...then in the 1980's it all vanished when they became convinced that everyone needed a computer. Of course they were at least 10 years ahead of time there, but so were many others. RS has never been the same since. Speaker wire and outdoor antennas? That's why I go there, because nobody else around has that stuff!

[AlexW]

"I remember when RS was the only electronics store."

Since I am a ham radio operator, from the 50s, I remember when Radio Shack got started. It was, and has always been a Mickey Mouse operation.
In the early days, I went to the local electronics wholesale distributor, the same that sold to business and radio repair people. I also bought from mail order companies like Allied, the parent company of Radio Shack.
Radio Shack filled a nich but has outlived it.

[capt. norm]

I remember when RS was the only electronics store.

I guess electronic hobbies are becoming obsolete. Radio Shack and Heathkit were my two favorite sources. Many a weekend I was up overnight(s) soldering and assembling projects and enjoying it to the max. It seemed like "soldering adrenaline" was much more powerful than the caffeine in coffee.

Now it's hard to find kits anymore.

[dfwgator]

I remember when RS was the only electronics store.

I remember how eagerly I used to anticipate them coming out with new shortwave radio models. I still have my DX-370 I bought 15 years ago and it still works great.

[pepsionice]

What Wal-mart ought to do....is buy Radio Shack...and make it a corner of the store. Wal-mart has never done that well on electronics and it'd be nice to have a geeky guy standing there who could actually answer questions like I always find in Radio Shack. I personally think that Radio Shack has less than five years of business left. I can't see long term survival in their cards. Where they really profit is in small towns of 10-15,000 people...and they are the only electronics shop in town.

[Fabozz]

"I remember when RS was the only electronics store."

I can top that: I remember when RadioShack sold leatherworking kits.

[Eclectica]

I remember when RS was the only electronics store. As a teenager in the early 80's, it was like going in to a toy store!

There was another earlier store—mostly mail-order—located on Jericho Turnpike on Long Island, New York.

It had a name made from initials, something like "SJKWV". (Which I think stood for "Seven Jewish Korean War Veterans", or something like that.)

Even a friend who lived nearby at the time can't recall it, but I've got a steel-trap for trivia.

Any old-timers remember what store I'm talking about—in the 60s and 70s?