Tandy computers were awesome for their time. We had them at the university doing lab projects and for doing statistics. Truly a revolution to not have to get in line for time on the campus mainframe. Later, Apples came along and then PCs. Tandy just didn’t understand the market had changed a lot in a short time. Tandy sold their computer division to AST and AST sold to Samsung.
Bummer, where am I going to run to to buy a way overpriced cable or adapter on Sunday I JUST HAVE TO HAVE NOW?
It’s about time. They’ve been circling the drain for 20 years.
Eight years ago:
http://www.theonion.com/articles/even-ceo-cant-figure-out-how-radioshack-still-in-b,2190/
Radio Shack’s demise:
They went ‘black’,
They’re not coming back.
The thing is you could buy things there you could not find anywhere else. Most places now just give a blank stare and tell you “your equipment is outdated, you have to buy a whole new setup.”
It’s sort of like going into the old neighborhood hardware store (those are gone too) to look for that old dusty part for your broken lawnmower.
Great! Just great!
Just when i’m in the market for another shortwave radio.
Can you imagine talking to a narcissistic, Nirvana-dressed, selfie-taking, oversized thumbs, less than 25 year old living with mama, about shortwave radio technology????
My first job out of college in 1985. Knew they wouldn’t last without me when I left in ‘86.
I’m surprised Radio Shack lasted this long.
More proof of this outstanding economy Obola kepps bragging about. /s
I knew Radio Shack was dying in 1995, when their new CEO had his "grand vision" to remake it into a retail "finished product" store that sold cheap speakers and receivers and, later, cell phones.
They got rid of Archer, when DIY satellites, antennas and walkie talkies went out of style, they got rid of Realistic and Optimus speakers and receivers when home theater started talking over, and they brought in crappy chinese RCA garbage to take their place.
They stopped selling parts, which turned off their customers, and they didn't do a good enough job at attracting the new customers. And the internet was really the final nail in the coffin.
Maybe someone will take the name, and become a competitor to Parts Express. They do what RS used to do, but better, sorry to say. But then again, who needs yet another player in that crowded game?
Somewhere in washington, a kenyan commie and his iranian master smile at the fact that yet another institution gone the way of the informed citizen...
During the 1980s, they started to lose their way. I think it started when they started requiring your name and mailing address everytime you bought something - even if it was just batteries. They would make you write it out on those carbon paper forms and then they would tear off the pink and yellow copies and file them who knows where and hand you back the top white copy.
Turns out they were putting your information on lists and then selling those lists to other companies. Not cool.
Still they had a great business going. They were among the first of the big chains to sell personal computers, VCR players, dual cassette decks (so you could dub), many of the products under their "Realistic" brand, which used to be known for being a quality product.
But as technology raced on, they had difficulty keeping up. Big-box electronic retailer upstarts like Circuit City and CompUSA ate their lunch - though even those chains eventually went under because they didn't move fast enough.
I think Radio Shack hung on so long because they were just so massive. I think they had 5,000 stores in the U.S. alone at one point.
Over the past 10-15 years, it's just been so sad to walk into one. Hardly anybody was ever in there and the 19-year-old kids at the counter were so desperate for you to buy something because that's how they made most of their money. Then the company decided to make cell phones their main business. Now the employees were pressured to sell "x" number of cell phone contracts a month in order to make their bonus. But towards the end, people would walk in there, have them give demos on every single one, and then walk out of the store to go buy the phone they wanted somewhere else. A sad ending to what used to be an iconic electronics retailer.
Ok, so ‘lessee: A tech/comm company that started out before the first third of the last century FAILD during a massive tech/comm boom? I’m going to guess some SERIOUSLY sclerotic upper management.
10 Best Electronics Suppliers
http://www.instructables.com/community/10-Best-Electronics-Suppliers/
Walmart is the place to be... : )
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Elenco-500-in-1-Electronic-Project-Lab/28420302?adid=22222222227019340671&wl0=&wl1=g&wl2=c&wl3=40335150872&wl4=&wl5=pla&wl6=78295357112&veh=sem
An end of an era... I hope it isn’t true...what about the franchised Radio Shack stores...?
They haven’t stood up to their name Radio Shack for years all they have are phones and toys, electronic parts aren’t half of what they were years ago just what we need more phone stores GAG.
Oh man, I’m a fossil.
My uncle, who was only a year older than I got into RS when it was Tandy Leatherworks. For a company that has focused on DIY stuff, there was no comparison!