Their stores really changed for the worse.

They used to have lots of stuff at good prices, now they would like to focus on selling MonsterCables for $100 each, and Monster "HDTV" surge protectors for $200 each.

I needed a couple of right-angle RCA connectors, got a "sorry, try another store."

The stores are not exactly attractive either, they feel very 1970s.

I don't think they will survive without a major shift.

One thing they needed to change is the practice of asking for your name when you buy anything. I hate that.My name is "Cash" as in "Cash Customer" can I now pay for my $2.00 adapter?

I agree with MarkMc you want to shop without hassles, asking for name, phone number, if you have their high interest rate Radio Shack Credit Card.

The mechandise shifted from do-it-yourself / design-it-yourself to something
every other store has. Small parts went from vertical wall space to a small
drawer in the back of the store.

They placed cell phones at the very front of the store and almost all the stores
in the mall sell cell phones. Nothing to distinguish them from other retailers.

Can't really say I will notice they are gone.

Very sad to see. I grew up shopping RadioShack for my electronics hobby. I probably used to spend more there than any other store except maybe groceries. They always seemed to have just the part i needed. Now it's almost all finished goods with a tiny selection of way overpriced parts.

Amusing anecdote ... the stores and customers used to be rated by number of items purchased and average number of items per sale rather than sales total. In an average year i might have bought over 1,000 items. Not only did this help push my local store into the top category worldwide, but it earned me a top customer rating three years in a row. The first year i got a postcard offering me a 10% discount on any single item. The next year i got a letter with a certificate for 20% off any single item. The third year i got a gold-embossed Christmas card signed by John Tandy himself, offering me 25% any item and a $50 gift certificate as well. The funny part is that those 1,000 items might not have totalled over $2000 for the year.

Remember the free battery a month card?

>I grew up shopping RadioShack for my electronics hobby.

Me too. Then again, the week before XMas, I was watching TV with my 5 yr old daughter and we saw a Radio Shack ad for an indoor helicopter. We both went "wow" simultaneously and that was what Santa bought her :-) It was a very cool toy but it only lasted 2 days then a rotor started slipping. Took it back and every store has been out of the helicopters since then. Too bad. They finally get something great and now they can't get any more. P.S. Daughter's quite happy with her replacement scooter.

I also cut my teeth in radio shack. While I may have been in them quite a bit, I also learned to stay away from the "RealTone"/"Realistic" brands. Radio Shack was great for gen purpose IC's, the "Cookbook" series tutorials, cables, adapters, etc...

I think their problem is they didn't know how to adapt. If you think about the first electronics, they had "replaceable parts". Tubes, switches, wire and the like, that could be replaced. How many people remember the vacuum tube test station and the boxes of replacement tubes for old B&W TV's? Once electronics became so integrated there became fewer parts that could be replaced. Last I looked in a simple remote control, the only WIRE was for the battery clip. One side of the battery clip was soldered to the board with the wire for the other side. This just to note that there is not an economical way to replace a membrane switch for the "Mute" button.

On a like note, if they would release things like prebuilt modules, like IR emitters/transmitter, simple logic modules and scr/triac modules (solid state relays) with say heatsink and lugs. As to the transmitter, a module that has simple i/o (RS232?) to other modules - not just buying an IR LED. With stuff like that, I would be there buying.

Also, how many times have you been in a rush and stopped by rat shack for a cable or adapter? Then, ended up with a cable that was close but you had to spend $15 for the adapters to get it right? They were masters of that...

"One thing they needed to change is the practice of asking for your name when you buy anything. I hate that.My name is "Cash" as in "Cash Customer" can I now pay for my $2.00 adapter?"

LOL

If you've ever been to Fry's, it's like Radio Shack on steroids. Sure, Fry's has awful customer service, but they've got a lot of stuff. I think the internet is Radio Shack's downfall. Where once RS was the only place to get things, now it's not.

i've never had ANY hassles at my local shack. No asking for names, no zip codes, cc's, phones, etc. I go in say "need this" get it & leave.

But the reason they stopped doing all the do it yourself stuff is because of stores like circuit City & Walmart. They couldn't compete. Had a 30 minutes conversation with one of hte local shack guys. Nobody was buying components anymore so they had to stop selling them... they were loosing money on parts. Nobody wants parts anymore, everyone throws stuff away & buys new stuff (except me!)

When my son was 3 we bought him a remote control 4WD from Radio Shack (called Tandy over here).
He's now 26 - last week his son turned 3 and I restored the same 4WD, bought new batteries and presented it to young Jackson.
23 year old vehicle - not bad for longevity.

I have found the staff is not at all knowledgeable about the products they sell and some items I've bought there have not lasted long (radios, clocks, tape recorder). Annoying to be asked for my name, address, etc. - almost as much as being pestered at Future Shop or Best Buy to get an extended warranty for practically anything they sell.

Sadly, I think Radio Shack has seen it's better days.

I bought my first 300 baud modem to go in my Tandy TRS-80 computer from Radio Shack. It used TRS-DOS... really good memories of those guys.

It used to be that the Radio Shack folks new it all, but no, they're almost the last place I'd go for electronics or anything else, and if I need something, I better know what it is instead of relying on the staff for help.

I'm gonna miss them.

It is a shame. I don't think I can count the number of Radio Shack cables, adapters, sockets, plugs, etc., I have around here.

My first purchase at Radio Shack was a phone plug. I was 14 years old and just getting into audio. At that time Radio Shack was a hole in the wall store in Scolly Square (since renamed Government Center) in Boston. Lots of tables with cardboard boxes of surplus parts. Then it was bought out and grown into a retail monster. The last time I entered a Radio Shack they no longer had any electronic parts. "We've phased those out, try another store". I liked the original better.

I used to go there every week to buy parts too, for various pcb projects I'd work on (like strobe lights and radio kits etc) when I was a kid.

right re the "free battery of the month" card, that was a great idea to get people back in the store...

agree not enough people still doing it themselves to support the store, frankly I'm surprised they're still in business... there's not enough electronic hobbyists out there anymore .. and so much stuff is cheap re electronics, nobody fixes things anymore..

remember tube tvs? and the smell of soldering irons?

"I like the smell of solder in the evening, it smells like Victory."

ah those were the days... :p

ken

Over the years I have purchased so much from Radio Shack. I still have a 30 year old excellent receiver in operation. I purchased 12 100 watt 12" guitar speakers and built several cabinets. I bought one of their 4 track open reel decks. I had several color computers and I must have had at least three dozen microphones and oodles of adapters over the years.

I have been in the local Radio Shack store only once in the last three years.

I popped into what was a Radio Shack and is now a Source/Circut City.

I had a 100 dollar coupon for the mall it was located in and was thinking about putting that towards a portable DVD player. I go in the very crowded and unorganized store, and couldn't find the portable DVD players. I finally saw them up high behind the cashiers till. Apparently they're supceptable to theft. A very unhappy looking youngish guy looks at me as asked if I wanted to buy any of the players I was looking at "way up there" I smiled awkwardly and asked, uhm, well can I see one. He says sure....and just lets me browse them from about 10 feet away.

I asked if I can see one unit closer, he grunts, unplugs it and brings it down to me. Kinda cheap looking but hard to tell the image quality "when it's unplugged !!" I asked, how's the picture on this, he looks at me and says, well didn't you see it when it was on ???

I said, yeah I saw it......from way back here. Indicating it would be nice to see one close and turned on. He sighs looks to the wall and says, I gotta go .......I mean, I'm off now, you don't mind do ya ? Don't take it personally.

Apparently I had the gall of talking to him 5 minutes before his shift was over. He had his coat on in 30 seconds. A younger guys took his place who had that " I skateboard poorly and without a helmet" look in his eyes. He looks at me and says, you gonna buy that ?

I walked out.....

Good job Source.

you guys have REALLY crappy shack stores... the guys in mine are practicly geniouses! They let me look at things, know where EVERYTHING is in the store, answer anything I ask...

Here's a site that will definetly interest you guys:

http://support.radioshack.com/productinfo/

it has tech support info for almost everything sold at Radio Shack. Ever. :) I even found support doc's for my origional 14.4 data/fax/voice modem & the Tandy 100 RL my parents bought back in '85/86. :)

One time I went into Radio Shack, the sales associate tried to sell me an extended warranty on a firewire cable. Which already had a lifetime warranty from the manufacturer.

I shop at Radio Shack quite frequently simply because it's a block from my office, and there isn't anywhere else to pick up a quick cable, connecter, etc within 5+ miles. Quite right though, it's hard to find the parts for all the me-too gadget displays now - they are trying to do a little of everything, but not enough of anything to have a decent selection - what's up with selling 5 or 6 TVs when Best Buy has 100s at a better price (worse service, granted)?

RS had 10' (I believe) Monster DVI monitor cables on a blowout rack before Christmas for something like $12 each (regularly a quite overpriced $120). I had just paid $20 online for generic brands...

Damn shame!
Where will I get my Heathkit stuff now?

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2001/01/10/tandy_online_dead/
Tandy UK