hey guys im just posting this to see if your radio shack is going out of business ? i have 2-3 within 25miles and they are all closing one by one
right know they are 25% off and they have lead free soldering wire at by 10 get 50% off and on the small parts like resistors,diodes,switches ect....
all the Radio Shacks in Canada here became “TheSource” stores years ago.
Your post made me recall reading this a while back.
Sad news. 30 years ago, Radio Shack was about the only place to get electronic components. It was Radio Shack or a mail order catalog, with a 2-3 month wait. I don’t think they adapted very well. Whatever brilliant mind thought to turn it mostly into a mobile phone store … chose poorly.
I loved going to radio shack back in the 80’s, it was actually fun (For me at least) to talk to the guys that worked there, most of them were real electronic hobbyists, today they just give you blank stares when you ask for an electronics part… 
ill be there when they go 50% need to buy more shelf's to store my parts on
I doubt they would have lasted this long without the mobile phone business. Electronics components for hobbyists was probably only ever viable as a sideline to electronics components for DIY A/V equipment repair, and the days of that business were numbered as soon as transistors and integrated circuits made it into the mainstream. The CB radio craze didn’t last. Their electronics lines probably became increasingly unprofitable. They computer business was good, for a while, but I suspect that Dell and Gateway gutted it. They tried to take advantage of the DIY/maker resurgence, but it was too little, too late, especially in the age of online commerce.
Don’t get me wrong, I started going there when I was 6 or 7, read the catalog back to front and back again, and I would appreciate if if they remained a nearby source of misc components and tools.
RadioShack has filed for bankruptcy protection.
That sucks ill be heading there tomorrow to see if the 75% off yet, see if i can get some goodies
Good riddance at their demise, but I can’t help being a tiny bit wistful for their free battery club. Endless joy for a young whippersnapper. (Mid 70s… dunno if it lasted longer than that.)
too bad they didn’t choose to change/update their business model…
Sure it’s hard to keep up…but with the radio shack name they should have been able to dominate online sales by more or less massively expanding their product offerings…
Should have become an “electronics outlet” type store…hey need insert this cheap component or product…hey Radio Shack’s got it
Not any more…end of an era
they had some poor guy there, sitting on a desk (they sold all the chairs?), and all that was left were batteries and a samsung tablet in a locked display case that wasn’t for sale. just got paid yesterday so i’m hitting the other one near me today
If they tried at all they didn’t try very hard. An arduino uno (and that’s it, no a single accessory included) was $50+, hell a 1/2 size breadboard was $18.99. I understand prices in a B&M storefront are going to be higher than online only dealers, but when they’re selling literally the same thing for 100% more, well no mystery there. IMO they could of ran with the DIY / maker resurgence thing, not another B&M store in my area sells that stuff. If they would of priced it at a reasonable markup, and not 100% internet retail (and then put atleast one guy in each store that understood it that you could have a real convo with) they might of gotten it to take off.
Having said that- Im going tomorrow, assuming >50% off I’ll probably buy out most of their component stock (and Ive got a few other things in mind I’ll see what sales are).
In case anyone wants to go memory lane.
http://www.radioshackcatalogs.com/catalog_directory.html
Here is the 1966 catalog in HTML. http://www.radioshackcatalogs.com/html/1966/
And the 1966 catalog large format http://www.radioshackcatalogs.com/catalogs/1966/
Think they were only ever known as Tandy in the UK rather than Radioshack. But they all went along time ago over here. Must be 15-20 years since last seeing one.
Radio Shack used to be a big deal when they started opening stores in all the new shopping malls built throughout America starting in late 1960s through 80s. They just got stale and consumers stopped shopping there. They are still like the guy wearing plastic pocket protector in shirt pocket with a slide rule hanging on hip. Radio Shack stores still thought people would come in their stores with a brown paper bag full of TV tubes to get checked on machine in corner of store. When micro computers first took off, Radio Shack Tandy machines out sold Apples 3 to 1. Radio Shack missed the boat a long time ago…sad.
At 50% off a lot of their small components would still cost more then ordering them online, maybe at 75% off I would go take a look. I have only been inside a Radio Shack once in the last few years, and I did not buy anything. I ended up going home and ordering from an online supplier. I believe I did buy some diodes for a 12v conversion I did on one of my tractors a few years ago…
Sprint and RadioShack pen deal to establish 1,750 co-branded stores
http://www.androidcentral.com/sprint-and-radioshack-pen-deal-establish-1750-co-branded-stores
I’m gonna miss ’em. Although it’s been a while I can remember the days that I needed a 10K pot, roll of solder, a 555 timer and some heatsink compound or a dpdt switch or relay and -bang … could have ’em all back home for the project in 1/2 hour. RIP RS. You’ll be missed.
back in 70s an area in nyc where original WTC were build used to be called radio row, it was full of stores that sold electronic components. the city used eminent domain and kicked all stores out, to make way for wtc complex. they used to sell so much more electronic parts than radioshack. once they closed down and stores demoed, those stroes dissapeard. now there are few strores that sell components in nyc, on canal street, but they do not have much in stock, but they can get you stuff you need, but they lost their relavance as internet shopping became more common, now you can get any part from any part of the world. sadly imo, time for such components stores is over.