Finally Radio Shack may be closing

[DrPizza]

Well worth the read.

I didn't feel bad that Radio Shack was going out of business. They completely missed the boat dozens of times; completely inept management at the top.

Now, though, I feel good that they're going out of business, except that the inept management at the top is probably giving themselves bonuses for going out of business.

 

[AznAnarchy99]

This link is appropriate, and interesting:

http://www.sbnation.com/2014/11/26/7281129/radioshack-eulogy-stories

Just read the whole thing. I do not know how that guy stuck it out for 3 years.

 

[sandorski]

They were the shiznit back in the day. Decent Audio Electronics, a pioneer of the PC Industry, DIY Speaker supplier, and the go to source for Geeks/Nerds for Electronic components and information to play around with. They just were not able to adjust to their competition and lost their niche a long time ago.

 

[slag]

Honestly when was the last time you bought something from RS?

Right before Christmas. I needed a small speaker for an animated christmas toy that hadn't worked in a couple years. Took it apart, unsoldered the speaker, brought it into radio shack, found an almost exact replacement for 3 bucks, soldered it back in, and voila, it now works. I go there often for odds and ends and hope they do not close.

 

[preslove]

This link is appropriate, and interesting:

http://www.sbnation.com/2014/11/26/7281129/radioshack-eulogy-stories

Wow. I entered this thread kind of sad, but now I'm happy they're going away.

 

[Red Squirrel]

They're still around?

They all changed to "The Source" here years ago and don't really sell electronic hobby stuff anymore. I think they have a small section, literally a cubby hole, where they sell resistors, switches, solder and stuff of that nature.

For electronic components there's Digikey and sites like that now anyway.

 

[sandorski]

This link is appropriate, and interesting:

http://www.sbnation.com/2014/11/26/7281129/radioshack-eulogy-stories

Humorous and depressing all at once.

 

[nageov3t]

the one time I needed a new mouse in an emergency (was working from home, mouse up and died for no reason, and I didn't have a spare), it was nice having a Radio Shack down the block that I could pop into for a replacement.

of course, I could do the same thing at Walmart with an extra 15 minute drive.

 

[Thebobo]

My first, Stereo, Cellphone All from RS
Use to go up at least once a month for parts and just to look.

Check out the stuff they had wow.
http://www.radioshackcatalogs.com/catalog_directory.html

My first stereo, with magnetic phono inputs!!

 

[TheVrolok]

Is there another good option for last minute electronics parts? I don't do projects nearly as often as I used to, but it was nice to be able to make a 15-20 minute drive to find an LED/resistor/whatever I needed in a pinch.

 

[Imp]

Where the heck am I supposed to get parts for my Realistic police scanner now?

Radio Shack pulled out of Canada about 10 years ago. Circuit City bought them out and were rebranded "The Source by Circuit City". When they went under, Bell Canada bought them, so now it's just "The Source". They mostly sell cell phones and accessories now. Still carry some electronics like TVs and laptops, but not much.

I was actually blowing The Source off for the longest time, then I realized that they have pretty good sales compared to places like BB. Unfortunately, their selection isn't the best.

 

[sandorski]

Is there another good option for last minute electronics parts? I don't do projects nearly as often as I used to, but it was nice to be able to make a 15-20 minute drive to find an LED/resistor/whatever I needed in a pinch.

None that I know of, but haven't even been curious of that for a couple decades.

 

[Sonikku]

This link is appropriate, and interesting:

http://www.sbnation.com/2014/11/26/7281129/radioshack-eulogy-stories

8:00 a.m. Someone almost walks in. She kind of turns toward the store, sees 11 of us just standing and staring at her, and turns a 180. Don't blame you, ma'am.

D:

 

[PlanetJosh]

Oh no where am I going to get those special hard to find connectors like older audio connections and all those other electronic accessories that only Radio Shack seemed to have. nm, Amazon.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Is there another good option for last minute electronics parts? I don't do projects nearly as often as I used to, but it was nice to be able to make a 15-20 minute drive to find an LED/resistor/whatever I needed in a pinch.

Unfortunately don't think there's really any other places. Thankfully a lot of that stuff is really cheap though, make an online order at a place like Digikey and buy all sorts of various values of resistors and capacitors that you think you'll need.

Also nice to keep old circuit boards. When I throw out stuff like a faulty monitor or UPS I keep the circuit boards. I can pick pieces off as I need them.. of course it's faulty for a reason, so some of those parts might be dead. I've only recently gotten into electronics myself though, so have not really done any real projects.

If you're very stuck, a piece of paper and a pencil makes a great resistor.

 

[drez]

I remember when you could build circuit boards with parts you could buy from radio shack.

 

[AMCRambler]

Last time I went to Radioshack I needed a mounting caddy to put a 2.5" laptop drive into a 3.5" drive bay. Used to be when nobody had a component or part like that, Radioshack would be the one to find it at. I asked the guys behind the counter and they just laughed and said "Nope". I realize now they were laughing at how pitiful the 'Shack has become.

 

[mmntech]

This link is appropriate, and interesting:

http://www.sbnation.com/2014/11/26/7281129/radioshack-eulogy-stories

Wow, that brought back a few memories working in retail. The rental agency wasn't nearly as bad though. Customers treated the employees far worse than management.

 

[SKORPI0]

Too bad, but their electronic parts have decreasing in availability over the years. :\

http://stores.ebay.com/Dalbani-Corporation <- one place I've ordered from for quite a while.

 

[zerocool84]

Is there another good option for last minute electronics parts? I don't do projects nearly as often as I used to, but it was nice to be able to make a 15-20 minute drive to find an LED/resistor/whatever I needed in a pinch.

Luckily here in California we have this chain called Fry's Electronics. They sell stuff normal electronics like Best Buy but also sell specialized electronic parts as well.

 

[Fritzo]

Seriously though- where am I going to buy my electronics parts? I don't know how many times I've treked over there for a capacitor, replacement LEDs, soldiering equipment, etc. Not many local stores have that stuff and it sucks if you have to order in and need it immediately.

 

[pontifex]

This link is appropriate, and interesting:

http://www.sbnation.com/2014/11/26/7281129/radioshack-eulogy-stories

This has to be fake, right?

He says:
The long-term employees were often like me -- we would have moved on if we could have found anything better.


And:
It's fair to ask me why I worked there for so long. I just couldn't find a job I thought was better, and tried to convince myself in the moment that it wasn't so bad.


So this is either fake or this guy is a fucking retard.

So Radio Shack was the shittiest place to work at but there was nothing better, which means it was the best place to work?

 

[mmntech]

Is there another good option for last minute electronics parts? I don't do projects nearly as often as I used to, but it was nice to be able to make a 15-20 minute drive to find an LED/resistor/whatever I needed in a pinch.

There's a small chain in Toronto called Sayal Electronics which still sells parts for hobbyists. In fact that's all they sell. Got a nice 12V DC bench supply in there which I use to charge my RC gear.

This has to be fake, right?

He says:
The long-term employees were often like me -- we would have moved on if we could have found anything better.


And:
It's fair to ask me why I worked there for so long. I just couldn't find a job I thought was better, and tried to convince myself in the moment that it wasn't so bad.


So this is either fake or this guy is a fucking retard.

So Radio Shack was the shittiest place to work at but there was nothing better, which means it was the best place to work?

No, speaking form personal experience, it's probably true. There may not have been better opportunities where he was at the time. He doesn't mention where the job was located, but he did say the store was in a dead mall. Probably an indication that the area was in an economic downturn. When you don't have a lot of cash, it's hard to just pack up and move too.

 

[Lifted]

This link is appropriate, and interesting:

http://www.sbnation.com/2014/11/26/7281129/radioshack-eulogy-stories

Having worked at Radio Shack when I was 18 for a few months, I'm absolutely certain all of those incidents are true.

I have my own version of the sewage story. A few weeks before I quit, there was a large snow storm and the weather was doing the warm days, frozen nights routine. That caused a crack in the foundation which led to a flood in the basement, which was essentially the stock room. Some was kept on shelves, some in piles on the floor.

The day I showed up and was told of the flood, I went down to find 2+ feet of water with mice floating by on whatever merchandise was buoyant enough not to sink after being water logged for a week. Most of them were screaming little mouse screams, probably after watching their friends and family drown in the ice cold water.

Fast forward a week and the water was pumped out leaving just the smell of dead, rotting mice. Every time we needed to get stock to put out, we'd have to hunt around down there for half an hour, looking for inventory that had dried out to put on display for customers to purchase. It was never it's in intended location after floating to some other part of the huge basement.

A few weeks of selling soaked electronics later, they finally decided it was time to do an inventory and determine what was too damaged to sell and would need to be reordered. This involved spending 10 or so hours in the basement counting each and every item, some with dead mice and mouse shit in, on, and under the water logged boxes. I told the manager I quit and she proceeded to have a break down. She clearly didn't want to deal with all that by herself. I caved and helped her for a couple of hours before the I couldn't take the stench any longer and told her sorry, time for me to go.

 

[Anubis]

Honestly when was the last time you bought something from RS?

last month

i needed some BNC Y splitters