Haven't been to a microcenter (there are 2 in chicago area, but too far into the city). However I have been to a fry's.. Still very far away, but at least it's in the burbs. It's a much nicer place than radio shack was even in the hayday. I only wish it were closer.

The unfortunate part is the store managers and workers have less knowledge than patrons that go into a RadioShack asking for specific parts.

I had to school someone on the differences of standard fuses, beyond amperage limits. Specifically, areas such as fast and slow blo, and actual terminology such as manufacturer markings.

In return, he showed me his cool "black book" on how to grow different crossbreeds of marijuana.
I went along for humor.
"Life in the Pacific Northwest."

RadioShack has been pretty notoriously mismanaged by head-in-butt people for like a decade now, I remember about a year ago there were a flurry of stories from people who worked there that painted a pretty ghastly picture of utter incompetence and total ignorance of the market.

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For humor. . .yeh, that's the ticket. : > )

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Here's hoping some of you have a local place like this place (physical location in Mentor OH): http://www.electronicsurplus.com/

You can easily spend all day wandering around the store and finding cool stuff to buy. And the people you talk to in the store know their stuff.

TRS80 here, new to the site! There's another old thread about the posting our finds from the Radio Shack closing sales from the last bankruptcy. Rather than perform thread necromancy the first time out, I figured I'd post on this thread:
Our local stores both closed 2 days ago, after their initial closing dates were pushed out twice. My best was going with Pinball Jr. and filling a $30 small bag entirely with components (especially fuses and switches, and he has an obsession with LED's.) The young, far out dude running the register was pretty loose on the "handles must tie" rule.
We fit over $200 worth in that bag and the retail was over $2,000. Our register tape was over 25 feet long. I'll post some pics when I can get them off my phone.
And... I know the guy who posted the $60 take all score over on the Electronics subReddit. He said that he went in to maybe grab a few more things the last day they were open. The manager walked in, was shocked how much component inventory was still there, said they had to get rid it, turned to him and said "how about it, $60 for everything?" "Everything" was almost $24,000 retail. They only had to scan 1 SKU that represented the remaining inventory. It was a LOT of stuff.

Adios, Radio Shack, and from "TRS80", thanks for the TRS80 - that machine started the careers of many of us.

The Radio Shacks around me started to do their clearance sales and I wanted to get a few of their part draws. One of the stores that still had them was able to sell them to me but with a few catches. I had to buy all 8 of them and I couldn't take them till they're empty. I agreed to buy all 8 (side note I may be selling a few of them in the future if anyone's interested lol) Then I asked if I could buy all the parts in them just to speed up the process. They said I could and they'll give me 90% off but they'll need to scan every piece! I was hoping they would say $300 for all the parts but after scanning one set of draws it was already at $300+ after the 90% off. I ended up just cherry picking some components and waiting for them to be empty.

In the 60s, stereo systems were rather primitive. In the early 70s, stereos came of age with the baby boomers. My military buddies who had spent time overseas came home with those nice Sansui stereos. My stereo came from RS. The RS Realistic brand. The RS store had an entire wall of stereos to fit any budget. I got my money's worth from that Realistic stereo.

Next up was in 1973 with the oil crisis. Nixon closed all the gas stations on Sundays and cut the speed limits nationwide to 55. This caused an explosion in everyone getting a CB radio so we could tell each other where all the Smoky Bears were hiding. RS addressed the CB market with walls and walls of CB Radios. Breaker breaker 19. And before Sammy Hagar sang about he can't drive 55, C.W. McCall was singing about Wolfcreek Pass.

A few months ago, post RS bankruptcy, I went to buy some self-stick Velcro strips. The store manager grabbed a pack off of the shelf and was going to ring them up. "How much? I asked. "$15.00", said he. "No way", said me. And I headed off to the other end of the mall to Autozone and got my self-stick Velcro strips for $3.95.

Note to RS management: Don't try to screw over your customers. Your store is handy at times, but you are selling the same stuff everyone else is selling, too.

The local Radio Shack will be open one more week. I loaded up on fuses, diodes, and bridges. They still have a lot of fuses and toggle switches. Parts bins $300 each. There was a few 7400 series chips left, got those also.

When taxless transactions via the internet became more cost effective even considering shipping cost, that was the being of the end of a lot of physical location shopping. When consumers were able to buy from product suppliers overseas and pay shipping and that was still more cost effective than paying local taxes and higher prices that was the end. Who would have thought decades ago that you could buy the same product straight from China, pay shipping and get it cheaper than your local store?

Jeff Bezos

This was my score when my closest radio shack closed in March.

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Bezos got rich off an advantageous tax law (no tax on Amazon purches for at least the first decade or more) and parlayed that fact into the convenience shopping it is now, hooking consumers up directly to lowest cost suppliers, even with the tax applied. Thinking that far ahead, and having to levy Amazon purchases sales tax right from the start of Amazon? Not sure he's a visionary like that or a soothsayer. Not sure he would be anywhere near where he is now without the tax advantage over location shopping. Bezos plan to deal with the upcoming tax on transactions on Amazon, was to strategically locate his warehouses to keep avoiding the taxes until that became problemmatic. Does not sound visionary. Early cash generated from tax advantages fueled the rest of it step-by-step Amazon dealt with it.

I hate to see it go as I would visit a couple times a month for parts. Like some of you I waited for the 80/90% off days and cleaned out the parts bin. Got a ton from the part drawers, Arduino stuff and EL wire. I used the wire and the 7 color flashing LEDs to jazz up my Saitek toy PB.

A reference to this was posted earlier but not the main site. This is an archive of all RS catalogs from 1939 to 03. You can look through the pages of each. http://www.radioshackcatalogs.com/catalog_directory.html

I laugh remembering the 1975 one with Arthur Fiedler, conductor of the Boston Pops Orchestra then, on the cover promoting RS stereo equipment.

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Two examples of people who gave retail storefronts a solid try and unfortunately ended up wasting their time. Like purplemunky said, a lot of this is self-inflicted.

Did the stores post somewhere that they would have a big discount day, or did you just have to keep visiting the location?

We have one about 5 miles away (that's a 45 minute drive most of the time) but it's not like I can drive out there daily

They incrementally discounted the merchandise weekly until closing and this went on for about two months at each location. I don't know if it was ever posted but signs were up along the road and in front of the stores. I lucked out because there was one only half a mile from my house, another about 3 miles and I work in another city and one was not far from my job. They weren't closing all at once. The one 3 miles away started the process first. After it closed the one near my job started the process. After it closed the one near me started and it still has a couple weeks left. Hard to beat Arduino shield kits at $1.50 or $2.

Damn, I've got to at least drive by that location this week

Call before you go and find out where they are in the process and what the stock is like for what you want. The one near me has a couple weeks to go but the parts drawers are almost completely empty. Also, the signs say, for example, up to 90% off. Some sections will only be 60 or 70%. The tools section (soldering irons and such) never dropped below 70%. And it was inconsistent between stores as to what the final discounts on the same sections would be. The store near work dropped the parts drawer to 90% after the first couple weeks but the one near me is still at 70%. All the employees were confused as to pricing also. Arduino and maker section had a sign 70% but when rung up the discount was higher. I went back and grabbed a few more things.

I'd hate you to drive all that way to find no stock for what you want or discount you were expecting.

Pinball Jr. told me about the closest Radio Shack closing. From there, I stopped into 2 more that aren't too far from my commute. Then I called a few others. Their closing schedules can change also. There's several within a reasonable drive for me that are open until the end of the month. Being friendly with their employees can reveal info about closures at other stores, whether the deals will get better, and so on.
The soldering equipment was 70% and went pretty quickly except for the tips. Some Arduino stuff was 90% off, I got a few shields, enclosures, and range sensors. Those were taken pretty quickly as well. My friend on the Reddit forum ($60 take all) went with another friend when they announced the sale and they got protoboards etc. which were long gone by the time I got there.
It helped to go back to a store that was open longer after making a few raids, as now I know what to look for before it sells out and I can leave some fuses etc. for the rest of you pinheads
One of the stores had $1 for anything in the parts drawer, which aside from a very few items isn't a good deal.
Also some stores said that they were going to send inventory to others that were open longer.
No pics yet.. those USB device drivers.. argh.. I did measure the register tape from my $30 bag and it is 33 feet long! Anyone got one that's longer?
$60 Reddit friend spent about 5 hours rough sorting out his parts haul into categories. The boxes he got contained the contents of the drawers dumped in.
Near the end they were more inclined to make deals. The parts cabinets were long sold in the nearest store, but their new owners had to wait until they were emptied to take them.
One guy wanted to buy all the drawer contents and left the manager his # ... which didn't work. That was at the store just before Pinball Jr. and I made our $30 bag raid. If he did come back, he got a lot less than he would have!
Good luck and happy hunting everyone!
-- TRS80

Yea I called about 5 radio shacks in a 40 mile radius of me. A few barely had anything left and were closing in 2 days. The others didn't have a close date yet so they still had stuff but the sales weren't as good. You need to find that sweet spot with supply and sales.

Sounds like some folks did amazingly well... i thought i had struck gold at the RadioShack near me. Here's 3 receipts chronicling my 3 trips there, first trip on the left, last trip on the right. Most of the stuff i bought is in the pic. Black Hole lower playfield for scale

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TRS80, that's exactly what I did. Grabbed the large proto boards (3) and that kind of stuff early. I kept going back to all of the stores and getting better deals. I bought every 12v and 125v relay along with the last couple of sockets for them, rectifiers, high wattage resistors and different toggle and power switches in one of the visits. Things I may need for a future project.

In the closing week of one store I picked up a microcontroller experiment board kit and a motorized robot gripper. Don't know what I'm going to do with them but they were only a few dollars each.

I stopped by today at the store near me and Final Week sign was up. Picked up all the tips they had left for my soldering iron (50c) and 12v SLA batteries ($8).

The parts drawers are awesome! Here's mine that I got from my local RadioShack, including an absolutely ton of components.

Here's an example after filling up a couple of drawers with some Comet LEDs and incandescent flashers.
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frunch That's a nice quality haul indeed!
I see some BASIC stamps, none of my local 'Shacks have had those in a long time.
--TRS80

I couldn't believe it, 90% off them, too! Actually bought 5 for $4 each, and gave one to my brother to tinker with. Got a ton of EL wire, 4 of each motor they carried, a dozen or so 12 and 110v relays, some basic soldering stuff to give my buddy for his birthday (to go with the pinball machine we gave him last year)... It goes on and on. Not sure what I'm gonna do with it all, but I'm sure it'll be interesting...

Oh, and my favorite grab so far:

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frunch - You got enough EL wire? I only got 10 sets with the inverter for each. I probably got 2/3rds of that. Did you get in on the parts drawer buy2get2 deal?

Haha, yeah i went a little overboard since it was like $1.50-2 a roll! 12 inverters or so, too. The first trip there they were doing the buy-2-get-2 on the parts drawer stuff, which was also 70% off! I got a bunch of caps, fuses, transistors, etc. Each time i go, the deal is different. On my last trip, it was 90% off most electronics, unless marked differently. I've nearly run out of stuff to stock up on, though I'm very interested now in buying the drawers themselves if possible! I'm gonna inquire on them this week.

I've kept a lot of my parts organized in one of the largest Plano tackle boxes you can get along with a drawer in a cabinet. Think I'm going to go the route of a small rolling tool cart.

Check out the upgrade to my Saitek toy pin for just a few dollars thanks to the RS demise. Two ELs, 4 super bight and 4 - 7seven color flashing LEDS.

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Hope that all of you Pinheads are enjoying Memorial Day Weekend! It's the last few days before the remaining Radio Shack store closings happen in my area. The stores that are still open are somewhat of a drive, and Mrs. Pinball is questioning the rationale of another trip, when I have so much already? Can't complain though as HER family are pinheads.
I went back to a 'Shack I'd been to before and passed on and found... 2 Basic Stamp Experimenters for $4 each! I got them both. Thanks frunch for putting me on the lookout for them! There was E/L wire but it wasn't that cheap so I passed. The components were still $1 each. I looked for the $20 LED package, they were gone. They did have robotics stuff but still too pricey. And.. my USB drivers are still not cooperating so no pics yet.
For component storage, I use a combination of tupperware, Chinese food plastic containers, ziploc bags and cardboard boxes. Not the easiest access but cheap.
--TRS80

DEAL ALERT! I went to a Radio Shack and was told that they were having a "fill up a bag" sale on Memorial Day. He said, in the past, that you fill a RS bag and it would be like $5 or $10 for everything you can fit. Not sure if its all RS or just select stores. May want to call your local to find out.

mine closed without telling me.

Due to my stroke and three brain surgeries, I was unable to take advantage of radio shacks demise. I hope you all get to stock up!

The Radio Shack by me closes soon and they jacked up the price of components to a dollar each. It was cheaper a few weeks ago when they were 80% off.

Pinball Jr. and I hit a different Radio Shack today. No components, nothing too good. Got a Molex pin extractor and a VGA to HDMI converter. Asst. Mgr. couldn't tell me if they are going to do a bag sale, or not.
Anyway.. here's a pic of my earlier $30 bag haul being rung up - the one with the 33 foot long receipt.
--TRS80

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https://ubidestates.hibid.com/catalog/103245/radioshack-auction--1/?

Saw this on the Radio Shack website ... They are auctioning a bunch of rare and old stuff / crap ???

I was able to finally pick up my part draws. The manger that was helping me orginally was either let go or quit so make sure to save your receipt if you have to back and pick up your stuff like me. My radio shack was weird cause a lot of their part draw items were hung up even before the store announced they were closing and if I was gonna buy all the parts I would have had to buy the wall too.

Picked the draws up Friday night asked the worker if I could buy the remaining parts for a single blow out price. She said no still a $1 a part (blah). But I ended up making her an offer on the hand truck I used to wheel the draws out. Sold me it for $10 but again I'll have to pick it up either on the last day or the day before the last day. Was told to call in the morning and see which day I can pick it up.

Called Saturday morning and they said they'll call me Tuesday. I mentioned if they want to sell the remaining parts let me know. The new worker said actually we just put them all on sale fill a box with parts for $60 a box! I drove back to the radio shack and the boxes they used were nice size boxes! Was able to fit all the components into 3 boxes. Got the last box half off cause it wasn't over flowing like the other two. Used my hand truck to wheel them to the car and was tempted to just leave with it but I brought it back cause the workers there were nice people.

Now all I have to do is organize all these parts and pick up my hand truck

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What did you pay for the parts drawers? Prices seem to be all over the place.

Don't know if this was already posted, but I thought it was interesting...

That was interesting.

I had 7 stores all over my town. They all closed. I did not know I would miss them until they were gone. There is no comparison between buying online and having to wait for shipment or being able to jump in the car and be home with the parts you needed in less than an hour.

Luckily, I found an independently owned "franchise" about 10 miles from me. The parts are not as cheap as online but they are there. Like right now.

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Yes, there are still many independent Radio Shack dealers out there. There are also Radio Shack stores inside of some Hobby Town stores.

Yup - nearest one to me now is an Express inside a Hobby Town, 27 miles away.

Rad ioS hack

The Hobby Town stores that have it, their websites have a red square with a R in the middle, and above it Radio Shack Express. If you want to check if a Hobby Town store has it or not.

LTG : )

The confusing thing is that online sales only account for about 11% of total sales, but online growth rate is significantly higher than retail. I’m surprised that such a relatively small share has so greatly impacted the health of traditional brick and mortar. There has to be a variety of other factors that contribute to traditional business failure.

One big factor is that there's no under/over-saturation online.

While I loved RS, in the late '90s there were _six_ of 'em within 10 miles of my house, all carrying pretty much the exact same stock - basically, they ate each others' lunches. Then the "bust" came, and there was only _one_, but they were frequently out of stock on popular items almost immediately after shipments came, and there was no "backup" location nearby they could send you to.

People are lazy and don’t want the hassle of actually leaving the house to buy something. And that’s where the problem begins. When there isn’t bodies in the actual store there is no impulse buying going on. They get the one specific thing they need and that’s it. For example, when I run out of butter and head to the grocery, I’m walking out with beer, frozen pizzas, and all kinds of other shit. Sometimes I even forget to get the butter I went there for.

I grew up in Radio Shack...literally. My dad owned two of them when I was a kid. I think he sold out around 1986 or 1987. I remember watching news of the pine tar home run and the challenger disaster there. I typed in programs from the manual on a TRS-80 there when I was about 5. Wish I'd learned some of the electronics business back then. They had a repair shop in the back for fixing things for customers. Being 4-10 years old, I was more interested in Atari and cartoons. Dad isn't too fond of what Radio Shack has become. Glad he got out while times were still good.