I remember walking in there and drooling over the computers I couldn't afford and the electronic kits I couldn't(yet) understand.

No more Radioshacks around here. One was still vacant (at least about a month a go when I passed by). Interestingly enough, that one is near a Toys R Us which was recently bought by Aldi. They gutted an renovated the building, and just opened it a couple months ago.

Another radioshack was turned into a cell phone store (so I guess not much changed there, lol), and I haven't been by the others in the region in a long time, so I'm not sure if others store replaced them by now, or if they're still vacant.

pasted_image (resized).png

The experience is very similar in my area. I don't even bother with Radio Shack anymore. The experienced people that could actually help you find things have moved on and replaced my millennials that have no idea about any electronic parts, what they do or where to find them. But they know all about cell phone activation and cell phone data plans for sale. We don't even have Frye Electronics in my area. Everything has to be ordered on line and you wait for delivery. It is depressing.

I played with the magnets and built pyramids out of 9 volt batteries (which made them very hot by the way)

Some of the gadgets and curiosities they had over the years were neat. Anyone remember this guy?

I either had that or played with it at the store. I took a lot of store toys to school for Show and Tell.

I'm positive I took this one to school. I probably still have it at my parents house

s-l1600 (resized).jpg

Decades ago I couldn't wait for the new RS catalog every year. Almost like a kid waiting for the Sears toy catalog that came out every year around xmas. I also worked at a major defense contractor. While at the local RS store at the mall, I told the salesperson if he just gave me a carton of catalogs I'd take them in to work, and they would gone and in the hands of electrical engineers in a matter of minutes. He took me up on the offer - and sure enough, I bet they were gone in about 15 minutes after I cracked the box open.

Did the same for years

I had one of those Robie Robot coin banks..

My favorite was the Genie Bottle. Way better than a Magic 8 Ball. Plus it blew smoke which I could not figure out how. My O Scale Train was a Marx that did not emit smoke like Lionel's did so I didn't have the inside scoop at the time.

Robie the robot's program is a round disc, with bumps and groves, like
the disc that controls the arm on the Judge Dread machine

Always a RS fan... still have a few of their Electronic "build" kits running around in a closet somewhere. Still have a RS multimeter or two... and a pair of logic probes and pulsers.

IMHO; they lost their way when they went nearly full on Cell Phone. They couldn't be trusted anymore except for the occasional resistor or switch for some project. That said; I still wish one or two existed in the wild. It'd be nice to see them resurrect with a renewed focus on the nerdy things in life... like radios, heathkits, and other STEM type products. But I'm not sure enough people would be interested in that kind of a store.

Bought all of my CB radios at Radio Shack. My base unit was powerful with a ginormous mic and antenna. Used to "skip" at night and talk to other CB enthusiasts hundreds of miles away at times. ("CQ...CQ.....CQDX")

Bought my first computer; a "Trash 80". Played text only games. ("You're now standing at a lake.....").

We still have a couple of Radio Shacks in the area but they're a shadow of what they used to be.

Did you see that someone posted most of the Infocom text only games to github? I believe that they have a compiler running that will let you build those games for modern systems.

Sort of related we are getting low on Ace Hardware's around here in Madison. It's kind of like Radio Shack in that it's overpriced but they have things you can't find at Menards/Home Depot/Lowes.

This site might interest you.
http://www.radioshackcatalogs.com/

Was at Fry's Electronics tonight out here in Ca. Does not look like they will be in business much longer. Shelves were empty and racks were bleak.

Wow, a trip down memory lane!

Thanks DH!

Was in my local one awhile back and it was the same thing

Seriously?

You appear logged in and registered so if you get the initial message “content only available to registered Pinsiders” try reloading the page, that usually does the trick for me. In this case it prevents sensitive content from showing up on search engines and such.

Lol, thanks! I had never seen that before

I used to browse the "sale table" at Radio Shack on a regular basis for things that I "might" need at bargain prices. Bought all kinds of things there, including a gigantic 100 mile TV antenna and tripod mount, computers, electronic parts, batteries, etc, etc... If I needed something special, the guy at the desk would look it up for me in their catalog and have it for me in the store to purchase in a few days. All that has disappeared and makes me feel like a dinosaur...

I picked up some good stuff at the sale table over the years: some Velleman kits, a shortwave receiver, and an FRS radio, all dirt cheap.
I think though that I missed out on one of the best deals, when they flushed out Color Computer 3's in the early '90s for $10...

Pinball Jr. got a huge TV antenna from the closing sale, gratis. He tore it apart with the intention of making a 2m ham radio Yagi antenna out of it.

Well, we've been putting our stash of parts to good use: Two of my brother in laws are pinheads. I get parts requests from them for switches, caps, diodes, transistors, and ESPECIALLY slo blo fuses. I think he set a record for how many fuses can you blow in a day troubleshooting! I told them before asking, go to the Radio Shack catalog, if it's in there, the chances are pretty good that we have it!

Just after the closeout sales 4 years ago several guys showed up at the local hamfest peddling a trailerful of Radio Shack stuff.

The Radio Shack gift catalogs throughout time to browse and reminisce before Christmas.
https://www.radioshackcatalogs.com/

About a year ago I was trudging my way through Gateway Plaza, a strange mix of eateries in Breezewood PA. Going up the steps to the 2nd floor there was an odd-ball collection of truck stop amenities including showers, arcade, workout and praying rooms, and next to that a very lonely Radio Shack. The small arcade room had a Dead Pool that I played from time to time and I occasionally went into the "Shack" to see what merchandise they offered. Typical stuff for truckers and that's about it... no electronics whatsoever. I was just shocked that any store would do well in a 2nd floor area of the plaza. Stopped in one last time a few weeks back on my way to take our son back to school, and the Dead Pool was history, along with Radio Shack... the merchandise was gone and all signs and mention of the former store were history.

In an odd twist, Radio Shack still lives online! They were purchased along with a dozen other store names, each got an online catalog of stuff, and each website is basically using the same template, just different merchandise. RadioShack, Pier1, LinenNThings, Modells, SteinMart and others are all part of this odd family of properties now owned by the same company. Each does business online, but a quick look at the merchandise will disappoint any traditional radio shack fan.

When I was a little kid, I waited all year for the Sear's Toy catalog. As I got older - it was the Radio Shack and Lafayette Electronics catalog. Even ended working at a Lafayette Radio franchise when I was in high school, did all repairs.

That was a long time ago! I was born before the 7400 ICs were a thing, and I remember reading about Monsanto introducing the first commercial LED in the early 70s and thinking how solid state light bulbs would change the world. Radio Shacks were great in the discrete component era, but never quite found their PC age value. So much has changed, component style hardware is rare to find, since nearly everything is done in software these days.

The guys specialize in buying bankrupt companies with middle-class name recognition and then goes for a brand-recognition blitz. Apparently they’ve successfully spun off some of them back into standalone companies.

In all fairness most the companies on the list had a lot of meat on the bone, but they had utterly incompetent executive. RadioShack’s final owners killed the one smart thing they had: dedicated manufacturing contracts.

Hopefully the new owners refocus on their core businesses that made those companies successful. They’ve done it before. Some buzz was going around that in the next couple years they will be opening pilot brick & mortar RadioShack’s again

Here's a SnipIt from the top of the Radio web page.

pasted_image (resized).png

When the Radio Shack by my Dad was closing, he talked to the manager and bought 6 of the component drawer units for me. These drawers are awesome for sorting and storing pinball parts.

When the stores were closing around here and pricing things at 95% off, I bought every fuse, connector, IC, transistor, etc. that they had and will be stocked up for years.

Bought this at Radio Shack in 1984. Still works and still use it.

4DB48C9E-69D3-4312-B14A-A1337EFB5733 (resized).jpeg

Remember the days where Bakelite was used for cases on tools like this… instead of cheap plastic.

I still have my dad's (passed long time ago) little Simpson analog around here somewhere. I think I used it more than him when I was a kid, LOL. Likely 1960 era.

I think I still have a working radio shack dvm in my pinball toolbox. I need to go pull out the 9v... It's probably leaking from age.

When my brother passed away a few years back we found in his apartment a pair of wooden Realistic bookshelf speakers that he had grabbed from me (I was 7 yrs his senior). I remember buying em and strapping them onto my bike carrier to get them home. Amazed he hung on to them. Not using them. Just hanging onto them.

Getting my first Fluke digital meter to replace my Micronta analog one was a big “you are a real engineer now, kiddo” moment.

What, you didn't buy the warranty and lifetime battery replacement package??

Stick a lithium in there, or just leave it out.

I bought two drawers for $50. Thought that was too good to pass up and I have it packed with stuff in the garage. Another store offered me eight for $240 and for some reason I said 'nah - I'll go $200 but that's it' Mind you I didn't and still don't need them but it still frosts my ass I didn't just purchase them.

Really neat hearing others 'old time' Radio Shack stories!

I worked there, it was my first real job, I was there right up to the end.
I also heavily regret not having the space or money to buy the parts drawers.

Then again I took them apart, reorganized and labeled literal hundreds of tiny parts tins so many times... the only emotion they spark is cold indifference now

I'm stunned...
PXL_20211205_035500468[1] (resized).jpg

Which triggered a picture fest of the radio shack test equipment I still have. The DVM with the battery from above:
PXL_20211205_035320509[1] (resized).jpg

I still have a set of Logic Probes and Pulsers:
PXL_20211205_035853380[1] (resized).jpg

And a rather sad needle meter:
PXL_20211205_040812426[1] (resized).jpg
which is non-functional for an obvious reason:
PXL_20211205_040854234[1] (resized).jpg
now; I'm debating if I should re-create this board ... and bring the poor thing back to the land of the living.

I was introduced to electronics right before they started downsizing the component section. What a time to be alive.

I wouldn't be where I am today if it wasn't for their 120-in-1 and 300-in-1 experiment kits.

Heck yeah you should! That shouldn't be too hard (maybe) to repair (not replace). Bridge the grounplane in 2 or 3 areas. What do you think the broken resistor(s) is, 1 meg ohm? Weird they added 'F' to the values, wonder why? Is it a capacitor (i.e micro F)? But the broken part, I think I can see the resistive windings?

It would be interesting to see if a schematic is available online.

I almost think I had that model decades ago.

Edit: Wonder if this is the schematic? https://elektrotanya.com/micronta_22-204_analog-mm_sch.pdf/download.html
pasted_image (resized).png

Looking at the schematic values, I see a LOT of the same values on the schematic.

No Magic Genie Bottle for Christmas season? I love the way it smoked, similar to Lionel steam locomotives...

yeah; that looks correct. I also did a good search and found a lot of information as well.
I've already CA glued the PCB back together and done a solder bridge repair.
My concern is the traces which control the switch are broken and required solder bridges. I'm not sure they will hold up to the switching action long term.
A 1meg ohm 1% 1/4 watt and a 200k 1% 1/4watt did not survive the break.

Apparently these multimeters were available as a kit build back in the day.
Probes are long since gone but it appears they may be available on ebay.

What is really scary is this meter and most like it have NO FUSES. :S

Could Best Buy be next? Will they try competing with CVS, Walgreens, and grocery store walk in clinics?

A15BD134-E0FC-4C27-B160-95970ECFE764 (resized).jpeg

My first two Analog multimeters were from Olson Electronics. The 2nd one was larger than their $5.00 "pocket" model I had. The box said "with meter protective circuit". On day one, I had it in Contunuity test mode and purposely put the leads into a 110 volt AC outlet...... BAM! The meter was dead. I opened it up and there were little pieces of glass floating inside.... My dad took it to work with the schematic that Olson supplied as an electrician he worked with knew how to repair electronic stuff. At the time (I was probably 9 or 10) I didn't know what they were, but they were glass diodes. He replaced them and the meter was good as new. That was the protective circuit, two diodes, no fuses.
When I was 11 or 12, he taught me how to read the EM schematic for my Bally Galahad. What a guy from "The Greatest Generation"....
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.dignitymemorial.com/obituaries/grand-junction-co/walter-golec-4771353

Radio Shack used to give away things at Christmas time.
I still have this, never used it.
I sure do miss them.

06944FF5-046D-466A-97E3-A568DC511717 (resized).jpeg

5D346F7E-D8C7-440F-A875-ADAB27E591FE (resized).jpeg

CC38DD4E-5F6B-4B2A-87A6-624872831D01 (resized).jpeg

I found these in an extremely old picture viewer in my dad’s “kid stuff”. I took them out and put them on the shelf because they look so retro, and I’ve never seen these old steel-clad batteries.

CE185856-DE71-42B0-86F4-889496683DC2.jpeg