Radio Shack: an elegy
OK, so I've been using Radio Shack since I was a kid. Sure, there are more fully stocked electronics places, but if you need a dipole switch or an LED or a DC connector or a cheap audio or video adapter on a Sunday night, where else are you gonna go? Having all that stuff from 9am-9pm, more or less 7 days a week, never more than a half mile away, has saved my gadget happy ass on more than one occasion.
So I have a kind of fondness for the old girl, with their odd mix of down market A/V products and DIY gear. They always seemed to manage to hit this middle ground between hobbyists, enthusiasts, and bargain hunters, with the occasional genre busting wildcard, ala the venerable TRS 80 or any number of head scratching audio offerings (for instance, they started putting Lineaum ribbon tweeters into cheap bookshelf speakers for no apparent reason, other than someone in the company though it was cool and got to do it). And then there was the portable CD player that had the audio press in fits of rapture, but only if you ran it off the batteries. I have no idea. But then that's the wonder of the thing.
But as far as I can make out, Radio Shack has entered a period (or has been in a period for a while) of complete cluelessness as to how to proceed. Like, falling apart before our eyes.
I don't have any figures on this, but my guess is that the Radio Shack empire was built on a post-war golden age of tinkering and the first big wave of "Hi Fi" hobbyists. That was always the main part of the mix: parts and audio gear. Ok, batteries and cheap RF junk.
I always had the feeling that the people running Radio Shack were sort of like that. Tinkerers at heart. Possibly a tad insane. So: a very eccentric product mix, with some stuff that only an engineer could love. Amazingly hit and miss managerial styles, franchise to franchise, as if, when you sign on, they give you a key to the front door and tell you to just wing it, as long as you can sell some shit. If that means piling stock in the middle of aisles and hiring spooky oddballs, so be it. Really, not another store like it, for better or worse.
But nowadays when I walk into a Radio Shack I never know what store I'm going to enter. Seems like they feel like the old, low margin "I think I'll buy a cheap RF thing and a cheap PA thing and a cheap LCD thing and some wire and see what I can make" isn't cutting it anymore, so they're moving into Sharper Image lifestyle electronics n' gifts territory.
Like, hideously overpriced, insanely over-packaged "robotics" sets. Or entire walls of their take on the little battery powered car craze of a few years ago, but with a whole line of "modding" parts for far too much money. Fucking ionizers. Fucking iPods. I'm sorry, Radio Shack cannot have iPods. It's like running into a big Sonoma Williams display at the corner liquor store. Just conceptually wrong.
And, of course, cell phones, which sometimes seem like what's keeping the doors open.
I think they've cleaned house and gotten rid of the weirdoes and are endeavoring to become some kind of proper, well lit, expensive toy store.
And I think it's a shame. The Radio Shack of my youth was always a slightly scurrilous place, patronized by people who either didn't know any better or knew perfectly well.
There are plenty of nice stores to buy nice things. Radio Shack, bravely, was a half-assed store to buy cobbled together things, in the company of the like minded. I'll miss it.
So I have a kind of fondness for the old girl, with their odd mix of down market A/V products and DIY gear. They always seemed to manage to hit this middle ground between hobbyists, enthusiasts, and bargain hunters, with the occasional genre busting wildcard, ala the venerable TRS 80 or any number of head scratching audio offerings (for instance, they started putting Lineaum ribbon tweeters into cheap bookshelf speakers for no apparent reason, other than someone in the company though it was cool and got to do it). And then there was the portable CD player that had the audio press in fits of rapture, but only if you ran it off the batteries. I have no idea. But then that's the wonder of the thing.
But as far as I can make out, Radio Shack has entered a period (or has been in a period for a while) of complete cluelessness as to how to proceed. Like, falling apart before our eyes.
I don't have any figures on this, but my guess is that the Radio Shack empire was built on a post-war golden age of tinkering and the first big wave of "Hi Fi" hobbyists. That was always the main part of the mix: parts and audio gear. Ok, batteries and cheap RF junk.
I always had the feeling that the people running Radio Shack were sort of like that. Tinkerers at heart. Possibly a tad insane. So: a very eccentric product mix, with some stuff that only an engineer could love. Amazingly hit and miss managerial styles, franchise to franchise, as if, when you sign on, they give you a key to the front door and tell you to just wing it, as long as you can sell some shit. If that means piling stock in the middle of aisles and hiring spooky oddballs, so be it. Really, not another store like it, for better or worse.
But nowadays when I walk into a Radio Shack I never know what store I'm going to enter. Seems like they feel like the old, low margin "I think I'll buy a cheap RF thing and a cheap PA thing and a cheap LCD thing and some wire and see what I can make" isn't cutting it anymore, so they're moving into Sharper Image lifestyle electronics n' gifts territory.
Like, hideously overpriced, insanely over-packaged "robotics" sets. Or entire walls of their take on the little battery powered car craze of a few years ago, but with a whole line of "modding" parts for far too much money. Fucking ionizers. Fucking iPods. I'm sorry, Radio Shack cannot have iPods. It's like running into a big Sonoma Williams display at the corner liquor store. Just conceptually wrong.
And, of course, cell phones, which sometimes seem like what's keeping the doors open.
I think they've cleaned house and gotten rid of the weirdoes and are endeavoring to become some kind of proper, well lit, expensive toy store.
And I think it's a shame. The Radio Shack of my youth was always a slightly scurrilous place, patronized by people who either didn't know any better or knew perfectly well.
There are plenty of nice stores to buy nice things. Radio Shack, bravely, was a half-assed store to buy cobbled together things, in the company of the like minded. I'll miss it.
Comments
radio shack just strikes me as a wannabe business model. it looks around, tries to spot what's cool, and hangs on for dear life. problem is, when they spot it, it's already halfway through its coolness run. ipods are almost an exception, except that all my rs's carry the ipod+hp ones, so, again, about 3-6 months behind the tech curve.
i got the impression that somewhere in the mid-90's, radio shacks reputation for products just turned to crap. i don't trust anything they sell unless it's a foolproof thing like a cable or something... which, like i said, is usually really pricey.
I remember when as a kid you could go into a radio shack and with a few penny build a thermonuclear weapon. Those were the days...
Now I see these swift new television ads showing prepackaged goodies that you can buy there and I think... what's the point with no boom-boom?
Originally posted by rok
i feel the same, though for different reasons. i look for cables and wires etc. in there, and they're either the most expensive cables i've seen, or they're some sort of radio-shack brand device that 85% of the time doesn't work at all and i end up bringing it back (and their return policy on debit cards is positiviely byzantine).
radio shack just strikes me as a wannabe business model. it looks around, tries to spot what's cool, and hangs on for dear life. problem is, when they spot it, it's already halfway through its coolness run. ipods are almost an exception, except that all my rs's carry the ipod+hp ones, so, again, about 3-6 months behind the tech curve.
i got the impression that somewhere in the mid-90's, radio shacks reputation for products just turned to crap. i don't trust anything they sell unless it's a foolproof thing like a cable or something... which, like i said, is usually really pricey.
Right, that's another thing. I want a 50 foot RCA cable for $4.95. I don't care if it's shit brown and has really crappy little molded connectors and comes in a little polyethylene bag that somebody ripped open and they stapled the cardboard back on, I need to get this signal over there and I'm not going to pay $75 for the privilege.
Once, Radio Shack had my answer, but no more. Now, they want to outdo Monster in the "Just how much can we charge for dirt cheap coax with gold plating and big hex shaped lumps of plastic at the connector ends?" sweepstakes.
High definition digital pro my ass. Shit brown dirt cheap 50 foot RCA cables get the job done every time, and if they short out, as they will presently, you can use them to lash shit together.
Did you know that at one time Radio Shack sold a $50 video RF transmitter and it worked? You could run the output of a camcorder into the thing and get a perfectly usable image 100' away. Freakin' awsome.
I heart useful junk.
Originally posted by Splinemodel
I can only assume that Radio Shack started out serving the HF radio community. I don't go there too much since all the parts I can get there I can get from (1) a broken piece of electronics I have in my "broken electronics closet," (2) Digikey, (3) a local electronics surplus store, or (4) the inventory room at work. (don't tell anyone)
Yeah, but 2, 3, and 4 ain't happen every few blocks and on weekends. That's the genius of it. Somehow a completely pointless little electronics knick-knack place achieved the franchising might of McDonalds. It actually makes no sense whatsoever.
America use to be on the edge of groundbreaking technology in computers and people use to actually want to become engineers and programmers and grow up to produce something...
Today we can just outsource all that shit to people who will do it for pennies on the dollar in India and other countries.
Just sit back with your iPod, play your video games, and shove that Big Mac down your throat, Consumer... No need to produce anything when there is so much to consume. For You Live in America... The Richest Country in the world where we can afford to be #14 in Education. Keep making them B's, C's, and D's and one day you can become President.
Originally posted by addabox
Yeah, but 2, 3, and 4 ain't happen every few blocks and on weekends. That's the genius of it. Somehow a completely pointless little electronics knick-knack place achieved the franchising might of McDonalds. It actually makes no sense whatsoever.
Unless you live in a very urban enivronment, I can guarantee that there are some electronics surplus stores around. Most are open weekends.
I think RadioShack is just a reflection of american society in general...
America use to be on the edge of groundbreaking technology in computers and people use to actually want to become engineers and programmers and grow up to produce something...
Without getting too political, I will say that policy makers have chased away a lot of domestic jobs with various workplace legislation, and that there are still more engineers than you'd think. The BEST engineers are all in the United States. Many are from the US, many move to the US (and stay), which is fine with me. I will also say that the outsourcing trend will cool down shortly, once the domestic software industry in particular realizes that it's overvalued. Since the best foreigners tend to come here (hence becoming part of the domestic industry), outsourcing technical jobs is not a magic bullet.
Originally posted by Splinemodel
Unless you live in a very urban enivronment, I can guarantee that there are some electronics surplus stores around. Most are open weekends.
Sure, in the Bay Area we have a number of sprawling electronics emporia (although, tellingly, most of the really cool surplus places have gone away in the last 10 years).
But they're still going to be a fair ways away (unless you just happen to live next to one) and they all have shorter hours, so if I need some simple little bits on short notice, Radio Shack it is.
On a side note, did any other areas besides Berkeley have a very brief flirtation with Dick Smith electronics? My understanding was that it was sort of the Australian Radio Shack and they were dabbling with the idea of setting up shop in America.
Very cool place, sort of like the old time RS (perhaps funky Aussie DIY gusto lives on) , and with, yes, open parts bins! Heaven.
Didn't last but a few months, though...
I still miss my 100-in-1 Kit that my dad bought me when I was a kid. They still have these types of things, but it's very scaled down now.
Still, like an earlier poster said, when you need a 1/4 - 1/8" adapter on a Saturday night to connect an instrument cable to your laptop line-in, is there any other place you can go? The Radio Shacks in my area still have reasonably priced adapters and cabling.
Man, now I want to go get me a breadboard and some components and make some kind of blinky thing.
Originally posted by PBG4 Dude
I think Radio Shack used to be a tinkerer's paradise because they used to have competition. Anyone here remember Heathkit? You could buy complete TV set kits (and tons of other electronics) to build yourself in your spare time.
I still miss my 100-in-1 Kit that my dad bought me when I was a kid. They still have these types of things, but it's very scaled down now.
Still, like an earlier poster said, when you need a 1/4 - 1/8" adapter on a Saturday night to connect an instrument cable to your laptop line-in, is there any other place you can go? The Radio Shacks in my area still have reasonably priced adapters and cabling.
Man, now I want to go get me a breadboard and some components and make some kind of blinky thing.
Heathkit!! I wanted their robot kit really bad back in the late 80's. Didn't have 900 bucks, though, and it probably would have freaked out the cats.
http://www.robotswanted.com/robotgallery/heathkit/
Their catalogue was drool inducing.
http://www.heathkit-museum.com/
EDIT: Heathkit still exists!!!
http://www.heathkit.com/
Same great training kits. Wow.
Originally posted by PBG4 Dude
I think Radio Shack used to be a tinkerer's paradise because they used to have competition. Anyone here remember Heathkit? You could buy complete TV set kits (and tons of other electronics) to build yourself in your spare time.
I still miss my 100-in-1 Kit that my dad bought me when I was a kid. They still have these types of things, but it's very scaled down now.
Still, like an earlier poster said, when you need a 1/4 - 1/8" adapter on a Saturday night to connect an instrument cable to your laptop line-in, is there any other place you can go? The Radio Shacks in my area still have reasonably priced adapters and cabling.
Man, now I want to go get me a breadboard and some components and make some kind of blinky thing.
Now you're talking! Heathkit, absolutely! Their catalogues were tech-porn before tech-porn was cool! Breadboards and blinky things, absolutely! Get you a power supply and a 555 timer IC and some caps and some LEDs and blink up a storm!
You're right, RS still has a wall full of cheap audio adapters, although I fear their days may be numbered. Already the cheap RCA to BNC video adapters have been supplanted by gold plated only, at twice the price.
On the blinky thing front, anybody see this? Instruction from random people on how to make random stuff. Ranges from the sublime to the ridiculous.
But most importantly, blinky things! With magnets! So you can toss them at ferrous surfaces and make them stick, just because it's cool. OK, they don't actually blink, but they could!
Pointless tech. Gentlemen, I submit that this is the Radio Shack life-style.
Originally posted by Splinemodel
Blinky things aren't even tech anymore. What would be tremendous would be some little radio modules that had magnets on them, a little solar cell, and could align themsleves into a rudimentary mesh network that you create just by tossing them here and there.
I think the idea is yesterday's tech becomes today's pipe cleaners and glitter. That way, average joes of average means can make blinky things and toss them about, willy nilly, like scribbled notes on match book covers.
Radio modules that can avail themselves of rudimentary mesh networks get to be that in 5-10 years; but for now it's too esoteric and pricey for the "ubiquity" factor.
Originally posted by addabox
I think the idea is yesterday's tech becomes today's pipe cleaners and glitter. That way, average joes of average means can make blinky things and toss them about, willy nilly, like scribbled notes on match book covers.
Radio modules that can avail themselves of rudimentary mesh networks get to be that in 5-10 years; but for now it's too esoteric and pricey for the "ubiquity" factor.
Nah, it can be done with a cheap microcontroller, radio, and trace antenna. As long as you're OK with a realistic throughput of ~9600bps, it's not "high tech." Sell the whole module, and use a serial out to give it a STAMP-ish interface. Then you can blink whatever you want around the house. . . remotely. I'd leave that part up to the user, and just sell the radio nodes the way STAMPs are sold (and used). That was the idea.
Originally posted by addabox
Now you're talking! Heathkit, absolutely! Their catalogues were tech-porn before tech-porn was cool! Breadboards and blinky things, absolutely! Get you a power supply and a 555 timer IC and some caps and some LEDs and blink up a storm!
OMG! When I was a kid my dad got me a subscription to Computers & Electronics or Electronics Monthly (something like that) and every issue they had a project with a 555/556 timer, LEDs of various flavors and the ever-present 2N2222A (or whatever it was called) NPN transistor. Man, talk about bringing back the memories.
Just say your link to the still living Heathkit! Fantastic!
And the great thing is they still have the semi-grim, "electronics ain't pretty" sense of style. Too bad, it looks like they no longer offer the "HiFi" and radio kits, though not surprising since most of what they made now exists on a chip or in trivial software.
The Heathkit museum site really took me back. Great big moving needle read-out, we hardly knew ye.....
Originally posted by ThinkingDifferent
There use to be a time when you could talk TTL and CMOS at RadioShack.
Now? You have questions, they have batteries.
I also recall ABC Sports commenting that in the town of Lake Placid (for the 1980 Olympics) all there was was a Radio Shack, so they would have to cart in all of their spare parts, etc.