RadioShack

So this review is actually for the Manchacha /​Slaughter Lane store but Unilocal doesn’t list one. A guy named Bo helped my fiancée and I today. He was juggling phones, customers checking out and answering questions. He was helpful in several ways but the best was at the end when I described my problem. I told him my sub had stopped working, he suggested that I take the sub apart and make sure the wires were still together before tossing it, this is $ 250 sub for my surround sound just to put it in context. Sure enough after taking it apart I saw the wire had snapped, I soldered it and it works like new. Thanks Bo, you saved the day man.

Baaaahhhhh radio shack used to be a lot cooler back when all of them had the component drawers w all the capacitors, diodes, DIY kits and the like but not all of em do now. Those like this place who don’t are still good for cables and adapters but you can find waaay better selection of whatever they have at frys or online. But if you need a special battery or a cable for the TV, then they’re still really convenient. It just makes me wonder how the heck they keep the doors open. I got some RCA connectors to solder to the end of a cable and they were unusable. Most of what they sell is trash or soon will be. Oh and when you check out they always try and push a new cell phone plan or some RS credit card or whatever on you. It’s the most annoying thing ever. Though I must admit, they’ve been easing up on that lately so that’s good. Basically, its a nice concept to have a lil electronics accessory shop at every corner but they really need to increase the quality of their stock if they want my business. And ENOUGH W THE CELLPHONES ALREADY!

When I was much younger (last year), I used to spend a lot of time in Radio Shack stores. I made sure I always had the newest Radio Shack catalog. I was so geeky, I even made sure I got the Archer Electronics catalog to boot. I had my «Battery of the Month» club card that I diligently pursued. I’d wait for the monthly Radio Shack fliers to come in the mail so I could figure out what to blow my allowance on or what to save up for. Among my treasured Radio Shack items is an AM hanging pendant radio with a silk-​screened tree and «Keep It Green» logo, not to mention several functioning project kits. OK, so it was that era.
Dad liked Radio Shack in the day because he could get tubes for the TV set tested there, rather than rely on the ubiquitous TV tube testers in the local drug stores that sometimes worked, but often not. Being electronically inclined, he could even pick up small spare parts to fix appliances around the house that broke. He was a real whip with a soldering iron. Yes, this was the day and age before everything electronic became disposable and non-​repairable.
So, fast forward to 2012 when most of those needs that Radio Shack once fulfilled are now passé. What can you get from your local Radio Shack today?
Well, you can get cell phones. This seems to be a mainstay of these stores and their advertising. For some reason or another, Radio Shack often gets exclusive deals on cool phones that no one else can offer. And, apparently, they still carry a generational cachet for trust in electronics that has morphed into street creds in the cell phone world.
Some other things you might find handy here: Cables of all configurations. A to B, B to A, gender benders – you know, if you can do it with a cable or an adapter, they’ve either got it or can get it. And, yeah, they still sell batteries. The Battery-​of-​the-​Month club doesn’t exist any more, but you can get the occasional bulk deal on their batteries, and they’re actually pretty good batteries. Oh, yeah, and don’t forget the handy battery tester. With the cost of button cell batteries these days, one of those is worth its weight in lithium.
Most of what Radio Shack carries in the way of electronics is no longer branded «Realistic» or «Optimus», but you will find brands such as Yamaha, Sherwood, BIC, and Cerwin Vega, to name a few. And it’s just as well that these products carry the manufacturer’s brand name, because all Radio Shack did with their house brands in the later years was to rebadge products OEM’ed by someone else. But it used to be fun guessing who was OEM’ing for Radio Shack this year nonetheless.
I like this little store because it’s nearby, without having to venture over to Tanglewood or The Y There’s nothing marvelous about it, although it’s somewhat new, with a clean and open look. Easy in, easy out.
Sadly, they lose a star from me because I just don’t feel comfortable browsing in their store. There’s this unspoken pressure to buy from the moment you walk in the door. Those nostalgic days of learning about something just by seeing it are gone, I guess.
But, thanks for the memories, Radio Shack. I’ll be by again, someday soon.

Dude– there ain’t no Radio Shack here, Part 1 of 2.
So when my little sister moved in with me this weekend she brought this old like really old TV with her that we put in the room with the treadmill so we could watch it while we run but I don’t have cable or anything so it needs a DVD player but it’s so old it didn’t work with any of the DVD players we had so we needed a converter or something, so I checked Unilocal for the closest Radio Shack, found this listing 2 miles away and jumped on the bike.
But dude– there ain’t no Radio Shack here. This address is in the middle of a subdivision. Circle C. Lots of big houses, riding mowers, people walkin’ their dogs and soccer mommies (mmmm. soccer mommies) but no Radio Shack.
I even tried calling the number on the listing– disconnected.

In the dark ages, before the internets, Radio Turd was the last resort for my Maker needs for diodes, resistors, potentiometers, limiting switches, heat-​shrink tubing, etc. Remember, I said LAST resort. There are much better sources, but at least RS was someplace close. (anyone know what happened to TinkerTronics?)
Nowadays this place sells a buch of crap. Were talking bad mobile phone ripoffs and Remote Controlled PT Cruisers. The staff are ill-​informed (save for the R/​C PT Cruiser specs) and are barely adept at helping an aging luddite hook up a telephone. I can’t figure out the Marketing brainwork on this one.
Mr Tandy must be rolling in his grave. #1 because they sell such crap now (all re-​branded shit from china), sold by even crappier sales attendants. and #2 that they are opening a new location in a dwindling market, during an age where better electronics can be found at Target /Wal*Mart (sad).
If I want a TV, I’m not going to buy some weird re-​marketed «Realistic» brand from a knucklehead workin’ retail. If I want specialized electronic parts, I guess I’ll have to drive an hour to Fry’s or order it online.
Am I missing something here? Or does the overlap in product offerings make this place obsolete?
Add this to the list of «what happened to American Companies that once had a backbone» alongside Craftsman (Sears), Maytag, Black and Decker,