RadioShack Files Bankruptcy
 

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-f...205-story.html

Sad end to what used to be a fun retailer for us DIYers. :(

Sad indeed. Now need to go to Fry's where finding anything is a challenge and waste of time. I will hold on to my one pair of made in Japan Minimus 7's.

IMO surface mounted devices (SMD) contributed to the end of DIY electronics. SMDs are difficult for beginners to work with, They also facilitate automated assembly and therefore reduced manufacturing costs. Those two issues alone were big enough to topple Heathkit in the 1990s.

The internet has eroded the value of the Radio shack model plus the diy tinkerers in electronics have all but disappeared.

I still use my CD-3400. I will always keep my Pro LX5's.

Very sad. When I was a kid me and friends would go up there and drool over speakers etc. I saved enough to buy a pretty cool walkie talkie.

You diyers should head up to your nearest though and talk to the manager. They still have those drawer units full of bits and you just might get them cheaply. I don't need the bits but covet the units.

Pete

Good idea Pete.

Not that I've ever been all that involved in electronics repair or tweaking of any sort. But in the last few years when I did need a cap or connector of some sort and headed over to the shack, the parts inventory didn't seem to be what it once was.

Electronics has always been a tough business to survive in. It moves fast.

During the 1980s, when I was in my DIY prime, Radio Shack was a place that I wanted to see succeed but they always found new ways to make me dislike them. First, they charged way too much for discrete components. I realize that they probably had to to make up for their single packages and the shelf space they occupied, but if they simplified their commodity packaging, such as bulk bins, they could have offered them cheaper. As it was I would wait until I had time to drive across town to buy from a real electronics supplier and still come out with significant savings over cost at Radio Shack.

Second was Radio Shacks stinginess with their catalog. A lot of stuff that they sold was not in the store. It had to be ordered. Hard core DIY guys would have rather ordered parts themselves than deal with Radio Shack clerks. We simply did not trust the advice of clerks that said resistors reduce bandwidth and that is why Radio Shack stereos do not use them. True story.

I wanted Radio Shack to succeed but instead they seemed hell bent on being the most expensive 7-11 in the electronics world that they could get away with.