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no more radio shack? :(

Radio Shack has really gone downhill over the years. Once upon a time they had a great selection of electronics and components as well as their line of computers. They also seemed to have folks on hand who knew about the things that their customers were interested in (mainly computers, ham radio, and electronics).
I've found that that is no longer the case. There are still a couple of cabinets of components and a few odds and ends for the hobbyist around, but nobody seemed to know anything about electronics. The conversation with the person helping me last time I was in a Radio Shack went sort of like this. Bear in mind, I was talking to the manager:
"Do you have any 40 pin ZIF sockets?"
*blank stare from manager*
"It's a holder for chips...they're usually green with a little lever."
"Well, we have some chips in the cabinets over there..." he tells me, pointing at the dusty cabinets.
"Ok, nevermind. I also need a 3.5 volt battery, the kind that solders onto a circuit board. Like this one." I show him the dead one that I took off the board.
He looks at it, then at me as if I'd handed him a fragment of the dead sea scrolls to decipher. "Where did you get that?"
"The memory expansion board from an Amiga 500."
Yet another blank stare. He then tries to tell me that if I have the room or if I want to tape it on the outside of the "thing" he had AA battery holders that I could use. Just solder the leads to the board...
I politely declined, went back home,found what I needed online, and had it delivered to my door in a few days.
 
According to a friend of mine who is a ham radio operator and has kept up with Radio Shack over the years, they stopped having tech-knowledgable types around and started having sales-knowledgable types around to increase sales. According to him, sales were down and that was the answer.

My experience:

"Hi there. I'm looking for an adapter that would substitute for this laptop (displayed laptop),"

"We don't have laptop adapters."

Well, I just need an adapter that has the same voltage. I can also buy a plug for it, right?"

"We don't have any laptop adapters, or plugs. I keep telling you, sir."

I then excused myself to look around the store and they didn't have anything.

I'm in Texas so it's all over the world.
 
Re: no more radio shack? :(

vic user said:
follow the link...

http://www.radioshack.ca/

chris
Click to expand...
RadioShack in the US is planning or will be very soon opening RS stores in Canada starting with Toronto. They are also talking with current owners of RS stores and offering them to stay under the RS brand.

Exluddite said:
"Ok, nevermind. I also need a 3.5 volt battery, the kind that solders onto a circuit board. Like this one." I show him the dead one that I took off the board.
He looks at it, then at me as if I'd handed him a fragment of the dead sea scrolls to decipher. "Where did you get that?"
"The memory expansion board from an Amiga 500."
Click to expand...
RS does sell this (in the USA) but it has to be special ordered. *But* it doesn't have solder tabs on it.

Terry Yager said:
Is that just Canadia, or did they buy-out the US stores too?
Click to expand...
Only the Canada stores. RS of the USA has only given a license to InterTan (in Canada) for the RS name. That began around 1988.

NathanAllan said:
"Hi there. I'm looking for an adapter that would substitute for this laptop (displayed laptop),"

"We don't have laptop adapters."

Well, I just need an adapter that has the same voltage. I can also buy a plug for it, right?"
Click to expand...
It sounds like you were either looking for the laptop power brick or the plug that goes into the brick and plugs into the wall. If so, RS sell both. I am sorry you got such bad service. :(

I have been working at RS part-time for the last two years... There are quite a few tools at the employees disposal to help find these things. But they are useless if the employee doesn't or is too damn lazy to. :evil:

Cheers,

Bryan Pope
 
RS Sucks

RS Sucks

The RS in our area had some employment problems, this is how things went down....

School starts and ALL employees go back to school, junior high it looked like, and THE ONLY PERSON LEFT was the manager. A friend of the family went there and the manager tried to get them to apply and give them an interview on the spot right there in the store at that moment. She politely declined having no idea on how anything RS has works... I go there intrested in earning spending money and I was told that they were hiring nights and weekends and wern't really looking for help.... I call it discrimination......(spelled wrong)
I have never been there since.... If I need anything now, I get it from my suppliers.

-Vald
 
I don't get it...discrimination how? Are you an ethnic minority, or just a typical white male (which is the real minority in America today)? Was she good-looking, or what?

--T
 
Me?

Me?

Me? I am just a typical white guy, but it does seem strange that she told me they wern't really hiring RIGHT AFTER she almost begged the family friend to apply..... Good looking? EEW! she was about 45 Lbs overweight, but some guys like that.....(but not me) People from Japan or China are probably most in the minority here in the US now. Not really discriminaton, but unfair hiring practices.

-Vlad
 
How many people were working at the same time in the store while school was out? Were they full time, or night and weekend extras? Maybe the store only needed one more full time, and after your (?) female family member declined, they found someone else before you came there?

Over here, it is getting more and more common to only recruit a handful of full time, and having a lot of part timers. Dunno why, as I figure the employment costs and administration should be higher than giving longer contract to fewer employees. Maybe there is a limit on number of hours where it is beneficial to have many part timers.

Where I live, there is a medium size hardware store in the city center, family owned since 1891. They have two full timers plus a untold number of part timers. Recently the landlord planned to increase the rent by 13%, at the same time the store wanted to get rid of some 500 m². The parties could not come to an agreement, and the store owner could not find a more suitable place to move the store, so yesterday he filed for bankrupcy! The competition from external hardware supermarkets and other stores is said to be too tough to keep the store.
 
Same story with any other mom & pop business. There used to be four computer stores within a mile-or-so strech of Miller Rd. in Flint, MI. Gateway built a super-store right smack in the middle of the show, and within two weeks, two stores had closed down, and the other two are circling the drain.

--T
 
MI was where I bought my Amiga 500 setup way back when.. (I am originally from S. Ontario). It was from a place called Slipped Disk.

Cheers,

80sFreak
 
carlsson said:
How many people were working at the same time in the store while school was out? Were they full time, or night and weekend extras? Maybe the store only needed one more full time, and after your (?) female family member declined, they found someone else before you came there?
Click to expand...


I don't know but there are only 2 employees, counting the manager. TOTAL.
The manager just won't hire anyone and apperently Tandy either doesin't know or doesin't care.
To quote Terry Yager, Our RS is "circling the drain".......
 
Tandy? I thought Tandy and Radio Shack were two different things, and the latter used to sell a computer made by the former under the co-op name of TRS-80?

When it comes to computer supermarkets, I've had the feeling they focus on selling whole computer systems and rather not bother with spare parts, whereas the smaller computer store is more perceptive to its customers' needs. But recently, Dixon owned "PC City" opened a store, and I was greatly delighted. They both seem to have a lot of recent items, a selection of parts and prices good enough to compete with mail order, unlike the other computer supermarkets. They even have a support department for computer illiterate people. I wonder if they fix vintage equipment too? :p
 
2005 A Tandy Odessey

2005 A Tandy Odessey

carlsson said:
Tandy? I thought Tandy and Radio Shack were two different things, and the latter used to sell a computer made by the former under the co-op name of TRS-80?
Click to expand...

Radioshack is a division of the Tandy Corporation. First there was the Tandy corporation, then they made Radioshack. RS came to be known for good service and advice. Then something happened. Tandy nolonger cared about RS and service dropped from 10 to -10 (Great to sucks) Then prices went through the roof. (10 foot S-video cable from my RS $20.00. 10 foot s-video cable from Wal*Mart $10.00) Then they ended up were thery are today. A high priced store with nothing useful and a bunch of over priced stuff you can get half as cheap anywere else. And that concludes our little odessey of Tandy and Radio Shack.

:arrow: -Vlad
 
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