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radio shack getting back into electronic parts

V

vic user

Veteran Member
Joined
Sep 12, 2003
Messages
724
Location
Ottawa, Canada
at least in canada anyway

over the past couple of years i have watched radio shack become more and more of a strereo and computer store than my beloved parts store.

i went in today looking for edge connectors for my vic 20, knowing full well that is was a vain attempt to find them, but went anyway

i did not find the edge connectors, but what i found blew me away. breaboards back? ic's? led's? etc...

a sales rep came up to me, and i mentioned i was stunned to see a breadboard here again.

he told me that radio shack got a new board of directors, and that they were attempting to win back their hobbyist consumers, as they were not making money on computer sales etc.. as much as they expected.

also mentioned to come back in a week and see more stuff!!

hooray!
 
Re: unexpected finds, a Danish food chain (Netto) is opening a store where I live this Thursday. They sent an opening advertisment flyer offering cheap beer, ham, candy, vacuum cleaner, DVD movies and HP Pavillion computer. It was long ago I was so stunned - this is supposed to be an off-the-shelf, really cheap food store located in a not overly large building, and they're selling $850 computers as an opening offer? Not sure if it is part of their normal offering, but quite interesting. Maybe they have loose RAM chips too if you ask.
 
Netto sounds a lot like stores here, just getting into everything. I think you can buy food at wallmart now.

i wonder what aisle they would put the ram chips in?
 
I thought Walmart had sold food all the time? There have been speculations whether giants like them are about to establish over here, and how the national companies can stand up, and that discussion has been based on food stores going supermarket. Well, you learn every day. Maybe it is more department based, so you can one food department and one handy electronics department within the same company and building.

What is your favorite odd combination of trades in one company? I remember some immigrant who for a short while ran a combined taxi and fruit store, probably with delivery service. A few weeks ago I read about an undertaker company who had some unexpected side business, but I can't remember what it was.
 
i don't know too much about walmart, execpt from what people tell me :)

i can't think of any stores off hand, but i sure would like one that was used computer / used book / sandwich shop

that undertaker thing has got me thinking all kinds of side businesses for him :twisted:
 
Heh! We bought out current TV at an Aldi (normally grocery) store. They had a little pyramid of them right there in the middle of the fresh produce department. We could'nt resist the price at the time, $125.00 for a 27-inch. I've seen other electronics there from time to time, like DVD players, etc.

--T
 
Yeah, Aldi is yet another of those German chains populating the Earth it seems. In the 90'ties in Germany, they sold Commodore 64 in a special batch made for them, thus you can find references to the "Aldi" model.

A TV, DVD, vacuum cleaner or even wall paint is something I can understand to find in a food centered super market, while computers, hardwood floors, book shelf, motorcycles or curly wigs from real hair are items I normally would visit a special store for. I realize that HP takes care of any support of computers sold in the food store, but then it really is about just reselling items.

Hm, I wonder if the undertaker was not also a stock exchange brooker / financial advisor or something like that. Nothing perverted, but a little unexpected to officially see running in the same company by the same people. In that case, I guess they ensured the at least the client's future funeral costs would be covered by winnings on stock exchange.
 
When I visited Germany I was shocked to be able to buy beer and wine practically everywhere. I was in the Frankfurt area. That kind of thing is not very common in the USA, so I was a litltle suprised. I also liked the different things that you could get, like a car with multiple color body panels from the dealer! I went to a Volkwagen dealer, and you could buy a car multi-colored! I thought it was neat!

Nothing much like that here in El Paso, and they look at you funny still in Radio Shack here (went a week and a half ago) when I asked for little parts and pieces. I'll go see again if they have gotten anything.
 
I always thought it was weird that down your way (Texas) you can buy beer at almost every gas station. I guess you can fill your tank and get tanked all in one stop...

--T
 
I think they sell beer and wine at gas stations here in Ohio also, you just can't drive around with an opened container or they will bust you.
 
Unknown_K said:
I think they sell beer and wine at gas stations here in Ohio also, you just can't drive around with an opened container or they will bust you.
Click to expand...

In CT/NY they will require you to put it in a paper bag AND IN THE BOOTH..
 
Man, I love Radio Shack! Sure, sometimes their equipment can be a bit overpriced (atleast where I am) but for the fact that they usually carry items that no one else does makes up for that.

For instance, the RTC/CMOS battery in my laptop - a Pentium 75 model that was given to me a week or so ago, not my lil' 486 that I wrote about - was dead. Instead of being a button battery it was a 3.6v array of 3 tiny button batteries soldered together.

Sure enough, the first place I checked around was Radio Shack, where I saw a battery that would be perfect: regular price $34.99, on sale $4.99!! How could I pass that up?!

Unfortunately, it was a discontinued product and my local outlet had no more. However, they were able to track down the battery I wanted from another store in my province and are having it sent up to me. I had to pay for shipping, so that and some small butt connectors to do the job, my total battery price came out to $15. Very reasonable, considering to get the actual, proper battery for my laptop would have cost me $50 or so.

Now all I need it a nice 6GB or so hard drive so I can dual boot with Slackware/Windows 98 SE and I'm a happy man.

:)
 
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