The Rise and Fall of Radio Shack
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- Опубліковано 9 лют 2025
- "From tech pioneer to retail relic, Radio Shack's story is a rollercoaster of innovation, expansion, and ultimate decline. In this video, we explore the rise and fall of Radio Shack, from its humble beginnings as a ham radio shop to becoming a household name in electronics, and the missteps that led to its downfall. Discover how this once-thriving tech giant lost its way and the lessons it offers for the future of retail." #radioshack #business #money #moneymindset
We live in a throwaway society. My dad's generation were taught to build and repair electronics. If you had a schematic and a soldering gun you were on your way. Radio Shack's demise started with ready made toys,and equipment and as it was said cell phones.The parts department got shoved to the back of the store.
That was probably their biggest mistake.
I think it’s a generational thing. I’m a Boomer, and my parents and their parents followed the old “use it up, wear it out; make it do or do without” paradigm. I got it from them. I built all sorts of fun things in the 70’s in high school. I built a Radio Shack AA5 radio kit in a week, but cheap products and instant gratification fueled by the internet appear to rule these days. It’s been a gradual shift as Builders have literally died off. Heathkit was on its way out in the mid 80’s. TV and Radio Repair shops became rare by the mid-1990s, and were staffed by Old Guys. I still build stuff, but rely on my own parts inventory or gotta get the parts ahead of time via mail from a variety of sources.
I worked at Radio Shack for 10 years starting in the mid 70s best years of my life customers loved the store.
Yes we did.
RadioShack fell when IQ’s in the US started to fall and people stopped dabbling in electronics.
Those IQs fell with the change in demographics in America.
You are talking about Reagan Era or earlier?
Radio Shack fell, when Charles Tandy died. HE was the brains behind it all!
You never knew what you had until it's gone. I totally miss Radio Shack!!
I miss Radio Shack.
I remember trying to sell "service after the sale" to a customer in the early 90's on an answering machine and the customer's reply was "if it breaks I'll throw it away and get a new one." That was the beginning of the end in my opinion. At that time, all the other retail stores were getting into the electronic retail game, and the "we fix it" attitude was no longer a selling point. people only cared about price and brand name. We couldn't compete.
Radio Shack died when they sold their soul to the cell phone industry.
And R/C cars that were junk and had no replacement parts.
They died because the only thing they sold that had high enough margin to support a small store with 2 or 3 full- timers was the electronic parts. We stopped buying those parts when that hobby died. TVs, CB radio, audio and computers were low margin, only good for getting people in the door.
Much larger Best Buy barely makes it work.
And national pricing.
I used to love going to Tandy's. I bought a tuner and speakers back in the 80s that I still use today, all be it in my shed. But it still rocks the backyard with good tunes like it did when I got it. Not bad for something that 40 years old
I worked for Radioshack for 18 years, started in 1999 as a sales associate. In 2011 was promoted to manager, rode the ship until June 2017 when our store was closed.. Our store was pretty successful. Have many, now worthless, awards showing our productivity in many metrics as measured against all the stores in the company. In the good old days, we had customers coming in the stores clutching the adds saying I want this and that. The big downfall was when the company decided to stop advertising in the local papers. The district managers were screaming at us when the sales started dropping like a rock. I'd scream back saying bring the adds back so we can sell our products. It was sad watching the company die a slow death. I now am retired, own my home, debit free and work for Walgreens (another dying company) as an RX tech.
I have nothing but fond memories of my weekly visits to the Rugby Warwickshire UK version Tandy.
I would spend hours sifting through their carded-components. The crystal-earpieces were a favourite and of course their legendary morse-code key.
I remember them selling transparent green C-60 cassettes in vacuum-packed belts of six... Honestly amazing memories for me.
🇬🇧🎶🇺🇲
I bought my first stereo system from rs in about 1973, it was fantastic. Studying basic electronics was exciting with all the components and books on the subject. You never miss the good things in life, until their gone.
America will never be the same with out RADIO HACK.
I grew up with the TRS-80 and later the Commadore 64. Radio Shack was a big part of my days. Even remember and had the mentioned "Cue-Cat". It was my go-to place for the oddities that I would use, audio splitters, connectors, and things like the single tape players that connected to my home stereo. From receiving my free battery every month to reel to reel tape it was my go to place.
Don't waste your time with this video. It's AI generated nonsense with photos that have nothing to do with what they're talking about when every single radio shack catalog is available online for someone who wants to do the minimal effort.
Hi, it’s 2025 now and I’m a ham-operator in the Netherlands
The local Tandyshop in the town next to me is a long, long time ago gone.
I still have the 2 Realistic computerscanners from the 90’s I bought and running till today !
Legendary equipment , modified to Bill Geeks notes
Thanks for this story !
73’s from the Netherlands,
Tjerk ( Jack ) Polee, PE1IOC
You’re right. What a piece of crap. Pictures and words must match! Period.
It's not the same RS Store! they don't sell parts. But the backpacks do look nice. Never figured Id go to Radio Shack for a backpack, Mayby I'll go to Kelty for resistors and capacitors and switches👌👌
I remember going into a "Source" store that used to be Radio Shack and asked them where the breadboards were and they directed me to a kitchen ware place ..that wasn't the kind of breadboard I had in mind
In the late 1960s I worked evenings part time in a Santa Clara Radio Shack fixing anything that came in for 5 dollars flat fee (not including parts). It was a small upstairs shop and one evening the manager downstairs talking to a customer pointed upstairs and said "he can fix anything but is so independent he only comes in when he wants too." He didn't know I was up there listening. My best compliment in a long time!
Radio Shack is gone... And so is youtube! Welcome to the AI world.
UA-cam has over 114 million channels and you think it's gone, how precious ignorance is.
@ AI and censorship will be the death of UA-cam! Unless someone fixes it, UA-cam is on a downward spiral of all of those channels, you speak of how many of them are just written by AI? UA-cam was and in some part is still a wonderful thing, but it is no longer what it should be.
I miss their Archer antennas. They had some of the best TV and FM antennas, and I wish I could still get a hold of them. Their old school stereos were pretty decent too.
They had great CB antennas too. Selections for hidden or interior antennas, radial less verticals, aluminum verts, and a beam or two.
yup - they discontinued the very products that built them. They abandoned the DIYers and became a 'battery outlet'. They started hiring people that didn't know a resistor from a transformer. And then cell phones arrived and they lost their soul.
I bought my first stereo at that store across from Boston University. I went to BU, I then became a field service engineer at digital
No other store closing affected the public more than the closing of Radio Shack. You can ask anyone, and they will say “I miss Radio Shack” I think it’s because it truly had a mom & pop shop quality about it and had a great diverse inventory of cool electronics - it was an interesting and fun store. Bring it back!
I agree 100%,old school electronics is the best.
I shopped this brand from the 70s through the late 90s, even tried running a corporate store during the Y2K hysteria. They completely lost track of their customer base and losing a lot of the employees that actually new what they were talking about. The sales floor was a race track for associates trying to land some sales and earn commissions. I had one sales associate that nearly knocked down the customer entering the store. Memories 😂
My first job in retail was at Radio Shack. This was in the early '80s. I tried to keep our customers happy, especially our regular customers. To avoid aggravating our regular customers, I used one of the display model 100 laptop computers to store their name and address so that I wouldn't have to bother them by asking them every time they bought something. I just got their name and looked up their address. When the district manager found out about it, I had to delete all the data and return to bothering the customers.
This video is AI-generated trash.
Yup.... you are correct..... jumping around the years with no proper sequence ...... showing all sorts of unrelated industrial buildings ...... and old radios and TV's (most of which had nothing to do with Radio Shack) ...... a real waste of viewers time 😥
@@kenhammond3810 lazy research
Yup. Pure junk
That explains what I said above.
There's still a radio shack in a small town about 30 minutes away from where I live in Tulsa. Might visit it soon for nostalgia.
Imagine relying on AI to generate a complete documentary with random pictures, out of sequence events and snarky narration. Keep it up and you'll end up just like the subject of your project here.
"Keep it up and you'll end up just like the subject of your project here." We can WISH! 🤗
The last time I was in a Radio Shack store I asked the punk kid sales associate, Where's the banana jacks and he looked at me like I was bananas. Then he tried to sell me a cell phone. Radio Shack was right there at the dawn of the PC age and they missed the boat. I guess they tried with the TRS-80. They could have been bigger than Apple and IBM combined if they didn't drop the ball like they did.
I worked for Radio Shack Tandy for 28 years. Most folk did not realise how massive this company was globally with not only its worldwide stores but also its own factories. They had deep roots in American culture and also extremely popular overseas. It's sad that too many poor business decisions by Fort Worth management eventually drove this great company to the wall. I enjoyed my career with RS and only have fond memories of being part of the technology store.
Work for them for 24 years. In the distribution area, driving a forklift driving a yard truck miss those days.
Too bad it couldn't go on forever.🎉🎉🎉🎉
I remember Radio Shack from the 80s when we moved from North Delta to Maple ridge, - As time went on I noticed that the store was shrinking in selling parts to do with either hobbyists and Repairs to electronics. The Source name came next and everything changed. That's when everything of that industry went down hill and really struggled - the source hung on till just lately was bought out by Best Buy and still the corporation still doesn't get it with what the customers want and sells them what they really don't need. It is like for those of us who want to keep a certain radio or stereo of special value going but parts are no longer being made. and the store chain has gone the way of Apple where you throw it away and buy a new thing... Really !! what a shame the change had to happen that could of kept the next generation in interest in simple electronics to learn how to be creative and how and why things work the way they were designed...
I never knew of Radio Shack until in Australia.
It was called Radio Lange in Germany.
Each time one came back from a Pocket Money Shopping Spree,
one realized that one had needed even more, that one could fry,
because three legs on those Germanium transistors (AC126) where simply never quite enough for me.
Radio Lange, Radio Shack, what the hack, to the public trash dump one went back. 😖
In the '70s and/or '80s, the back cover of the catalog was devoted to their line of TV antennas which were touted as being "empirically designed". I found that hilarious, as even then I understood the phrase to mean "cut and try". I did treasure the catalog, as I could search it for something I wanted before going to the store. If it was in the catalog, it was likely to be on the shelf.
As for this vid, it must be pretty cheap to find a few stock photos and ask an AI to write an essay, then recite it. Tandy would have loved it.
I grew up in the 90s and went to Radio Shack often to get computer parts. I also bought my first cell phone there at the age of 16 in 2000 when they started to introduce it and my parents bought me one. It was a huge mammoth Nokia phone that was indestructible. I still have the same phone number after all these years. To me the biggest failure is that they had incompetent staff along with a changing industry where you no longer needed to build computers or fine tune it. I mean technically you can build your own computer today, but it was nothing like back then and a lot of computer parts these days are junk and you can buy exactly what you want off newegg or such. My last Radio Shack trip was one day I asked for batteries and said the specific size and label color. I said, "3rd one from the left." And he was so freaking confused it took a whole minute to explain it and he said he never heard anyone use that term before.
I began my Radio Shack account back in the 70's in N.Y. Radio Shack had the cheapest prices on 1/4 inch Reel to Reel tape which we used in our 4 Track tape recorders! They also had lifetime warranty on Radio Shack Tubes so my guitar players would buy a set of them then, crank up the Bios Control of their Amps for maximum output! The Tubes would burn out after about 9 months and Presto, free exchange from Radio Shack get a brand new set! this one on for years! 🎙
Skipped the connection to Allied Radio circa 1972. That's one I do miss.
Hello from Barbados (a tiny tourist island in the Caribbean and birthplace of Rihanna 🤣) .... We still have a Radio Shack store in the Sheraton Mall to this day, but the only thing I bought from them recently were some Radio Shack branded rechargeable AA batteries (made in China) for a totally ridiculous price ....... but when you live on a rock in the middle of nowhere and need something in a hurry your options are quite limited ...... however, I REMEMBER with fondness the "glory days" of the late 70's and early 80's when I bought resistors, capacitors, transistors and IC chips ...... and even a PCB to build an LED Digital Clock ...... they were the ONLY DIY electronics store on the island .... and I credit them for my electronics hobby ..... a hobby that ultimately led me to pursue a career as a University lecturer in electronics
Built a speaker system in 1977 , using Radio Shack components.
Mach One or something, weren't they?
Wow, IA narration has advanced to the point of being snarky. It still sucks though.
Worked at Radio Shack in the early and mid 70’s part time in Winter Park and Orlando, Florida. It was lots of fun to work in a store for an electronics hobbyist!
I have been going to Radio Shack since the 70,s. The last one in Oregon was in Johnday. It burned down 2 years ago.
The source took over our radio shack, oddly they didn't really change the store, they still had all the electronic stuff,RC cars, computers,tv,ect
Don't ever forsake your original customers. Radio Shack personified spares and kits for me. They should have stuck to the basics.
AI generated no pics of any actual radio shack products here.
It was called Tandy's in the UK and was one of first retail stores to go bust in 2002.
Radio Shack,que de souvenirs,😢ce temps était une merveille ou l’imagination portait fruit.Un superbe souvenir
I worked at RS in the early 80’s. The management had a way of extracting slave labor out of their employees. With any employee, they would dangle being a “manager” and “having your own store”. This required at least 6 days a week of working, often from open to close, and one weekend Sunday a month minimum to manage inventory counts. Yeah, I said no thanks to this when I saw how trainee managers lost their home life and friendships because all they did was work. It had some great attributes as a store at a point in time. Ultimately the only constant is change. Nobody stays at the top forever.
12:00 You forgot the Model III, an all-in-one "microcomputer" (that's what they were called) that incorporated the monitor & keyboard in the same case. There was also the Model II, which was similar, but had two built-in floppy drives (5.25", of course), intended for business users. THEN, the "Color Computer" came along...
Model II used 8" floppy disks.
@@jstreutker Ah, I KNEW they were FLOPPY floppies, but wasn't too sure about the size.
There is still a full RadioShack store that is open in Sequim, Washington. It has all of the classic merchandise, including electronic components and parts.
Radio Shack was never really sure about what they should be. They drifted in and out of product categories more or less ongoing.
What really made me laugh about them was their slogan "You have questions, we have answers." The sales people were clueless about the product lines. I went in to buy a phone plug one time and the clerk showed me the telephone section. He didn't even know the difference between a phone plug and a telephone plug. From that point on I recognized their weaknesses and gradual downfall.
Back in the early 70’s I worked for Burstein Applebees in KC KS new shopping mall, Indian Springs. I worked at the Parts Counter, had a blast. Our section worked closely with the Radio Shack store just a mike away to help our customers find the discrete parts they needed. The door opened both ways so the customer got what they needed plus both stores made a sale and impressed the customer. I later became a career Air Force, Base Supply troop doing the same work but on a lots larger scale and again had a blast
I used to be a tech fixing trs80 computers. Still have many ser vice manuals and parts for trs80 stuff. Even have boxes of unopened blister pack ICs and other parts. I've also developed the first commercial Internet with my syslink bbs running on a modified trs80 with 6 floppy drives. The bbs would call other syslink bbs around the country daily and exchange emails and public messages. Early 1980s. That was a fun time of my life and really appreciate seeing this video!
I was a great fan of Tandy here in the UK. I had various computers and bought resistors, capacitors, and transistors RIP Tandy.
I live in the UK and we had a small family run electronics store that outlived our branch of Tandy by well over a decade. I know the Tandy staff meant well and they were always polite, but they tended to be fresh out of school and just didn't have the experience of our privately run store as that was run by a guy in his 70s and his son who was in his 50s. They'd lived it since the days of the thermionic valve and always knew exactly what was a suitable substitute for what if they didn't have exactly what you asked for. I used to go in there with my paper round money and a homebrew schematic on a scrap of paper and they were always enthusiastic to help make my projects a reality. Happy days!
I must say, I enjoyed hearing the history of Radio Skack, but I got a sense that the video was making a joke out of the store and the customers and I take offense to that. As an electronic hobbyist and mobile dj, I have bought several systems and accessories Such as dj equipment, cb radios, scanners, shortwave radios, test equipment, and stereo equipment, that i still use to this day. All in great working condition. Radio Shack was a great store with some great products and I give it very high regards!
Funny they didn't mention anything about the huge CB boom
It (not he, because this is a complete AI production) did give it a mention.
My dad and then I used to buy amateur radio items at RS, fortunately for him, he passed before the dropping of these items. I on the other hand stopped shopping there when they stopped having anything beyond cell phoned for communications equipment. I visit my local RS/Tan booth store occasionally if I need some very generic parts, that they may or may not have. Kind of hard to call your store Radio Shack, when you no longer sell them...................................................
I loved Tandy! (UK) I remember a wood effect cube clock that spoke the time. This was 1980. It was so expensive. I regret not buying one now.
You can see the difference in management between Mr Tandy and his successors.
If they had followed Tandy's dream of being the local go-to store for electronics & gadgets they could have also ridden the computer PC wave more successfully.
And when i think of where i would have looked for Maker electronics, Arduino and Raspberry Pi stuff and all the supporting electronics stuff you now have to order but could have gone to a local electronics store like Radio Shack, I think their managment missed that wave too as they weren't as good a manager as MrTandy nor did they have a dream and follow it.
Where would they fit in today? Definitely should have been the electronic parts for any Arduino/Pi electronic project. Had they done that they would be in even more demand today.
I even tried to write a letter/email to RS management making that suggestion. With bad managment comes communications being blocked, ignored or not fowarded even for novel business ideas. Bureaucracy gone mad.
Epmloyyes following rules tham helping grow the company. The death of any corporation.
I remember the days when I could not walk past a Radio Shack without going in.
I may not have found what I was looking for, but I seldom left empty handed.
What was the attraction?
Let's toss out some ideas here.
I think there may be some transferable and timeless principles.
As a video editor I have to say alot of interresting information being said, a great voice over voice but it would have been nice if the video would match of what was being said. Some of the video didn't even have anything to do with Radio Shack. I struck me as lazy video editing. As for my memory of RS it was mostly good. The only thing I didn't like of RS was giving my address and phone number on every sale and also being asked if I wanted a cell phone when I was only in there to buy solder or wire.
This is made by AI
Bombarded by sarcasm and metaphor. I've forgotten what we're actually watching. 😂
In the seventies I owned a little electronics shop in South Staffordshire and someone approached me from radio shack trying to get me to become a franchisee for only £24000. My new 4 bed detached house had just cost me £5000. So I laughed pointing out that I was selling the same Korean and Japanese stuff as them apart from the Tandy name. We had seen the peak of the amateur electronics boom and a lot of my stock had come from the demise of Chas Youngs’s shop, Amateur Radio, in Birmingham. Their nearby New Brownhills shop didn’t last that long and now they were also competing with the new Maplin shops in the U.K.
Unfortunately most of the video does not show photos of the products being discussed.
Why are all the "B" roll clips of NON RS STUFF get it together. And a Real Human Narrator would be nice too
Because not only was it narrated with A.I., it was generated with A.I..
@@stevew1487 I was expecting a whole lot better than this Crap.....
As a kid, I remember getting my Electronics Experiment kit from Radio Shack in Pasadena, Texas. That was back in 1976. That sparked my love of electronics, amateur radio, computers, etc. I've purchased components, cables, gadgets, a radar detector......and some bad-@$$ Optimus floor speakers in 1985. I never had a bad experience and miss the hell out of the brand. Now, if I need a component.....as I do at this moment, I have to order the stupid thing online and pay $8 in shipping. I'd gladly trade that shipping charge for gas money to get to a Radio Shack.
Story doesn't make sense at all, but I liked the pictures of the exotic Asian market boomboxes shown during the video.
It would be good to show the products when you are talking about them.
in the 80's I LOVED Radio Shack. I even bough my first computer there.
While I like the subject & narration of the content, what drove me crazy was the lack of synchronization between the narration & the video of that subject content. Your talking about the TRS80 computers and you're showing antique radios and telephones? huh......??? And you do this through out the video.
This video was created using AI.
@@brettg9013 Makes sense
Great writing. Really entertaining and informative.
I miss walking in the store eyeballing the radio stuff knowing I didn’t have the asking price. They would still be here if they stuck with radio equipment, transistors and coax cables, antennas and everything in between. Just like fashion it comes and goes well the 80s stuff is cool again. I know quite a few guys that have dug out there boxes and unpackaged their radios, got their antenna up and are on the radio daily. Hurricane Helene and the wildfires in California have really brought the radio back into perspective because most of those people lost cell service and became desperate
The information was not offered chronologically, jumping back and forth in time, which made the whole story confusing. The images shown where not related to the narrative.
Welcome to the AI universe.
I love RadioShack and got a really cool CB Sideband radio from them in 84.
I miss the Rat Shack as well, back in my ekectronics tinkering days they were my go to for parts, blank pc boards that I would etch myself.
I was a sales associate and Assistant Manager in some Radio Shack Intertan Canada stores in the late 80s early 90s. I still have some products, cables, some resistors, even a handful of stocks on a certificate lying around.🙂
I loved being able on Sunday afternoon and immediately buy some obscure electronic components. Nowadays, I have to order them online and wait.
Why does it seem like this narrator has a personal problem with Radio Shack ?
Maybe not the narrator (AI) but definitely the person who wrote the script.
Radio Shack was my go to place for coax cable , fittings , electronic parts, etc . If it wasn’t in stock they’d order it . Miss the store .
Radio shack had great educational kits
And when the component selection started dwindling I knew the glory days of Radio Shack were gone.
The AI voice is quite good, but revealed itself when it read out “comma” a couple of times. Strange that the human creator didn’t fix that. If there is one 🤔
Tandy was a part of my youth, a very small part I admit, but still involved.
GREAT STORY AND SAD.......GREAT PHOTOS
Radio Shack. Aka church. Worked there in its hey day 1990.🙏👊🤙 Have a new style Radio Shack in Ensenada BC, Mexico..
Should have changed their motto towards the end to “You’ve got questions, We’ve got batteries!”
This documentary sucks! It keeps going back and forth in the timeline.
AI generated :(.
I miss the radioshack of the 80s and 90s. I was a DIY kid who liked building speakers and tinkering. I could go in and geek out. I was disappointed watching them turn into a cellphone store. The last store in my area shut down around 2015. They seem to be trying to come back with a website but idk if I can trust their products. I feel like they might be ordering crap from temu or something to resell.
I loved the Radio Shack catalogs I have every issue from 1975 to 1991 Unfortunately by 92, I was shocked at the new catalog redesign and how cheaped out it was. To add insult to injury, they began charging customers for a copy. The Realistic brand also died a year later. For me, it was a dark harbinger of things to come, and it was so true. Radio Shack disappeared from Canada in 2004.
Did they have nerds in 1921?
Radio Shack Was my go too Store got my first CB Radio From there
The 7-Eleven of electronics.
I've bought a ton of stuff there. Their Highball mic with XLR connector is the same or close to the Shure SM48. I've done a side by side comparison and could not find any difference.
This video would have been soooo much better if they had matching photos of the stuff they are talking about
Worked at RS for few years in the 'it's.
Had to leave when they made the store managers work for free.
Oh dear. Narration is all over the place as regards timelines, and themes and pictures usually have no relevance to what's being discussed. I suspect AI generated slop. It's a pity, as the story of Radio Shack is worth telling. Not in this way though.
My own experience extends to Radio Shack/Realistic CB radios, portable/base radio scanners and such a devices. Some of them are real classics, with top notch performance.
My first dj mixer was a Realistic. I wish they were still the go-to place for DIY electronics.
There is still one in Panguitch, Utah. Complete with electronic components. The outside sign was removed last summer but the store, inside a drug store, is still there.
I always thought radio Shack morphed from "allied radio"....became allied radio Shack, then simply radio Shack....wasn't "Tandy" more of their warehousing distribution arm of radio Shack
I bought a computer from them in the late 80s. I still have one of their circuit project books around here somewhere.
AI generated garbage
Are these Anti-AI-replies generated by AI-bots?
It takes one to know one!