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Where To Get Sets and Parts For discussions about swapmeets, rallies, NVCF and BVWS, car boot sales, antique and charity shops, dealers, newspaper adverts, the local tip and just about any other source of equipment (other than eBay). |
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27th Apr 2017, 12:24 am | #1 |
Moderator
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: Fife, Scotland, UK.
Posts: 22,799
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Radio Shack (USA)
There's just been mention in one thread of buying components from Radio Shack in the US.
They really may be appropriate for the bygone traders thread now. I've just read in the May edition of QST that Radio Shack has just filed for bankruptcy protection, chapter 11, in the US. The ARRL piece said this was the second time they'd done this. There's no mention of the Tandy corporation, which I believe is the holding company behind them, so it may just be the subsidiary going bust without taking the parent down (like GM let Saab fail) They had to trade under their parent group name (Tandy) in the UK because there was already an unrelated shop here trading as "The Radio Shack" David
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Can't afford the volcanic island yet, but the plans for my monorail and the goons' uniforms are done |
27th Apr 2017, 7:11 am | #2 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Jun 2016
Location: London, UK.
Posts: 3,687
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Re: Radio Shack (USA)
I'd say it is a shame but they were muggers of the highest order both in the US and here under the Tandy heading.
Many times did I swear under my breath as I put down £2 for something that even Maplin were selling for 50p. But the nearest Maplin was 30 miles away. |
1st May 2017, 2:55 am | #3 |
Tetrode
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: Chattanooga, Tennessee, USA
Posts: 59
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Re: Radio Shack (USA)
Radio Shack may have been pricier to cover the overhead for being so convenient. In my immediate area, there used to be three stores within a mile or two of my house. They're all gone now. When Hamilton Place Mall opened in 1987, it had two Radio Shack stores. They closed one of them after a year or two, but still... Two in the same mall.
One really stupid thing they did was build an extravagant HQ building just before they started their downhill slide. It's like their execs couldn't find enough ways to spend money |
1st May 2017, 3:04 pm | #4 |
Hexode
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: Harwich, Essex, UK.
Posts: 429
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Re: Radio Shack (USA)
According to discussions on ARF its the whole thing that's done, all the stores are slowly shutting down and selling off what's left, although there is a lot of anger because even though they are shutting down some stores are refusing to mark anything down and holding out for the last penny. Looks like RadioShack is finished.
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1st May 2017, 3:14 pm | #5 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Brentwood, Essex, UK.
Posts: 5,316
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Re: Radio Shack (USA)
A funny thing about the "extravagant HQ Building" comment: circa 2000 ago the "Dilbert" web site had a feature where readers were invited to contribute ideas to a "How to tell when your company is on the skids" feature, and one of the top ten was something like "They open an extravagant new HQ with fountains outside the entrance". Shortly after, the new "Mayo & Simpson" Marconi opened a new HQ building in the Cambridge Science Park, and guess what? It had fountains outside the entrance!
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1st May 2017, 4:00 pm | #6 |
Moderator
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: Fife, Scotland, UK.
Posts: 22,799
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Re: Radio Shack (USA)
Funny you should say that.
In 1999, HP split into two. THe computer side grabbed the well known name and the instrument side was floated off as 'Agilent Technologies' as a totally independent business. Within the year the corporate seagulls (they fly far above the mere mortals, make a lot of noise and shower you in ...) decided they needed a new corporate HQ. It got built on the junction of Page Mill rd (HP historic site) and Oregon expressway in Palo Alto. Big, bold, statement in steel and glass with fancy gardening. Then came a massive downturn in the industry, massive layoffs, massive shrinkage and the building had to go. Somehow the firm survived, but as a shadow of what it once was. David
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Can't afford the volcanic island yet, but the plans for my monorail and the goons' uniforms are done |