The Last Radio Shack Parts

[@marjon1703]

I used to go to Tandys every Saturday to see what else I could buy with my pocket money. Still have the Forrest M. Mimms books, still refer to them. When Tandys shut down the staff said I could fill a bin bag for £5. I was so pleased with all the bits I normally couldn't afford like synthesiser chips - with no idea how I was getting it all home.. I have a degree in Electronic Engineering now.

[@mikestewart4752]

When I was 12(ish), I saved up my paper route money and bought a box of 5 1/2” floppy disks from the Radio Shack in town. I didn’t even have a computer, but when my parents saw me playing with them, they got the hint for Xmas. 😉 - Thanks Radio Shack!

[@Gazr965]

The Forrest M. Mimms books were brilliant to learn electronics, my first introduction to the 555 timer and decade counter. Ps also my Dad bought me an electronics projects kit back in 1976 the ones with the spring connectors as I was always bringing home bits of old TV and radios that were dumped, Gaz UK

[@AlokSharma1]

@@Gazr965lucky guy

[@George-pg2ii]

It warms my heart to know that I'm not the only person that has several boxes of parts from scooping up oodles of RS packages for "future" projects when the RS ship sank. Or maybe I could say "when the RS antenna blew over and hit the ground."

[@trs80model14]

No you most certainly are not. We bought out an entire parts cabinet at our local store - $25,000 worth of stuff for $100- and many bags of stuff from others.

[@solarbirdyz]

@@trs80model14 wooooooow okay I went through the local shops looking for things that might be relevant to my interests and got quite the haul, particularly of things like things Fran is showing, but also knobs! A lot of their knobs were pretty nice.

[@areospike]

There are a couple of radio shacks still in operation. The website says 37 stores are operating. There are two in Northeast Ohio, Columbiana and Carrollton.

[@bobair2]

I used to enjoy back in the early 80s going to Radio Shack to see what was new in test gear and parts especially new ICs and at the time it felt like a wonderland to me,I miss the Shack. Here in Alberta I was able to buy through Liquidation World almost 6000 dollars worth of parts for 100 dollars that included transistors , diodes and chips along with resistors and caps not to mention inductors plus transformers. Radio Shack was a hobbyist dream as was Heathkit,man those were good times!

[@snaredude56]

I miss Radio Shack. When I was a kid I built a couple of their breadboard box kits and bought lots of random components. Not to mention, dog eared many a RS catalog. I am working repairing the clock that has a nice VFD display on our old Jenn Air oven and need a electrolytic capacitor and since I have no electronics supply houses in my city, my only option is mail order from DigiKey or any of the other catalog suppliers. Great service and all, but sure would be nice to hop in the car and grab what I need today.

[@myleft9397]

Radio Shack! It was so cool just to go in and look at all the bits and bobs. I think after they went under and reopened the first time they still had a little bit of this stuff at the back, but after the second closing and reopening this section was truly gone.

[@RinoaL]

I have a nice sized box of Radio Shack parts that I plan to put on display when I open my hardware and repair shop in Lansdowne PA.

[@btruj2507]

My fav Radio Shack part was the glass jeweled blue, green or red lamps that I could use to replace plastic or otherwise boring power indicators on oscilloscope, signal generator, signal tracer, vacuum tube audio and other vintage electronics restoration projects..

[@JessHull]

I would love to see more of these vault videos looking at your treasures.

[@FranLab]

Oh, you'll get plenty more!

[@YerUnclePhil]

Cool tour! Always good for us to revisit our physical stock to refresh the mental inventory.

[@1027sterling]

So many great times working on projects and being able to drive down the street and find that one more part or two I didn't have in stock. I used to get annoyed with the clerk hounding me for personal information or wanting to sell me a cell phone- especially on my second trip the same day. But I was always nice- they were just doing their job. Miss the Shack.

[@kevinkier6790]

Lucky! I worked at a Radio Shack for a short time. Lots of good memories, the ambiance, and lots of parts just waiting to let the smoke out.

[@electronicarchaeology]

Takes me back a little. RadioShack was known as Tandy in the UK, and visiting my local store was a weekend ritual in the 70s & 80s. There were also other shops selling electronic bits and bobs, but sadly, they’re all gone now. The thing is, where are all the hobbyists these days? I don’t know anyone in my area who’s interested in electronics. Maybe they’re all just looking at their phones.

[@Nf6xNet]

I just raided one Radio Shack when they closed down. My receipt was twice as long as I am tall!

[@batillipes]

I was in a Hobbytown store here in Florida a few months ago. They had some Radioshack branded electrical parts on their shelves. I asked about it and they said they had a marketing deal with whoever owns RadioShack now. When I was younger I used Radioshack frequently. In the late 1960s we would buy two old mono phonograph tube amplifiers in junk stores and add a stereo cartridge to a turn table to be able to play records in stereo. I even built a cabinet for my setup. I was in high school at that time.

[@sirthomasnolan]

I checked out the website of the "local" HobbyTown (it's about an hour from me in PA), and they do sell "RadioShack" parts, but the few clicked on seem to be In Store only. Also, site says each store is independent, so inventory varies

[@misterD1968]

I use to work for Radio-Shack before college, i hated so much asking names and addresses for a dumb battery but it was part of the journey. In Canada a cell phone provider bought them and it went down the drain from day one. I miss Radio-Shack, it was my nerd paradise.

[@febobartoli]

I also went to RadioShack when they were closing down and bought all the spare parts that I could. I still have a huge stockpile of fuses. Amazingly the RadioShack in San Francisco still hasn't been demolished. The empty storefront is still there, and I drive by at about once a week!

[@andygozzo72]

nice, Tandy vanished here in the UK in the early 2000s, and since Maplin went down the toilet a few years back, there are NO retail shops here that sell electronic components, except maybe an odd few old radio/tv/video repair/sales shops still running that will sell parts to you, if they have or can get them, certainly no 'multiple'/franchise stores...

[@beku2283]

Both Star Trek and Radio Shack inspired generations of kids! 😮😋

[@johnleclair663]

The good 'ole days. A few months ago I purchased a 1979 Radio Shack catalog just so I could reminisce the times when I was a kid.

[@analogdigital1]

I miss Radio Shack myself. I loved to build LED kits especially for Halloween.

[@davidt8438]

I’m old enough to have gone to Allied in Chicago which was then bought out by The Tandy co. They turned it into Allied Radio then Radio Shack. We used to ride our bikes to Allied to listen to “the good stereos” and buy speakers wire and assorted parts. The neighborhood wasn’t the best back then but we were fearless creatures in the late 1960’s. The writing was on the wall when Allied was bought out by The Tandy Corporation and sure enough here we are years later with no Radio Shack to buy our little parts.

[@Dark_eVader]

I see you holding those Radio Shack parts and immediately think that I want those. A few minutes later not sure where to use them and will probably get lost among my hoards. 🤣🤣😂😂

[@cdshull]

Those little RS transformers are great for so many things. So glad I still had several in my "stuff" collection. Used two to make a couple buck transformers to drop mains voltage down to 110 for tube amps (one new Chinese hi-fi, and the other 1940 guitar amp) that were not built for 120 volts. Miss "back of the store" RS parts 😢.

[@johnnodge4327]

I used to work next-door to a Tandy in the UK. When it closed down, I remember buying loads of speaker drivers. I've recently found 2 X 12" woofers, still new in box. Unfortunately the foam surrounds have now turned to dust, so they would need a rebuild. It's probably not worth doing, as much better speakers are available now.

[@TheGreatAtario]

When I was a kid, my family would go down to the local Radio Shack once a month to use our Free Battery Cards. Four of us, four batteries. Kept the supply topped up pretty well that way.

[@lutam921]

Today, It's hard to imagine there was an ubiquitous shop for electronic parts. I found this quote on wikipedia: Charles D. Tandy said "We’re not looking for the guy who wants to spend his entire paycheck on a sound system", instead seeking customers "looking to save money by buying cheaper goods and improving them through modifications and accessorizing", making it common among "nerds" and "kids aiming to excel at their science fairs".

[@KeritechElectronics]

Good thing you could afford buying all that stuff, haha! If I had enough cash to buy at least the stock I wanted from my local electronics shop when it finally closed down at the end of October this year, I'd be hot damn happy. I'm still baffled by how Radio Shack pre-packed those parts by single pieces, rather than you going there, placing an order and the salesperson putting as many or as little as you wanted in a ziplock bag. And that those packages were so bulky in size compared to the part's dimensions. Radio Shack was an enormous enterprise, covering a country as large as my whole continent with tens of countries, haha. That's probably the one thing I'll never get, coming from a different place and culture - from behind the old Iron Curtain, where you could hardly ever come by a transistor or a LED in the '70s/'80s (at least from the stories I've read and heard), where self-assembly kits only started appearing in the '80s and took off in the '90s but only in a form of a PCB, loose parts and an instruction sheet, not anywhere near Heathkit's completeness with enclosures, knobs etc. and a splendid instructions book.

[@MakersEase]

I still have boxes of archer components... Still come in handy...

[@ameyring]

A series of how-to videos to make things with RS parts would be cool from you, Fran!

[@ababab28]

Hey you can get everything now online! You just have to wait a month and a half for it to arrive from China (maybe) and hopefully it's the right part, and then hopefully it will actually last some amount of time (maybe 1/100th the durability of the original part if you are lucky). We are so spoiled......

[@charlestomasino9161]

Its nice to buy all that neat stuff and sit in a room and look at them with a coffee

[@astrorad2000]

I'm 75 years old and I have been buying electronic components from our local family owned store here in Kenosha, Wisconsin since I was 14 years old...Chester Electronics. Chester is now a silent key, but his son, Gary and wife, run the store and I am so lucky to have them as a resource for all I need to keep the old gear running I told them that they should market cans of " old electronic store" smell for all the oldtimers out there.

[@goingjag]

Did they carry Nuts & Volts? I still subscribe to the online version.

[@astrorad2000]

@@goingjag I don't know. I never heard of Nuts & Volts.

[@xjet]

Crazy to think that these days those transformers can be replaced with a super-cheap, much lighter PSU module from China that also includes regulation -- and for a fraction the price.

[@FranLab]

But not Cool, so there's that part....

[@mfbfreak]

It depends on your application. If you work with RF, it is pretty hard to filter the SMPS well enough to avoid adding noise to the receiver. Same goes for very low signal preamplifiers (phono, guitar). It's not impossible, but just slapping in a bog standard transformer is easier.

[@cromagnatron7155]

Funny, you just did an enclosures video and I just pulled out my little old Radio Shack phono preamp. I absolutely love that thing.

[@petecorbin9606]

I miss Radio Shack

[@CARLiCON]

dang, at first glance I thought the RF choke was an ferrite rod antenna for a MW radio project

[@fepatton]

Quite the walk down memory lane!

[@SkyhawkSteve]

Radio Shack was great for when you needed some common parts or some resistor value. I can't imagine how many of their transformers are powering my various projects! Now I need to put together an order to Mouser or Digi-Key and wait for a few days (and pay for shipping, etc). Of course, now I'm buying 0805 1% resistors, so I can't imagine Radio Shack carrying that sort of stuff. Also... you mentioned the Radio Shack catalogs, but do you remember the big paper Digi-Key catalogs? It's amazing to consider how many more parts they sell now.

[@rodc2678]

You need to set up a lucky dip at a local fair and capture the excitement and fun as kids unpack these 🤯

[@embah42]

I was there when they were closing in Willimantic CT - picked up a remaining electronic learning kit for 11 bucks!

[@zentechnician]

I hate to tell you guys but there are still Radio Shacks open. Believe it or not. Franchise fee is like 40k and then you have to buy enough crap to fill a store. It's still a thing.

[@guszimmer172]

I have a RadioShack privately owned still open not to far from where I live

[@Enigma758]

I think those square white LEDs are called "Piranha LEDs" and are commonly used in auto head/tail lamps.

[@rickmaudlin2160]

Good Times. I liked the Allied Radio Shack days when you had three choices : Good, Better OR Best

[@OM19_MO79]

There are still Radio Shack stores in Mexico but it’s been more than 20 years since they shifted completely to a consumer electronics store and no longer sell components.

[@coffeehigh420]

i like it i like it!!

[@richardbrobeck2384]

over the years I bought everything from raw speakers to transformers to even their design books !

[@aserta]

I have a pack of 1A fuses in the OG packing that my aunt sent me to Europe from the RS in her area. I keep it as a memento of a bygone era.

[@doogie812]

I miss Radio Shack. They may have not had what I needed but they had something close that would keep things moving forward on a project. Make it work then order the correct parts. ;)

[@SoItGoesCAL34]

Interesting... Is there a store that replaces Radio Shack?

[@wmrg1057]

No wonder i couldn't find anything when they closed. You got it all.😅

[@goingjag]

U and me both. Shelves were empty and I wasn’t that late. I think bigger stores got the good stuff.

[@daylechipps7124]

Thanks!

[@RoySATX]

Aside from 'The House Of Tropical's" pet shop, Radio Shack was my favorite place to hang out when I was a kid in the 70s. They were right next to each other between Ken's Barber Shop, where I got all my heaircuts until I was in my late teens, and Piggly Wiggly. I wouldn't trade my childhood for any kids today, I'm sure if I were growing up today I'd be heavily medicated for ADHD and confined to the house, dreadful.

[@TomSherwood-z5l]

I hoarded a bunch of MPF102 fets from them. Generic passive components, nah. The thing I am missing now is the 8 or 10 foot steel tubing masts they used to have for cheap. Two of those and you can get an antenna up fairly high and the weight was manageable. Now all you can find, maybe, is 5 foot sections and the prices are way high. Y0u would have to buy twice as many and have extra joints which is not as good for strength. Oh, and their 4 foot ground rods were much easier than hardware store 8 footers to deal with.

[@charlestomasino9161]

I liked their rooftop antennas

[@robertgaines-tulsa]

Radio Shack's stuff went downhill after 2000. After I realized I could get superior quality parts online, I just stopped missing them. I have my memories of Color Computers in the 80s. All good things must come to an end.

[@robertheckman9813]

Memories, memories

[@Donna230]

I miss RS and stores like that. You can't find a lot of remote control cars these days. And before someone says Wal Mart, they have poor quality shit.

[@notabagel]

still have a roll of leaded solder from RadioShack. It's kinda a backup roll at this point but it's getting close to being finished and that'll be kinda sad.

[@ronwade2206]

Where? There's one now in Arizona, not in Tucson or Phoenix or even here in Flagstaff, it's in Show Low which isn't even a big city or on a major highway!

[@Gazr965]

Tandy was my favourite shop, but seemed to disappear leaving just Maplin electronics, but even they closed, I think due to not enough electronics boffins these days. Gaz UK

[@Landrew0]

I think the Radio Shack name has enough brand-recognition that someone will buy the rights to use the name, and start up the company again.

[@JamesAllmond]

A old guy I knew helped out the Tandy's early on and also started Pier One Exports. He's gone now and was not around to see Tandy, Radio Shack and PIer One all go down...glad of that... Oh, his name was John Ellis, was also a Captain of Merchant Marine vessels in WW2. Amazing guy. He did quite well...

[@fredbissnette3104]

Man I miss radio shack

[@beatadalhagen]

I think I have a couple components still in packaging.

[@edwardarruda7215]

I thought I was a parts hoarder.

[@mikestewart4752]

The Good Ol’ Days™️

[@Topher_Knows]

Wait, you sort your parts stock by using a tote with a few Amazon boxes with Radio Shack Parts? My OCD couldn't recover 🤣

[@DimasFajar-ns4vb]

peace be upon you from me

[@MasterQuizzer]

It was called Tandy in the UK

[@chrisstorm7704]

We still have a local RS 15 min from my place. I thought it closed down last year but it turns out they just relocated. I’ll stop on every now and again to buy replacement cell phones or if I need a generic component that would take too long to come from DigiKey.

[@peterpegrem9837]

You are damn right it cool when it's tactile with a positive lock button or throw a toggle switch, it's ooh and aah as you enjoy what you made or modified.

[@fmphotooffice5513]

I went on the final days and scooped all that was left. I have tons of mica insulators, big power diodes, servos, rectifiers... Except for the servos, slim pickings... Sad, really. Do some business with Jameco before all we have left is DigiKey and Mouser. Even All Electronics is gone.

[@JacquesMartini]

In deed, e-hoarding is sad . . .

[@guimbadriver]

shielded power transformer

[@chefron8]

There's nothing like rediscovering treasures.

[@JacquesMartini]

A moderate case of E-hoarding . . . rather sad to watch.

[@filepz629]

❤️‍🔥FRAN❤️‍🔥

[@adanavalos7944]

.....

[@redbeacon4871]

Get your facts straight there are still some around with the same parts shown in your video