There was also Lafayette Electronics...there was a truly gigantic one in my hometown of Portland Oregon...it consumed an entire city block on the old NE Union Avenue, before being renamed MLK Blvd. A two-story warehouse type building...raw drivers everywhere...the big 30 inch Electrovoice driver in an enclosure propped up ten feet from the ground...so as to not tempt curious fingers.
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While my high school friends worked their evenings and weekend jobs flipping burgers or pumping gas, I fixed TV sets and other consumer electronics at a TV shop near my house in Miami. Whenever the TV shop van got near the Olson Electronics store in Coral Gables, I convinced the boss to make a pit stop. I went straight to that table of "stuff." A good deal of that stuff was Olson branded merchandise that was broken or physically damaged. I had been buying stuff there for about a year when the manager asked what I did with it, so I told him, "I fix it and sell it at school." He replied that their tech said that it couldn't be fixed, so I said he needed a new tech. A few weeks later I became that new tech. That store was the #1 store in the country by sales revenue primarily because it was right next to the University of Miami. After about two years of being a "cheap Japanese Electronics repair man" I got a job at the Motorola plant about 30 miles north.
We had a Lafayette Radio and Electronics store long before Olson or Radio Shack appeared. The LRE store was in South Miami next door to the slot car track where I raced. The manager of the LRE let me come in any time and play any of the guitars that they sold, because it sold a few guitars. I hung out there a lot in the 60's. In the mid 80's I got a ham radio license, and my randomly selected call sign was KB4LRE. Even though I have upgraded my license to Extra class, I'll always keep my LRE call sign.
I grew up buying little bits for various projects at Radio Shack. My first true headphone amplifier was the Szekeres mosfet current buffer from headwize, and I fondly remember how I also built a portable amplifier with a pair of LM386 and smaller speaker drivers for a battery powered boom box for work at my first real job as the fish guy in the aquarium/reptile section at a local pet store. It was fun and interesting digging through the parts bins each time I walked in.
Interestingly, Radio Shack still has a few brick and mortar stores, closest one to me is about 75 miles away, down the street from a good female friend who owes me lunch
Next time I'm in the area I'll have to check it out and see what the stock looks like.
Interestingly, Radio Shack still has a few brick and mortar stores, closest one to me is about 75 miles away, down the street from a good female friend who owes me lunch
Next time I'm in the area I'll have to check it out and see what the stock looks like.
I seem to remember a 'World Radio Labs', or some other similar name. What was it?.
There was Radio Shack.
There was Tandy Corp.
I thought that World Radio was purchased by either Radio Shack or Tandy Corp.
Of course, Radio Shack my have existed long ago, under the same name or under a different name.
But there was no Radio Shack in the state of Oregon in 1956.
And Grants Pass was an electronics black hole, no electronics parts.
In 1958, I went to a wholesale electronics store 28 miles away in Medford. They would only sell to electronic businesses, and to Radio Amateurs with a valid license.
I just wanted parts to build something for an 8th grade science project. I did not even have a Novice license; but when they found out I was building the CRT trapezoid AM monitor circuit straight out of the back of the ARRL Radio Amateur Radio Handbook, they allowed me to purchase parts there.
Historians, please help us old people remember the past, including where Radio Shack was, and what there name was back then.
There was Radio Shack.
There was Tandy Corp.
I thought that World Radio was purchased by either Radio Shack or Tandy Corp.
Of course, Radio Shack my have existed long ago, under the same name or under a different name.
But there was no Radio Shack in the state of Oregon in 1956.
And Grants Pass was an electronics black hole, no electronics parts.
In 1958, I went to a wholesale electronics store 28 miles away in Medford. They would only sell to electronic businesses, and to Radio Amateurs with a valid license.
I just wanted parts to build something for an 8th grade science project. I did not even have a Novice license; but when they found out I was building the CRT trapezoid AM monitor circuit straight out of the back of the ARRL Radio Amateur Radio Handbook, they allowed me to purchase parts there.
Historians, please help us old people remember the past, including where Radio Shack was, and what there name was back then.
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That is what Wikipedia is for. No, its Truth is not backed by any Pope, but it gets many things right.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RadioShack
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RadioShack#The_first_40_years
1921, Boston, an early employee suggested the name and then formed the Hallicrafters company which you surely know.
By 1960s, grew to 9 stores and good mail-order business but went broke.
Charles "Leather store" Tandy bought Shack in 1962.
The original Shack aimed at amateur radio operators. Tandy aimed at hobbyists, like were buying his belt and moccasin kits tools and supplies.
CB was a kick in the bottom line for all electronics.
Tandy grew the racket enormously and then died in 1978.
Shack had tremendous momentum. Was the world's largest computer company. But the post-Tandy management was chicken-chit. Remarkable number of small dumb changes. Instead of online sales, they opened then closed Incredible Universe.
Early 2000s, a succession of crappy presidents.
The Shack became a sad CellPhone outlet with a few '555 chips in back, rarely refilled. I think the Battery Club closed.
Their site now says "Shack is back" but selling massage stones, massage guns, air-fryer (sold out), ugly shirt, and Best Crypto Mining Gear and Hardware.
The nearest store to me is a new&used furniture store an hour away, which has held a Shack sub-franchise since Charles Tandy was alive, but their real business is reefers and stoves and couches.