This article is part of the Library Series: Rise and Fall of Radio Shack and Heathkit in Looking Back at Electronic History
Those of us who grew up with electronics will miss going to a Radio Shack store. After 95 years of business, Radio Shack is closing most of its retail establishments. At one time, they had over 7,000 stores—you could easily find one anywhere in the country if the need arose for a battery, cable, small parts, CB, or family radios.
Now where do we go? Online, of course. Most of us who buy electronic parts and accessories will readily make the switch, considering the fact that so much of the electronics business is online anyway.
Over this Memorial Day weekend, Radio Shack will close over 1000 stores, leaving less than 70 corporate and 500 Radio Shack dealer stores around the country. So you have this weekend to shop one more time at your local store, if you still have one nearby. No telling what bargains you will find at the clearance liquidation sales. It’s probably worth a look.
In preparation for the closing, the company cleaned out its archives at the Fort Worth headquarters. Some historic items were unearthed during the clean-out, such as original TRS-80 computers, Realistic Transistor radios, and other interesting—even classic—items. Some of these will be auctioned off in the coming month. Beginning on May 26, check in regularly over the next month at www.radioshac`k.com/auction/ to see which of the 500 classic items will be up for auction.
The real news is that Radio Shack is not gone completely—it’s the access that’s changed. So if you’re unable to make that one last trip to the brick-and-mortar store, take a look at Radio Shack’s online version at www.radioshack.com.
