SparkyOne says:

i thought that the shack was a basketball player

Improbus says:

May I suggest the new name for Radio Shack should be THE CRAP? Because that is all they sell there. You can’t even get good electrical components (resistors, capacitors, etc) in those stores. That and the stuff they do have is of poor quality and over priced. I haven’t gone to a Radio Shack in years. Thank goodness for the Intertubes.

pecker says:

# 6, Maybe calling it ‘RS Electronics’ would be a bit close to treading on ‘RS Components’ shoes.

rgspro says:

Circuit City tried that with “The City” stores. We all saw where that got them. I think Radio Shack will be gone by next year. They started as a place where you could get and kind of electronic component, now they just sell other companies junk.

Angry Heathen says:

This is just an attempt to turd polish.

dvdchris says:

Radio Shacks days are numbered.
Who shops there???? Old people and the few hobbyists that want to pay RETAIL for components.
There’s only so many people left that will believe their lies and pay for extended warranties. It has been shown repeatedly that they encourage illegal tactics to sell them.

chris says:

I found a 0 Gauge car amp wiring kit at Tha Shack for about $3.00

I didn’t put it in my car, but that is pretty cheap!

Floyd says:

Radio Shack was once a place where you could get parts or cables to take care of electronic needs. Recently, they’re more like a purveyor of odd little boxes. They have forgotten their original purpose of selling radios (CBs and Ham), and providing electronic parts and hookup wire for those who needed them.

Glenn E. says:

Radio Shack renamed as “The Shack” for the low attention span consumer, eh? But that name puts in even further down the alphabet, in the phone listings. So maybe they should try “Le Shack”. Which will also work nice in France and french Canada. Even better would be “eShack”, as they have most of their inventory online. One can’t get a printed catalog, anymore. The “e” implies electronics (I think), and they’re not really that much of a radio vendor these days. In fact the last actual radio I bought from RS, had a Tv band in its digital tuner. And that doesn’t receive analog Tv now. So I’m wondering if they’ve chanced their multi-band radios to DTV reception? Not that it will matter much. I only was able to tune in one or two Tv stations, from the dozen or so in my area, with their older model. But it’s digital FM tuner was pretty good. That was before MP3 players got us our music fix.

BTW, I’ve speculated something with a relative of mine. That in the near future movies would be sold on read only USB flash drives. Or something like it, that was cheap and easy to produce. And took up no more room than a pack of matches. The main drawback to making the medium as small as possible, would be the labeling. Most movies are only recognizable by their distinctive title art. CDs lost a lot of appeal, shrinking their cover art from 12 square inches, down to less than 5. Imagine trying to make out the movie title or copy on a 1″ square flash card. Unless they provide a larger art card to go with it. And how many DVDs have we all bought that had no chapter card insert inside the jacket? So don’t count on any cover art, but the bubble pack’s backing.

And what would come after the movie flash card? How about movies on one of those RFID things they put under the skin of pets. Not that you’d have to have it put under your skin (unless the MPAA insists). But I can see dropping this tiny long grain rice sized encapsulated chip in a player, and it sucks a feature movie out of it. Perhaps by laser beam, instead of a radio pulse. I don’t think they’ll make it any smaller than that. In fact they’ll probably keep the 1″ card format. And just stuff it full of movies.

The Watcher says:

#21:

Glenn – the trick is to package the USB drive on a HUGE retail anti-theft package that can’t be opened without nuclear weapons…. Plenty of room to read the labels while you cut yourself….

However, the whole thing makes me crazy. The primary advantage to RS wasn’t price. It was “open on Sunday” _and_ “I don’t care how strange it is, it’s over on aisle 3….”

I’m moving, and need telephone wire & such. Gotta mail order it, I think…. Last time (OK, it was 20 years ago) RS had everything….

I’m not 100% they even have the phones anymore – it’s been a couple years since I needed one, and I need a couple….

I expect that the web has eaten much of their “you name it” value, but “open on Sunday” is kinda worthless if you don’t want a cellphone….

Hold the Peanuts says:

Radio Shack in some NYC stores sell M&M’s and other popular candy. THAT’S how bad they are doing.

The Shack?

What about The Snack?

Benjamin says:

To be fair, Lowes did not have any normal 60/40 solder because they went lead free. I had a little electrical project to do and Radio Shack had the solder.

However, I wanted to get a relative into electronics, so I went to Radio Shack to buy a crystal radio kit like I put together as a child. They didn’t have them or any other kits to build your own radio. I asked them, “Why is this place even called Radio Shack anymore?” They should just rename the place to Cell Phone Shack.

ridin the short bus says:

RS Is a great company that has locations world wide (out side of the US) and still produces a CD and catalog, if you ask. (British Co. RS)

But Radio shack was never that good.. I purchased my first electroinic components in Radio Shack back in the 70’s, I even was able to get an antenna their a 10 years ago, but now its a pure waste of time.
Choosing a name like “The Shack” is Shameful and implies a Fad Name thats already outdated and Slang that is a Marketing Turn Off. What MTV Generation Bone head decided this? A Metaphore of America Today…