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Radio Shack, 6070 Garners Ferry Road Suite F: Spring 2015   1 comment

Posted at 2:59 am in closing

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Well, it's been all over the news, but this is the first Radio Shack I've driven past since the bankruptcy announcement.

This store is in Woodhill strip at the top of the lot, parallel to Garners Ferry. I've actually been inside several times over the last year, once for a AC adaptor, once for some CD-R media and once for something that currently slips my mind. The product mix is now a far cry from the old parts & kits era, or even the TRS-80 era, but still I can't see that another Sprint store is really an improvement.

Written by ted on February 16th, 2015

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One Response to 'Radio Shack, 6070 Garners Ferry Road Suite F: Spring 2015'

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  1. Date: Mon, 16 Feb 2015 08:33:58 +0000
    Author: Homer

    Comment: Alas, the first of many to come. A baby boomer bastion of electronic goodies is now in it's death throes and I, for one, will be saddened by its passing. No more world-band radios, no more Mach I, II, III, Optimus or Minimus speakers. No more CB equipment. No more Trash-80 computers. No more of every combination known to man of transistors, diodes, capacitors, patch cords, switches, adapters, and such. I spent a lot of years (in the 70's and 80's) in RS piece-mealing things together for myself and friends. I feel that I am losing an old friend.

    Date: Mon, 16 Feb 2015 21:36:11 +0000
    Author: Rick

    Comment: We all knew it was coming. Now that it is, I feel the same way as Homer, losing an old friend. I can only blame it on myself, I should have gone in more often rather than hitting the
    Wal-Mart for many items that I should have purchased at RS. Batteries, Flash Drives, Remote Control Vehicles and CD-R media as Ted mentioned.

    Date: Mon, 16 Feb 2015 22:33:52 +0000
    Author: Andrew

    Comment: Most of the digital media items Rick references I'm more inclined to hit up Staples or Best Buy for...

    I rarely have a need for anything Radio Shack sells along the lines of what Homer & Rick speak ton them selling in their heyday...

    Date: Tue, 17 Feb 2015 00:08:51 +0000
    Author: Rick

    Comment: Andrew, I know you are a little younger than Homer and I but trust me, RS WAS cool. I understand what you are saying, it must be a 70's or 80's thing for old timers like Homer and I.

    Date: Tue, 17 Feb 2015 02:15:20 +0000
    Author: Sidney

    Comment: It's the only place I have found to get a replacement battery for my key fob.

    Date: Tue, 17 Feb 2015 06:19:52 +0000
    Author: Homer

    Comment: I never did, but I wonder about Rick....i

    Date: Tue, 17 Feb 2015 20:44:14 +0000
    Author: Andrew

    Comment: So the store closing list indicating this one was going was a 'proposed' list meaning (to me) wasn't 100% in stone and in all my infinite wisdom thought this was premature until I noticed the store closing signage in the window. This afternoon I saw (with my own eyes) that the following have comparable signage:

    - Marketplace at Harden (1001 Harden Street)
    - Parkland Plaza
    - Bush River Village

    ** preparing for the aforementioned trio to feature here in due course in a manner similar to this one **

    BTW, I'm like ted in that I never got into soldering...I saw it as a potential solution to my car's odometer display when it went out but my dad never got the hang of it, either. It wound up being one of several reasons why I found myself replacing that vehicle last summer.

    Date: Tue, 17 Feb 2015 21:45:08 +0000
    Author: Terry

    Comment: I had a 50 project kit from RS back in the mid 70s. The instructions were relatively simple to follow once you got accustomed to the wording. There were simple circuits like buzzers and bells and flashing lights.

    After learning these circuits I began to build from schematics that were published monthly in Popular Electronics magazine. RS sold the breadboards and power supplies for low voltage DC circuits along with the individual components. I still have parts bins full of misc. whiz-bang stuff I used once or twice.

    Dose anyone remember the light show boxes with fresnel lenses Radio Shack sold that you wired up between an amp/receiver and your speaker cabinets?

    I used to love talking with the store reps because they were gadget guys like me. Another piece of my youth has passed on.

    Date: Wed, 18 Feb 2015 05:41:35 +0000
    Author: Homer

    Comment: @Terry - A friend of mine had a couple of the stand-alone light boxes that pulsated in different colors based on the music. They didn't connect to the stereo though.

    Date: Wed, 18 Feb 2015 07:02:59 +0000
    Author: Homer

    Comment: A while back I was cleaning out one of my storage sheds and found a box that was full of old patch cords, switches, jacks and such. They had to have been from the 70's when my friends and I were rigging up all kinds of crazy combinations of audio to cram into our cars. Man, we had some jury rigged systems from hell!!!

    Date: Wed, 18 Feb 2015 18:41:07 +0000
    Author: Terry

    Comment: But wasn't that some of the most fun times of your life? I have not installed as many units as Rick but I can easily count 30 car stereo and or speaker installs dating back to 8 tracks.

    Bending your body under dashboards and laying upside down in car trunks installing gear got to be too much. The last time I think it was a week before I could stand up straight, which made it the last time for me.

    There was just a pure joy of laying the wiring and making connections and then hearing the systems work for the first time. Radio Shack was my prime source for materials.

    One thing I didn't really enjoy was when friends would try to install something and ask me to figure out why their cobbled up mess wouldn't work. (Like grounding out the fuse line--ouch)

    Date: Thu, 19 Feb 2015 01:00:53 +0000
    Author: Rick

    Comment: @Terry - Well said.

    Date: Thu, 19 Feb 2015 04:56:14 +0000
    Author: Homer

    Comment: @Terry - it would be impossible for me to do this stuff any more. Back when I only weighed about 165 and was about 35 years younger I wouldn't think twice about it. Heck, I can't even fit under a dash any more. But they were some great times!!!

    Date: Thu, 19 Feb 2015 04:56:58 +0000
    Author: Homer

    Comment: @Rick - have you gone by RS to see what they have left in stock??

    Date: Fri, 20 Feb 2015 01:09:05 +0000
    Author: Rick

    Comment: @Homer - I have not gone by the RS to see what they have left because I did not think to do so.
    now that you have suggested such, I will go by and keep you posted. If I see something good that I want, I'll get you one too.

    Date: Fri, 20 Feb 2015 06:36:38 +0000
    Author: Homer

    Comment: @Rick, Terry, Ted and all that remember the glory days of RS. An for Andrew and the generations that missed out on it....

    I ran across a website tonight that has a boatload of archived catalogs, videos and other stuff. I haven't had a chance to look at it yet (time to go to bed) but I will be going through it tomorrow night!!

    Enjoy and I hope browsing through here brings back some fond memories....

    http://www.radioshackcatalogs.com/index.html

    Date: Fri, 20 Feb 2015 08:21:14 +0000
    Author: Scott J

    Comment: I started with the "Science Fair" 150 in one spring terminal set.....ran thru most of the projects listed in the manual. One that stands out was the "Capacitive Discharge Ignition" project. It didn't take me long to figure out that if I changed to the bigger capacitor I would get a bigger spark at a slower discharge rate. I tried a little game, "see how long I can hold the two leads" one rainy afternoon in 1977 and after getting jolted pretty badly for a few pulses I had the worst headache for the rest of the day! I built several of the breadboard kits, built the Timex/Sinclair 1000 computer in HS in 1982 and now I have an awesome job as an Equipment Services Associate with BMW Plant Spartanburg. My maintenance career can partly be attributed to a fascination with all things electromechanical that was inspired by a childhood spent poking around in the local Radio Shack. Goodbye old friend.....Automation Direct is the new RS!

    Date: Fri, 20 Feb 2015 09:15:39 +0000
    Author: Terry

    Comment: Wow! The Timex/Sinclair had 1K of memory if I remember right. Physical binary switches on the front panel.

    That is a good story Scott. Tinkering with RS stuff led to a company offered Zenith course in digital basics for me in the late '70s and a good field service job followed.

    Anyone out there build any Heathkit stuff?

    While I am thinking about it, also in the early '70s Radio Shack was owned by Tandy Corp. and Tandy Leather had a store on a corner on North Main Street in Columbia. They sold items like leather belt blanks and wallet kits and stamping dies and leather coloring dyes.

    Date: Sat, 21 Feb 2015 05:36:08 +0000
    Author: Homer

    Comment: I've been 'flipping through' some of the old RS catalogs from the link I posted last night and I'm seeing things that I had totally forgotten about.

    I never knew that WAY back when they sold brand name equipment such as Fisher, Harman/Kardon, Garard, etc. And everything is analog. I love it!!

    I once had an old Fisher receiver that had a tuner that was so sensitive you could almost turn the tuner knob by blowing on it. Talk about zeroing in on off-frequency signals!!!!

    Date: Sat, 21 Feb 2015 12:55:57 +0000
    Author: Terry

    Comment: Homer, that was a great find. I enjoyed looking through some catalogs too, and had forgotten a number of their house-brands of equipment.

    My first VOM was a Micronta and I will bet I hadn't thought of that in 30 years. That was purchased at the Forest Drive location.

    I know exactly what you mean by a fine tuning receiver. I had a Pioneer with a heavy tuning knob about 3" in diameter. Silky smooth vernier tuning. How quaint by today's state of the art digital tuners. But I love them just the same.

    Tesla and Marconi were geniuses.

    Date: Mon, 23 Feb 2015 02:59:29 +0000
    Author: Andrew

    Comment: I noted earlier in the weekend that Northeast Richland's Radio Shack (10210 Two Notch Rd #A) is also wasting no time liquidating and it appeared as if it will be closed by this time next week...leading me to believe that it'll feature here in due time with the others I mentioned earlier that I found similar signage on...Google Maps seems to think that this one moved out of Columbia Place Mall a number of years ago (no idea as to the quantity of that number)...

    Date: Thu, 9 Jul 2015 03:20:08 +0000
    Author: Andrew

    Comment:
    This looks to be the first RadioShack to get a replacement...WIS reports that Chipolte will be opening here before much longer...

    Date: Sun, 26 Jul 2015 01:05:45 +0000
    Author: Jason

    Comment:
    Hearing about a November opening date for this Chipotle.

    Weird we have the exact opposite thoughts on Chipotle and Moe's. I've always thought Moe's was incredibly bland, like the recipes were devised by people who had only ever seen pictures of Mexican food but had never actually tasted it. But I'd eat at Chipotle every day if there was one at all convenient to my house.

    ted

    16 Feb 15 at 8:33 am

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