I bought my very first stereo (AM/FM with separate turntable) from Radio Shack. It was an Allied brand (the name used before Radio Shack.)

Found it on ebay. I am glad it is only worth $25 now Brings back memories. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Allied-Model-42 ... 1468169314

I echo Russell's and all the other sentiments, this is a part of our childhood vanishing off the roadmap all because of planned obsolesce thinking. I can't tell you how many times some repairman, who doesn't want to get into it rubs his hands in a rag and says "well, it's cheaper to buy a new one" A new what- one that will break in a year with inferior parts as opposed to my Maytag my Mom bought in the 1950s still going strong!

Randy is absolutely correct if it is built then it can be fixed. More importantly, it is raising a generation of consumers and waste producers, and not innovative thinkers who want to see how it works and make it better.

As a kid, I bought those Science Fair kits and was always at wonder going into the store. I remember "solder less terminals" springs building a really cool radio that could get Aircraft and Emergency Vehicles. In the 80's before my band took to the stage, my "battery a month club card" made sure my 9V were all good for my stomp boxes! When I got my Craig Anderton Electronics Projects for Musicians book, I etched my first circuit board with a kit from Radio Shack. It goes on- I have two excellent PA speakers Optimus 15;s with horns, and a home powered subwoofer and titanium 360 speakers that I understand were RCA rebrands, and that the batteries were Energizers all at a fraction of the name you pay for today.

Fare thee well Radio Shack, we will all miss you,
Dave B "DBro"

The trs-80 was my window into programming. Programming in Basic was really fun. I got a good feel for working at a command prompt.

While I never got up and underneath electronics projects, they could be depended on for a multitude of adapters, power supplies and hard to find $2.35 hardware.

Thanks RS.

We all have our technology in the palm of our hands. What does it matter now?

Now we know what we have sacrificed for the sake of convenience.

K

Sorry I'm late to the thread...but this was sad for me too--and actually when you think about it, it's a bit profound.

DIY Electronics as a hobby was perhaps never mainstream, but the time when you can go down and just get a part off the shelf are now officially gone. The Mouser's and Digikeys got efficient and cheap enough (and developed large enough warehouses) that there was no way for RadioShack to compete.

My projects years ago I did with a majority of RS parts. Over time, I've had to get more online, as Radio Shack's offerings dwindled. Now, for my next project, I just ordered everything completely from Mouser. Still convenient? Yes, but they were the kind of parts I *could* have gotten from RS.

Sad day.