I miss RadioShack in a lot of the same ways I miss Sears. There was just something comfortingly familiar and—well, old-fashioned is too strong a term, but maybe traditional works—about the experience.
Of course, it wasn’t a frontline destination if you were shopping for a high-end sound system or computer. But they were often the only broad-line radio shop in town. And they had a lot of piece-part inventory that often, you couldn’t easily get anywhere else locally. And there were enough gadgets and toys about to make for entertaining browsing. (I loved their big Christmas catalog.)
For various reasons, RadioShack spent most of the 21st century to date sputtering, dying, and sputtering again. Then, this past November, a holding company for ailing but well-known brands purchased the remaining RadioShack intellectual property and operations, and that’s how the new RadioShack.com came to be.
It’s a mixed bag.
It’s RadioShack in some ways, but of course it isn’t in others. There are a few radios and a few toys available, and some assorted computing accessories. There are some tools. There are numerous electronic components available too, but they’re poorly organized and only apparent when you click Shop All. Then you get resistors and capacitors mixed in with finished consumer goods, with no apparent logic whatsoever. I’m not sure how useful such is.
I did a little business with them. I bought a basic clamp multimeter. And this shirt-pocket-sized AM/FM radio was a great deal. With the offer code I used and free shipping, I got it shipped to my house for $19. It’s pretty nifty. The antenna is built into the strap, and it’s really light, particularly with lithium batteries. (EDIT May 24, 2021: This radio cannot be stored with batteries in it, because it drains them within a month. It is therefore of rather limited usefulness. I have thrown it away.)
Alas, such deals are not easily reproducible. The prices fluctuate quite a bit on this site. For example, I’ve seen the radio in the photo at $23.99, $29.99, and $25.99 within the past three weeks. This radio was marked down from $64.99 to $47.99 yesterday for a couple of hours, and then settled in at $49.99 (apparently its new regular price).
This is not pleasant if, say, I think about a purchase in the morning and then go back to make it in the afternoon and the price is higher. I wrote and complained about that, and got a near-immediate boilerplate response that said, essentially, that’s just the way it is.
Well, okay. But I don’t like it.
I’ll keep an eye on RadioShack.com to see if the site matures. It’d be kind of cool for it to develop into somewhere I wanted to shop regularly. But, if all I get out of it is this little radio, then that’s all right too.
You might also like:
- Nickel metal hydride and you
Gee, that title sounds like a fourth-grade filmstrip, doesn’t it? I first explored nickel metal hydr… - The end of Sears
Sears Holdings will soon ask a bankruptcy judge for permission to liquidate its remaining assets. (T… - Penney’s, Sears circling the drain
Just like the malls where they were once stalwarts, JC Penney and Sears are on death watch. This pie… - Tamiya disappoints me right out of the chute
Last year Nathan got interested in radio control cars, and said interest happened to coincide with a… - Review: Sweetness by Christy Jordan
Beloved Southern cook, mama, wife, raconteur, and future best grandma ever Christy Jordan is a frien…