diytube.com

When they started selling TVs, that was the beginning of their downfall.
That, and when they started pushing that execrable TSP (Tandy Service Plan).

In the day, there was the original Radio Shack "mother ship" in Boston, which was a REAL electronics store, with a huge parts inventory. Also sold tubes, ham radio gear, and even military surplus electronics, back in the 1950s and early 1960s. It was the best "electronics heaven" other than 1960s era Canal Street, AKA Radio Row, in NYC.

Way they'e headed, Wal-Mart will run over, and squash the shack, much like an Abrams tank hitting a turtle, someday...

/ed B

That's exactly what happened here..... and they were dumb enough to try and compete in the field of computers right up until the end.

We had a profit margin in the end of 1.3% on computers and you could still go to a Ma & Pa shop, let alone a big box and get it for 20% less.

The TV's weren't niche items either... they were brands and models you could get right next door in London Drugs for the same or less and they tossed in the 5 year extended warranty for free as a "Manager's Special".

The credit cards is what we were ordered to push. Interest rate of the legal max 60% annum. They had the car-sales mentality with them... he who didn't get "x" amount of cards per month target, regardless of their personal sales, was fired

Sad thing was when Circuit City took them over, renaming them The Source, they grandfathered the whole system and lost their keisters. Now Bell owns them and no one is sure what they will do with the chain to make it profitable again.

Cheers!

I also got really annoyed when they started taking down the customer's address on a simple cash purchase, IE: I'm buying 2-9 volt batteries with a 5 dollar bill. WTF do you need my address for? Oh yeah, its so I can receive yet another Radio Shack catalog every month. Do I want the hot pink walkie talkie set? Or the plastic construction helmet with a rotating police light on the top? Remember that helmet? Every kids dream to see one of those under the Christmas tree.

kevco wrote:Every kids dream to see one of those under the Christmas tree.

And a parent's dream when the ones who did like them insist on wearing it everywhere in public

Cheers!

Ty_Bower wrote:Somewhere around here I have a Realistic Lifetime 5AR4. It is silkscreened "GE" on the base, but etched "GT BRITAIN" with Mullard codes on the glass..

GE never manufactured 5AR4s - they were Mullards. Knowing that, you can sometimes score a Mullard-built 5AR4 at a discount, below market.

Well I hate to disagree but GE did make an American 5AR4. It looks like a pair of small damper tubes inside. GE did also relabel Mullards, I have an NOS one and it rattles terribly.

Here's a GE made 5AR4

OK, thanks Terry for correcting me. However, are you sure that that USA-made 5AR4 was actually manufactured by GE and not somebody else? Are there code numbers on the tube that would veirfy that?

When I bought my GE-branded 5AR4 (a Mullard) a few years ago, I seem to recall learning that GE never manufactured thier own 5AR4s - but I may be mistaken. I do know that U.S. manufacturers often rebranded each others tubes - many manufacturers wanted to offer a complete line of tubes, but sometimes didn't want to tool-up for every last one.

But my theory that any GE-branded 5AR4 is a Mullard is clearly off base. The rebranded GE/Mullards will, of course, be labeled "Made in Great Britain," and have Mullard code numbers. That's what I bought, and that tube seems to be indestructible in my ST-70 (after blowing up several newly manufactured 5AR4s). NOS (or used) GE/Mullards tend to be a bit less expensive than those that are Mullard labeled.

By the way, even though I bought a NOS GE/Mullard, I wouldn't hesitate to buy a used Mullard-made 5AR4 if the price was right. They are that good.

I also got really annoyed when they started taking down the customer's address on a simple cash purchase, IE: I'm buying 2-9 volt batteries with a 5 dollar bill. WTF do you need my address for?

Getting the "third degree" from Rat Shack used to seriously annoy me, big time....

Way I dealt with it was, I'd tell them my name was Bill Cash, and then give them the address of another Rat Shack store in another nearby town, or of the local police department. They were dumb enough to fall for it.

/ed B