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[–] • 1 pt (edited )

I bought a bunch of stuff at RS when they went out of business. Still have and use it. I just used my digital clamp meter yesterday. It works great and cost me like 20 bucks. I miss RS.

Edit: I just learned that the Shack is Back! Looks like it is online only? Not sure but I'll be checking it out!

https://www.radioshack.com/

[–] [deleted] • 1 pt

I've bought some things from their site but I'm not sure if they're selling NOS or if it's just a dancing skeleton.

[–] [deleted] • 1 pt

There's an actual brick-and-mortar Radio Shack still operating in Saline, MI.

[–] • 1 pt

That is an old timer, probably from the 80s.

Anyone else remember the free battery a month card?

[–] • 2 pts

Ah yes, the free battery a month club card. I fondly remember those cards and the RS beach balls too. I also had a couple of RS comic books about technology and space. Oh, and the free flashlights too (no batteries though). These were awesome to get as a kid and teen. For the free battery a month offer, from age 9 I realized that the 9V battery was the best battery one could get because it didn't need to be paired with other cells and had the highest voltage, which made it better, right? They were the red cells, carbon zinc IIRC, but they were decent for the time. The green and gold cells were better but cost more.

And for OP, I used to have those old 80s NiCd rechargeable cells and the RS 4-cell charger to go with them. I had 4 AAA, 8 AA, 4 D, 4 C but no 9V from RS. My 9V batteries were made by Panasonic and I had 3 of those. I managed to get quite a lot of charges out of all of these batteries before they grew whiskers inside them and shorted out. Much better life than later NiCd batteries I purchased from other manufacturers. I really miss RS/Tandy.

[–] [deleted] • 1 pt

More than likely from the 80's.

The 'old man' that ran the local RS came across as not wanting anything to do with anyone that walked into his shop. I've never heard of a "free battery" offering, probably because of. After awhile of being a 'little pest', he warmed up to the family a bit. I'm sure he has passed by now but he's one of the people that shaped my life.

[–] • 1 pt (edited )

That didn't make any sense, let me try again.

His store may have been a franchise. Franchises carried RS stuff and may have even had the name, but as they were not a corporate store they could carry what they wanted (along with other brands or even genres of product) and didn't necessarily have to deal with the corporate programs like the Battery-of-the-month club cards.

Most stores were corporate, meaning RS owned them and they carried the full stock of RS items and nothing else, but there was a store in a nearby town to me that was a music store that had a RS franchise. They carried a few things, could order everything else. but were primarily a music store that sold RS-branded items like amps, radios, etc.

[–] [deleted] • 1 pt

It made sense on your first go but thank you for the added clarification.

I'm very sure that my local store was a franchise but he ran it as a true tech shop. There was as least two isles, both sides, of drawers of components and the latest chips. I understood then, coming in as a grubby redneck, why he acted the way be did. I later helped a big box store put him out of business....