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I don’t miss these shops in the UK. They were very expensive and literally had nothing in stock here. You’d regularly phone up, confirm stock, get there after a

by setquk 8y ago

I don’t miss these shops in the UK. They were very expensive and literally had nothing in stock here. You’d regularly phone up, confirm stock, get there after a 20 mile drive and then they couldn’t find the stock or had filed the wrong resistors. Now we have RS etc. Free next day delivery on everything. I regularly buy £0.20 of resistors at 7pm and they’re here by 10am next day.

acct1771 8y ago
Are you old enough to remember original Radio Shack? Or just lived near an unfortunately awful store?
- setquk 8y ago
  Yes. We had Tandy here which was the UK version of Radio Shack and was a pretty 1:1 match to the US Radio Shack stores. I'm old enough to have been a member of the Tandy battery club. Perhaps unfortunately. The Tandy stores were pretty rubbish and overpriced. I've heard exactly the same complaints from people in the US at the time as well.
  - TheOtherHobbes 8y ago
    Tandy utterly failed to understand the UK's hobbyist culture. Maplin and the smaller mail order shops all advertised in the electronics monthlies and absolutely owned the market, because they gave the impression of being by-hobbyists-for-hobbyists and had huge customer loyalty. Tandy turned up with their price gouging, and were literally laughed at. They managed to sell some TRS-80s - not a bad little computer - but aside from that most hobbyists were either indifferent or aggressively contemptuous because of their insanely greedy pricing. Where Maplin understood how to build a loyal customer base by giving away free information in a massive catalogue, and creating projects that were challenging and fun, Tandy only ever seemed to see their customers as prey they could exploit. It wasn't a good look then, and it's not a good look now.
- NeedMoreTea 8y ago
  It was their UK pricing maybe. Everything was in a prepack. You didn't get prices on packs or shelves, you got colour codes that were pre-printed on the Radio Shack brand packs, so I'd guess they did that in US stores too. Pack of three resistors, or three LEDs, or two electrolytics. £1.95. Or was that a fixed pack of 10 (including 8 values you didn't want) for £5.95? In 1970s or early 1980s. This when £1 Sterling was maybe $2.80 All US books were shrink wrapped, so you had only the back cover to go on. If you mail ordered from Maplin in Southampton and spent £20, Radio Shack would be £400 for the same bits.
  - setquk 8y ago
    That was exactly it. 3-5 resistors (depending on wattage) 50p. That was the price of a mars bar and can of Coke at the time. Maplin 6p.

by setquk 8y ago

acct1771 8y ago

Are you old enough to remember original Radio Shack? Or just lived near an unfortunately awful store?

setquk 8y ago
Yes. We had Tandy here which was the UK version of Radio Shack and was a pretty 1:1 match to the US Radio Shack stores. I'm old enough to have been a member of the Tandy battery club. Perhaps unfortunately. The Tandy stores were pretty rubbish and overpriced. I've heard exactly the same complaints from people in the US at the time as well.
- TheOtherHobbes 8y ago
  Tandy utterly failed to understand the UK's hobbyist culture. Maplin and the smaller mail order shops all advertised in the electronics monthlies and absolutely owned the market, because they gave the impression of being by-hobbyists-for-hobbyists and had huge customer loyalty. Tandy turned up with their price gouging, and were literally laughed at. They managed to sell some TRS-80s - not a bad little computer - but aside from that most hobbyists were either indifferent or aggressively contemptuous because of their insanely greedy pricing. Where Maplin understood how to build a loyal customer base by giving away free information in a massive catalogue, and creating projects that were challenging and fun, Tandy only ever seemed to see their customers as prey they could exploit. It wasn't a good look then, and it's not a good look now.
NeedMoreTea 8y ago
It was their UK pricing maybe. Everything was in a prepack. You didn't get prices on packs or shelves, you got colour codes that were pre-printed on the Radio Shack brand packs, so I'd guess they did that in US stores too. Pack of three resistors, or three LEDs, or two electrolytics. £1.95. Or was that a fixed pack of 10 (including 8 values you didn't want) for £5.95? In 1970s or early 1980s. This when £1 Sterling was maybe $2.80 All US books were shrink wrapped, so you had only the back cover to go on. If you mail ordered from Maplin in Southampton and spent £20, Radio Shack would be £400 for the same bits.
- setquk 8y ago
  That was exactly it. 3-5 resistors (depending on wattage) 50p. That was the price of a mars bar and can of Coke at the time. Maplin 6p.