Radio Shack: the "Unsung Hero" of the Personal Computing Revolution

A $4.01 Apple Computer check written by Steve Jobs to Radio Shack in 1976 is being auctioned for at least $30,000.

The check is made out on an Apple Computer Company account opened at a Wells Fargo branch in Los Altos.

Listed is Apple’s first official address at 770 Welch Rd., Ste. 154, Palo Alto — “the location of an answering service and mail drop that they used while still operating out of the famous Jobs family garage,” the webpage says.

RR Auction, a Boston-based specialist in Jobs and Apple memorabilia, calls Radio Shack an “unsung hero” of the personal computing revolution and notes that co-founder Steve Wozniak would spend hours roaming the aisles of the store.

Comments:
1) Steve Jobs must have been a careful business manager to write a check, thereby documenting a $4.01 expense.
2) Palo Alto, in fact the entire Peninsula, used to have area code 415, the same as San Francisco and Marin County. It was reassigned to 650 in 1997.
3) Can you tell from his writing that Steve Jobs is left-handed?
4) Radio Shack, which employed several of my relatives in Hawaii and California, was indeed historically important to the history of Silicon Valley, as hardware geeks like Steve Wozniak prowled its aisles for parts hoping to build the next big thing.

Radio Shack v 2.0

After nearly 40 years the Foster City
Radio Shack closed in 2016.

We lamented the apparent demise of Radio Shack in 2015 but reports of its death may be premature: [bold added]

Retail Ecommerce Ventures in 2020 bought the rights to the brand in the U.S., Canada, India, Australia, Europe and China, along with related websites, for an undisclosed price. RadioShack at that time was operating as an online retailer but still had a network of stores with independent owners. [Brand marketing executive Abel] Czupor said the brand has licensing agreements with RadioShack locations.

The retailer in recent months has launched a cryptocurrency exchange platform. It plans to vastly increase the inventory on its site, including merchandise related to crypto. And it wants to revive its stores with new products such as videogames and “other trendy items,” Mr. Czupor said, to attract a wider base of consumers.

RadioShack is also examining further blockchain initiatives, according to Mr. Czupor.

The company isn’t ruling out again stocking goods that would appeal to engineers, once a staple. “We always hold true to our roots, and if that involves bringing back transistors in the stores, then so be it,” Mr. Czupor said.

Radio Shack stores are a shorthand way for movie makers to place a scene in the late 20th century. In 2019's Captain Marvel the heroine crash-lands into a shopping mall containing a Blockbuster Video Store and a Radio Shack. (These retailer outlets no longer exist, but they were ubiquitous in 1995.) Radio Shack and its Realistic electronics are prominently featured in the Netflix hit Stranger Things, which is set in the years following 1983. In science fiction shows of that era, techie characters are always running down to the local Radio Shack to build devices that will save the day.

In 2022 the new Radio Shack group has been producing edgy not-safe-for-work tweets in an effort to drum up visibility. The new business is focused on crypto, which seemed like a brilliant idea one year ago. However, the recent crash in cryptocurrencies and the bankruptcy of crypto companies bodes poorly for this strategy.

For nostalgia's sake I hope that Radio Shack comes back, but it's much more likely that I'll only see the brand in the movies.

Radio Shack

This Radio Shack is slated for closure. It was here
 when we moved to Foster City in 1980.

Radio Shack's bankruptcy on Thursday captured more mentions than a company its size ($1.2 billion assets, $1.4 billion liabilities) would normally merit.

The reason perhaps was nostalgia; Radio Shack was formed in 1921 when consumers began their long-running affair with electronic gadgets like telephones, phonographs, and, of course, radios. It has been part of the retail landscape for nearly everyone alive today.

The shelves are more than empty, they're gone.

Many under 30 regard the death of the old Radio Shack with amusement:

In all fairness, there is no way that a store with a name like Radio Shack was long for this world. It combined Radios and Shacks, two old-fangled technologies that our ancestors used to have. This is like naming a store Telegram Hut or Smoke Signal Yurt. It’s like naming a search engine ‘Bing’.

For older folks, who remember when no one had a computer at home, the memories are not to be laughed at:

"In high school I remember buying my first splitter at RadioShack—and marveling at the fact that I could now listen to my Walkman with my boyfriend."

"RadioShack gave us the cables and scanners and phone lines (ahhh, dial-up!) we needed to access the universe beyond our shrinking rural town."

"Dad was something of a HeathKit addict. Nobody remembers HeathKit now, maybe, but it was a company that would send you all the parts for various electronic components and you’d solder them up yourself. I made a digital clock; Dad built an equalizer, amplifier, and a pre-amp."

It appears that Radio Shack will be reorganized into much fewer stores and be affiliated with Sprint. As one who still shops there occasionally, I hope it makes it.

This Radio Shack soldering station was very useful three months ago.

The Less-Trafficked Road

Amazon customers can pick up their deliveries at
some Radio Shack locations in the Bay Area.

The shopping center lots were full on Black Friday, so we headed to downtown San Mateo where there was only light traffic. We stopped at the 4th Avenue Radio Shack (disclosure: I own shares of RSH) and picked up some batteries and a $40 label-maker that was on sale for $10.

Radio Shack has been struggling like many other chains, and it's questionable whether it will survive the retail shake-out. One glimmer of hope is that Radio Shack can partner with companies who will view its 4,000+ North American locations as an exploitable asset. It's a dicey proposition, but perhaps the company's only path to survival.

It Stinks

This post is about one of my worst stock investments.

New York sports fans are miffed about the contract dispute between Time Warner and MSG Network. In order to get their fix of "Lin-sanity" about two million viewers have had to go to sports bars or friends' homes with DirecTV or Cablevision subcriptions.

Dialogue from today's CNBC Squawk Box:

CNBC anchor David Faber: "If you have Time Warner, by the way, you're going to have to find [Knicks games] on the radio. I had to actually go out and buy an AM radio. It's been 48 days, 17 games, that have so far been missed by fans of the Knicks."

CNBC anchor Melissa Lee: "David, where do you even buy a radio these days...Radio Shack?"

David Faber: "Yeah, yeah, you can go to Radio Shack, you gotta go back into the back room." [Far away gesture with hands]

Melissa Lee: "Dust them off? Cobwebs?" [Brushing away motion]

David Faber: "It's 1980's, 1990's inventory." [Hilarity ensues.]

I feel bad enough about my Radio Shack investment. Now it's the subject of gratuitous mockery on CNBC. (I bought some RSH last May because I thought that they were one of the few electronics retailers who knew what they were doing. Boy, was I wrong.)

RSH has dropped nearly 60% since I bought it.

The comment about radios in the back room reminds me of an old joke about accounting inventory methods:

FIFO - First-in, first-out
LIFO - Last-in, first-out
FISH - First-in, still here

Not laughing so hard when it happens to you.