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.