Here’s your chance to get a blast from the past with items, trinkets and memorabilia from The Shack. I wouldn’t mind getting that TRS-80 Model 80 notebook computer.
I wonder if I can buy my dignity? 'Cause The Shack certainly fucking took it.
#5 is a painting?! Man, I would hate to be the guy to have to crouch all that time.
Wow.
I worked with RS back when they were almost still relevant. I suspect some of my stuff might be on those auction shelves.
They were one weird fraggin’ company even then. Not too unlike a cult - somewhere between Scientology and what WalMart HQ is supposed to be like.
Yeah, I remember calling once and getting the greeting “Hello, Radioshack. You’ve got questions and we’ve got answers.” Felt too cult-like and scared me off.
wow I wonder how much that trash 80 is going for … I remember when i lived near a radio shack … and playing on one of their last computers they made a cartridge of the Robocop game … and I bought the last pc I owned my self with a CompuServe 300$ rebate (remember that disaster for isp’s ?)
There’s a direct link to the auction in that article mentioned in the OP.
A TRS-80 with 5 GB of memory sounds - hold on…what? My bad - with 5 MB of memory sounds like - excuse me? Make that 5 KB of memory (just like the old Commodore VIC-20).
As for CompuServe, didn’t that predate most ISPs? I remember buying airline tickets in 1992 using its Eaasy Sabre (a simplified version of American Airlines’ Sabre system) interface. And that $300 was good for, what, 25 hours at 1200 baud (or 75 at 300)?
Then you’d have to find cassette tapes somewhere, to run the software. 
When I worked there, they had a promotion going on, and we had to answer the phone thus: “*Thank you for calling Radio Shit, where your purchases can earn you miles on American Airlines”. *:rolleyes:
I worked with an old guy, with a thick accent, who spoke very slow and deliberate. It took him about a minute and a half to recite this tripe. 
Goddamn, I hated that place.
And a tape player to play the tapes. 
They sell a lot of junky telephone appliances but it was great to go there and pick up electronic parts back when. Not like they had a huge stock but a few 7400 ICs, 555 type timers, transistors and other discreet components, breadboards, solder, and the like. Didn’t seem like they’d ever get much past that point though, the rest of the world of consumer electronics sailed right past them. I’m kind of surprised they lasted this long.
I found out about their closeout sale online a bit too late. They had a really good price on something I’ve wanted.
Nerts.
This reminds me of
Everything From This 1991 Radio Shack Ad You Can Now Do With Your Phone
I just noticed the box of CueCat barcode scanners.
Once I decided I wanted one since they were trivially hackable to be used as general barcode scanners, RS had stopped giving them away. 
The current bid is $30. Good grief.
I visited my local Radio Shack last week, and bought a big bag of connectors at 90% off. Really sad to see the end where I’ve been shopping since I was a child.
Thanks for sharing that. The writer missed two thing though:
That’s why I have Waze. With me as the navigator, looking for speed traps, he can leadfoot to his heart’s content.
No, just no. If I had my way, I’d outlaw speakers on phones just because of all the dildos playing music over their tiny phone speakers on the bus and train.
Mr. Burns: That fellow at Radio Shack said I was mad! Well WHO’S MAD NOW???
Yeah, but I got all that shit already.
I had not known they were going out of business. Sad. I remember buying parts there for a project I did for E-Sci in high school.
I have a CueCat scanner, actually. Came with my purchase of Readerware, a program I use to catalog my books. It works pretty nicely once you get into the rhythm of swiping it across the ISBN bar codes.