41 Minutes Of (Antique) Radio Shack Stuff

For younger viewers, you may have heard me mention Radio Shack or heard of it elsewhere.These are just the things I own/owned from RS. You may be surprised how much there is (and how long this video is!) Come along as I dig out all of my Tandy / Archer / Radio Shack stuff. Based on data from Wikipedia and other:RadioShack was established in Boston in 1921 as an amateur radio mail-order business by 2 brothers, and was purchased by Tandy Corporation (a leather goods company) in 1962. They went from radio equipment to hobbyist electronic components. Charles D. Tandy died of a heart attack at age 60 in November 1978. Radio Shack manufactured many goods in the company's factories. By 1990/1991, Tandy was the world's biggest manufacturer of personal computers. It was OEMing hardware for Digital Equipment Corporation, GRiD, Olivetti, AST Computer, Panasonic, and others. They also manufactured store fixtures, computer software, wire and cable, TV antennas, audio and videotape. At one point, Radio Shack was the world's largest electronics chain. In June 1991, Tandy closed or restructured its 200 Radio Shack Computer Centers, acquired Computer City, and attempted to shift its emphasis away from components and cables, toward mainstream consumer electronics. Tandy sold its computer manufacturing to AST Research in 1993. It sold the Memorex consumer recording trademarks to a Hong Kong firm, and divested most of its manufacturing divisions. House-brand products, which had high profit margins, were replaced with third-party brands already readily available from competitors. This reduced profit margins. At its peak in 1999, Tandy had over 8,000 RadioShack stores in the United States & other. From 2000 onward they declined. In February 2015 RadioShack was delisted from the New York Stock Exchange and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. In March 2017, General Wireless and subsidiaries filed for bankruptcy. RadioShack closed many company-owned stores and shifted to primarily online. RadioShack was bought by Retail Ecommerce Ventures in November 2020. It now is primarily as an e-commerce website along with independently owned franchise stores, and supplies parts for HobbyTown USA. In May 2023 they were purchased by Unicomer Group, an El Salvador based company who is one of the largest franchisors of RadioShack, with stores based in Central America, South America, and the Caribbean.

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