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From: Barton.Bruce@camb.com (Barton F. Bruce)
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: Re: Allied Radio / Radio Shack
Message-ID: <16708@accuvax.nwu.edu>
Date: 6 Feb 91 03:29:58 GMT
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X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 11, Issue 95, Message 2 of 9


In article <16686@accuvax.nwu.edu>, jshelton@ads.com (John L. Shelton)
writes:

> Radio Shack was formed in 1920 (approx) in Boston, MA, and for years
> had the one store on Commonwealth Ave.  They branched out into mail

They moved out to Commonwealth Ave. right near the BU bridge actually
quite late in their history, and well into their downward slide (IMHO)
that they still continue today.

They WERE on Washington St. right between what is now Government
Center, and what has long been Haymarket Square. Back when I was a
kid, and the subway was a nickel, they had bins of all sorts of WWII
surplus electronics stuff along with the new stuff. The quality and
atmosphere has never been quite the same. Back then the sales folk
generally knew what they were talking about.

When they finally moved to Comm. Ave. they got a bit fancier, and they
were heading down hill. Now they are mostly blisterpacked gadgets on
the 800% markup racks.


[Moderator's Note: Sad to say, there is *no way* a radio/electronics
gear store of the 1950-60 era could operate today, given the economics
involved. The old Allied Radio store had *barrels* of capacitors and
other components sitting around everywhere -- sort through them and
take what you want. If you did not know what you wanted, the salesman
would consult directories, indexes and tables to find the proper part
number from other companies, etc. The salesman would spend thirty
minutes with you if needed to help you find the gizmo you were looking
for to use in modifying your radio, etc ... all for a two dollar sale.

Olson was the same way. How they made a profit I'll never know. I
guess in fact they did not make a profit since they, like Allied, are
out of business. Blisterpacked gadgets and salespeople who know from
nothing are where the profit is now-a-days. In the old days, the sales
help in those stores were almost always hobbyists themselves, with
hobbyist mentalities, stringing components together to make things
work like they wanted. It was easy for them to empathize with the
customer and spend time discussing your project and helping you dig
through barrels of poorly marked capactitors, vacuum tubes, switches
and plugs finding what was needed. Imagine most RS clerks doing that
today or even knowing/caring what your home-brew project is about.  PAT]