Mourning the Loss of the Good Old Days at RS

I can remember the days when I would accompany my beloved to the Mall — any Mall would do — and would dutifully follow around behind her through the girly girl shoppes (with a “pes”) for a reasonable length of time.  At some point I would give her a hug and say, “You’ll find me in the Radio Shack.”

I loved browsing the Radio Shack with all the fancy new electronic innovations, computers and audio equipment.  It was great to stand around and talk about audio and RF signal strength and watts per channel.  I could have worked for Tandy Corp (parent corp for Radio Shack) at one time but was too impoverished to move to Texas, but that’s another story.

Yesterday, I made some adjustments to our modest entertainment center and needed to get an inexpensive, no-frills power amplifier.  I went over to RS and it was like a foreign country.  Neither of the fresh-faced sales-force personnel knew what I was talking about.  A look of exasperation must have masked my face because a kindly older customer took up my part and calmly explained to the children what it was that I needed.  “We don’t have anything like that,” was the response.  I looked around the store and realized that it didn’t resemble anything I had ever seen in a RS before.  It’s almost all cell phones and accessories and little gadgets.

“Whatever happened to the old Radio Shack?”, I bemoaned.  My elderly friend smiled and said, “I miss it too.”  The impertinent young whippersnapper said, “We try to keep up with the times!”  And then the other “wet-behind-the-ears” stooge said:  “Go over to Great Sounds Audio.  We send a lot of people over there.”

Well … I went over to Great Sounds Audio and they were closed.  Music was playing through their outdoor speakers but the store was closed.  In the few minutes that I was there, three other prospective customers approached the locked door and walked away as well.  I’ll bet all of them had been to Radio Shack!!!

I went home disappointed and disillusioned.  I got on line and found just the power amplifier that I needed and made the purchase.  I found it on Radio Shack’s website!!!

Why didn’t the sales dudes tell me I could get it at their website? …. Probably because they had no clue.

I’m glad that I found the amplifier at Radio Shack … but I’m saddened by the fact that RS will no longer provide me a comfortable refuge from the girly-girl shoppes.