[GreenKeys] Radio Shack Catalogs on-line

[Don Robert House]

Thanks for sharing BIll,

You are right about who they hire.  Cannot get decent help when the  
salary is very low.  Most get hooked by a small commission on the  
cellular phone outlet business.
The turnover is pretty quick.  I never see the same employees from one  
month to the next.

Don


On 3 Mar 2013, at 5:21 PM, Bill wrote:

I was a store manager for Radio Shack back in Falls Church, VA. when  
they bought Allied Radio. They spent tons and tons of money converting  
all their stores and brand names to "Allied Radio Shack", changing the  
names on all the store fronts and in advertising. Very little of their  
electronics kept the "Realistic" brand name. Most everything was  
renamed "Allied Radio Shack" or ARS (that was what replaced the  
Realistic logo on the gear.)
Most of the stores were not allowed to carry any of the Allied  
inventory but they all had a catalog order desk for the Allied line.  
As a store manager, you could go to the regional warehouse and pick up  
customers orders. A lot of us even picked up some of the Allied gear  
for stock in our stores much to the dislike of our district managers.
It was not too long after all the money and time spent to do the  
conversion that the fair trade commission stepped in and said that  
"Number one cannot buy number two" because it was unfair. At the time  
Radio Shack was the number one in home electronics and Allied was  
number two. It would have been OK had Allied bought Radio Shack tho.
So, tons and tons of money later, all was converted back to plain old  
Radio Shack and Realistic and the Allied line was removed for good.
I still have an old Allied Radio Shack catalog somewhere in my  
collection of "dumb stuff to keep". Even had a few ARS receivers at  
one time. Wish I still did.
I don't think Radio Shack would rank very high in the top100+  
electronics stores any more. I don't like going into some of them  
because of the IQ of the people they hire.
They used to be the place to go if you needed parts. They had 1000's  
of small parts you could not find anywhere else. Not any more!
There used to be a Tandy Leather store next door to almost all the  
Shacks. I don't think Tandy Leather exists anymore. Great little hobby  
store.
I think it started out as a privately owned store that catered to the  
Ham world in Long Beach, Ca. Could be wrong here but that was the  
first Radio Shack I remember going in to and I do remember that it was  
not a "company" store of any kind.
How times have changed...sometimes for the worse.

Bill Cain

On 3/3/2013 11:12 AM, Don Robert House wrote:
> Too bad they do not include Allied Radio and their Knight-Kits...
> TANDY, a hobby company, bought Allied and then converted the stores  
> to Radio Shack.
> However Allied Electronics is now a competitor to Mouser, so things  
> get complicated.
>
> Don, K9TTY
> Ringwood, Illinois
>
>
> http://www.radioshackcatalogs.com/
>
>
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