# I miss Radio Shack...



## Sneaky (Feb 14, 2006)

I needed a 1/2A Busmann fuse yesterday and called all the local places I could think of to no avail. The cheapest I could find was Digi-Key on line. $1.00 for the fuse and $8.00 shipping. (Sigh)

On the bright side I ordered yesterday afternoon and it was on my doorstep at 11:00 this morning.


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## Robert1950 (Jan 21, 2006)

The Source just isn't the same, despite being a rebranded Radio Shack in Canada.


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## player99 (Sep 5, 2019)

Robert1950 said:


> The Source just isn't the same, despite being a rebranded Radio Shack in Canada.


The Source is a cell phone store owned by Bell.


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## jb welder (Sep 14, 2010)

Sneaky said:


> I needed a 1/2A Busmann fuse yesterday and called all the local places I could think of to no avail.


Canadian Tire or other auto supplier? I used to always assume they wouldn't have smaller values, but they are used for various things like radios and other accessories in cars (although old style glass cartridge is getting harder to find).
I also had luck at a local electrical supplier. They had a lot more values than I thought they would have, even fast & slow blow.
Also, places like Acklands Grainger have them, maybe even Rona or Home Depot as they carry things like toggle switches, etc.


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## Sneaky (Feb 14, 2006)

jb welder said:


> Canadian Tire or other auto supplier? I used to always assume they wouldn't have smaller values, but they are used for various things like radios and other accessories in cars (although old style glass cartridge is getting harder to find).
> I also had luck at a local electrical supplier. They had a lot more values than I thought they would have, even fast & slow blow.
> Also, places like Acklands Grainger have them, maybe even Rona or Home Depot as they carry things like toggle switches, etc.


Nobody had one less than 1A. Tried everyone within short driving distance.

Home Hardware of all places had them but the store is in Okotoks, about 45 minutes away.


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## jb welder (Sep 14, 2010)

That sucks. The one thing about the auto parts places though is they can usually get stuff from their warehouse same or next day with no shipping charge, so maybe next time.


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## LanceT (Mar 7, 2014)

Princess Auto? They have random stuff to the rafters and beyond.


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## vadsy (Dec 2, 2010)

Eecol
EB Horsman
Westburne
Gescan
Nedco

they'll all have what youre looking for


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## bzrkrage (Mar 20, 2011)

Sneaky said:


> Nobody had one less than 1A. Tried everyone within short driving distance.


B&E electronics on Manitou Rd.


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## knight_yyz (Mar 14, 2015)

Every town has a Mom and Pop electronic shop. Just need to find it.


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## player99 (Sep 5, 2019)

knight_yyz said:


> Every town has a Mom and Pop electronic shop. Just need to find it.


Maybe 50 years ago...


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## Jim DaddyO (Mar 20, 2009)

I can remember going into Radio Shack and speaking with the counter guy (usually the owner) about options on building a power supply unit and he knew what he was talking about. You go into Circuit City and the only thing they know is how to sell you a cell phone plan.


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## Mooh (Mar 7, 2007)

The Source is a pale reflection of Radio Shack. I took a part-time job at RS round about 1978. I was always in the place looking for parts and helping other customers anyway so it stood to reason they should hire me. I already had a full-time job working for the county, and a regular gigging band, but I really dug the place. Inventory keeping was murder with all those small parts.


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## Hammerhands (Dec 19, 2016)

Dave Lovering, drummer of the Pixies, worked at Radio Shack.


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## mawmow (Nov 14, 2017)

Ain't the great Tommy Emmanuel put a Radio-Shack bought mic in his Maton ?! 
Sure he did ! He did tell that (he was at an event in Hamburg, as I remember).
Radio-Shack were reputated here to sell cheap stuff but they had plenty of stuff !
Yeah ! We may not even remember how we miss Radio Shack !


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## Lincoln (Jun 2, 2008)

remember the Radio Shack catalogs? I spent countless hours going through them and dreaming of things to build. 

Radio Shack Catalogs - General Catalogs


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## Doug Gifford (Jun 8, 2019)

player99 said:


> Maybe 50 years ago...


Yeah, then they were put out of business by Radio Shacks everywhere.


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## Sneaky (Feb 14, 2006)

bzrkrage said:


> B&E electronics on Manitou Rd.


Forgot about them. Thanks.



vadsy said:


> Eecol
> EB Horsman
> Westburne
> Gescan
> ...


Tried a couple of those, no luck.


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## Sneaky (Feb 14, 2006)

Lincoln said:


> remember the Radio Shack catalogs? I spent countless hours going through them and dreaming of things to build.
> 
> Radio Shack Catalogs - General Catalogs


Yeah, me too. Also, Lafayette catalogs.


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## bzrkrage (Mar 20, 2011)

Lincoln said:


> remember the Radio Shack catalogs? I spent countless hours going through them and dreaming of things to build.
> 
> Radio Shack Catalogs - General Catalogs


I just picked up one of these 70’s delights from a thrift the other day.


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

The release of the newest Radio Shack catalogue each fall was always something to look forward to for me. I saved a dozen or so of them from the '80s and '90s. Each year, there'd always be some fabulous new IC or chassis added to the inventory. Hard to believe nowadays that you could have built your own Deluxe Electric Mistress from parts bought at Radio Shack. I mean, it would have likely cost you _double_ what marching into a music store and buying one would have cost, but the point is you could have done it.

In the late '70s, I was working at McMaster in the Psychology and eventually Neuroscience departments. We did get daily deliveries from Electrosonic. But if you needed something right away, I was always glad there was a Radio Shack across the street.


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## vadsy (Dec 2, 2010)

Sneaky said:


> Tried a couple of those, no luck.


crazy. in Edmonton those guys stock that stuff and I pick whatever I need without any stock issues, oh well


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## Sneaky (Feb 14, 2006)

vadsy said:


> crazy. in Edmonton those guys stock that stuff and I pick whatever I need without any stock issues, oh well


Dude on the order desk was probably too busy/lazy to actually check to see if they had a 69 cent fuse in stock. They seem more like commercial electrical suppliers. I didn’t try EECOL. I used to spend millions with those guys in my former job. Forgot all about them.


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## tomee2 (Feb 27, 2017)

Sneaky said:


> Nobody had one less than 1A. Tried everyone within short driving distance.
> 
> Home Hardware of all places had them but the store is in Okotoks, about 45 minutes away.


I was going to suggest Home hardware. They surprise me all the time with the hard little crap you need to fix stuff around the house, including fuses. They pack a ton of stuff into those little stores. 

I too miss Radio Shack. The small town near where I grew up even had one. By 1990 or so it was closed. Building your own electronics was a pretty big hobbie back then. I think I still have the 101 electronics projects set I got for Christmas one year.


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## player99 (Sep 5, 2019)

Online is the only way now. There are a couple stores in Ottawa. Active Electronics is closing it's store to be online only. As well they should. Every time I went in they didn't have the stock. Gervais Electronics is in the east end and again they have to order and the stuff they do have is too much. A few years ago I was going to put real 2dtp switches on a L6 DL4 delay. They were selling online for a few dollars each. Gervais wanted $22 each IIRC. I needed 6 or 8 of them.


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## WhiteFalcon (Jun 9, 2015)

I miss them too. It was always a great place to buy adapters, jacks, and various small components. The Source sucks!!


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## vadsy (Dec 2, 2010)

dang Millenniums killed the Radio Shack industry..,


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## Wardo (Feb 5, 2010)

When it was called The Source I went in and asked if they had anything that I could use for a mic attenuator. No one including the manager knew what an attenuator was. Kinda like trying to buy spark plugs at canadian tire.


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## Electraglide (Jan 24, 2010)

How about these guys? 
That Old Retro Store Buy/Trade Stereo Equipment
Guitar Repair Shack
201-5501 1A St. SW
Calgary, AB
[email protected]
(403) 255-5543
There used to be a place on 32nd just off Barlow I used to go to for tubes etc. a couple of years back. There's also a guy on 17th SE about a block past 52nd St. Has a lot of old guitars, amps etc.. Probably would have what you're looking for.


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## oheare (Jun 18, 2012)

player99 said:


> Online is the only way now. There are a couple stores in Ottawa. Active Electronics is closing it's store to be online only. As well they should. Every time I went in they didn't have the stock. Gervais Electronics is in the east end and again they have to order and the stuff they do have is too much. A few years ago I was going to put real 2dtp switches on a L6 DL4 delay. They were selling online for a few dollars each. Gervais wanted $22 each IIRC. I needed 6 or 8 of them.


FWIW, Active Components and Gervais Electronics are now in the same shop on Industrial Ave., Active is closed, company name is different, and they seem to have combined the holes in both companies' stock.

I bought a bunch of stuff from Canada's #1 Parts Source For DIY Musicians - Next Gen Musical Ltd. just recently; they've got a surprising amount of basic passive components, as well as the usual switches and stuff. Now I'm waiting on the stuff that I had to order online.


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## jb welder (Sep 14, 2010)

'Radio Shack woo ooo that's what you wanna hear' 

Dang it all, we get 'the source' and down south they get 'The Shack'.


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## Hammerhands (Dec 19, 2016)

How come the hobby stores don’t have electronics?

I wish it was the most common hobby. We should all have robot butlers by now.


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## laristotle (Aug 29, 2019)

Wardo said:


> Kinda like trying to buy spark plugs at canadian tire.


or blinker fluid.


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## Todd MacCulloch (Mar 8, 2018)

player99 said:


> Online is the only way now. There are a couple stores in Ottawa. Active Electronics is closing it's store to be online only. As well they should. Every time I went in they didn't have the stock. Gervais Electronics is in the east end and again they have to order and the stuff they do have is too much. A few years ago I was going to put real 2dtp switches on a L6 DL4 delay. They were selling online for a few dollars each. Gervais wanted $22 each IIRC. I needed 6 or 8 of them.


I liked browsing Active, but you're right, often stock was a problem and I would end up adding it to my Tayda order.
Still it was a great place to walk through -- I got lots of project ideas and picked up decent tools that I didn't know I needed 

So are they part of Gervais now? I haven't been since they moved.


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## oheare (Jun 18, 2012)

Todd MacCulloch said:


> I liked browsing Active, but you're right, often stock was a problem and I would end up adding it to my Tayda order.
> Still it was a great place to walk through -- I got lots of project ideas and picked up decent tools that I didn't know I needed
> 
> So are they part of Gervais now? I haven't been since they moved.


As I understand it, Active and Gervais were both acquired by somebody else, the two stores were merged into the one storefront on Industrial, some of both sets of employees were retained, and gosh knows what else is happening. The web sites for both stores still exist, for what it's worth, and the only mention of a business change is on the Active locations website, which mentions Accessotronik. Accessotronik's home page seems to have been unchanged since October 2018, per the dates on the home page, and there are major problems with all the pages on the site. 

Frustrating as heck...


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## vadsy (Dec 2, 2010)

Wardo said:


> When it was called The Source I went in and asked if they had anything that I could use for a mic attenuator. No one including the manager knew what an attenuator was. Kinda like trying to buy spark plugs at canadian tire.


I think this one may be on you. CT has at least has spark plugs. the Source wasn't supposed to be Radio Shack, which may or may not have had something to attenuate your mic. Its like if you walked into a London Drugs asking for spark plugs because Canadian Tire once occupied the space but moved across town and you were upset that all they could offer you were tampons


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## Distortion (Sep 16, 2015)

lucky to have these guys 15 minute drive.SAYAL Electronics and Hobbies - Home Page They even stock IC chips.


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