As a child of the 70s in a small town, Radio Shack was one of the only places I found where technology was just there to play with or even, if I saved my nickels even take home. My first computer came from a Radio Shack, and I sure wasn’t alone in that (hi, Rob!).
Back then, a Radio Shack was a haven of parts and gadgets and equipment for Serious Knowledgeable Hobbyists. Need a diode and a new soldering iron? Gotcha. Radio kit? Of course. And those wonderful 101-project kits defined my childhood. But it’s all gone now, for the most part, because people just don’t want diodes and soldering irons and DIY electronics anymore, and now all Radio Shack does is sell batteries and cell phones.
Anyway, Wired gets it.
Radio Shack was like a church to me (up to and including the need to toss a few frogskins in the collection plate in exchange for a little taste of salvation). Back in the day you could get all the stuff you needed to make a red box, blue box, silver box, whatever. I will always consider the early 80’s to be the Golden Age of Hacking, the Magical Age of the Apple ][+, and the Phreak-Friendly age of the Novation AppleCat ][….the dream is over, man. It’s over.