What’s this? A ghost sign from an old Radio Shack, a firm that closed down in Canada over a dozen years ago, this one being exposed during renovations at Calgary’s Westbrook Mall. We’re looking at a time capsule here, a reminder taking us back to when the “Shack” was the defacto go-to outlet when one needed consumer electronics. Want a tv, record player, tape deck, computer, CB radio (big in the 70s), parts, batteries of all types or whatever? That’s where you went. They seemingly had everything. And the place was always busy.
Radio Shack stores came to Canada, it appears in the late 1960s, being known in the beginning as Allied Radio Shack. Owned by Tandy Corporation (Tandy Leather then), they were mirror images of US stores. It’s not exactly clear when the Westbrook Mall store was opened but this author remembers shopping at it in the latter half of the 1970s. Bought many bits there, dreamt of buying much more. For a techie wanna-be, it was a toy store of huge proportions. Had one of those 150 in one (or some number) electronic lab kits. One second it was a radio, another a disco strobe light. Oh, and the “battery of the month” club! Yes, recall that?
Times changed, new players came on the market and the stores fell out of favour with consumers, the chain sort of loosing its way in the process. In the mid-2000s, it closed up shop in Canada (but not US) all the stores being rebranded as The Source by Circuit City, similar in scope but with more emphasis on things like cell phones. While that firm still operates in Canada, this particular store didn’t make it and closed down a few months back.
Westbrook is Calgary’s oldest enclosed mall and is mere blocks from BIGDoer HQ. It’s the city’s premiere shopping destination. Or not. Most days now it’s dead. In the 1970s, I recall it being crazy busy. Hadn’t thought of the place until the sign was exposed. Fond memories rushed back…it was nice to know you. So long Radio Shack.
Short Subjects: reports that for any number of reasons are brief in nature. They might be updates to older articles, previews of posts planned or not yet published, brief snippets of things that don’t fit in anywhere else or subjects that are so obscure that information on them can’t be found.
If you need any more information on what we talked about here, by all means contact us!
Date of adventure: May, 2016. Location: Calgary, AB.
Worked on a TRS-80 model III at one time. Predated the 1000/2000 series. No arguments here about them focusing too much in cell phones. Westbrook already has too many of those places already.
I miss Radio Shack so much. It was a great place to go get those electronics parts you needed… or batteries. SO MANY BATTERIES.
When they became The Source, they went all USB-gadgety and now resemble those kiosks in the middle of malls that hawk cheap helicopters, cell phones and cases. Bleah.
Yes, the batteries. Every type, shape, form, use. Back then they were the only place to get the odd ones or large quantities of those that were common. Agreed, the Source morphed into something of a joke. Nothing like the old Shack.
We used to do something called the "pointless challenge" 🤪 and miss those days. It was so much silly fun and often frustrating as heck. In these we'd invite people to send in random photos of obscure locations, but not give any information, and then we'd track where it was and shoot something similar.
Most of these came from old family collections, as was the case here. Anyone up to resurrecting the series?
In hindsight, why didn't we pose someone in our shot?
Pointless: “Devoid of meaning (or) senseless” Merriam-Webster.
If you like what we do and want to support this ongoing project (12 years now), go here: https://www.BIGDoer.com/help-the-society/ Thanks to Connie for making this post possible.
Exploring history with Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie. Photo: ca1970 and 2014. Posted by Connie.
Captured on a cold, cold day many years ago. We've been passing this old house for decades and it's little changed in that time. At some point we expect to drive by and it'll be gone.
Exploring history with Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie. Photo: 2017. Posted by Connie.
When retired old railway cars usually get cut up for scrap. Sometimes, however, they find their way into the hands of the general public or whomever. Flat cars make good bridges, and boxcars can be transformed into storage buildings and the like. Case in point here. We see them used like this often enough and in this case, it's part of a corral.
Incidentally, this boxcar dates from 1950 and this was found by tracing the old road number, which is still visible.
Exploring history with Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie. Photo: 2017. Posted by Connie.
This central Alberta racetrack was never a commercial operation but instead just a fun place for car enthusiasts in the area to get together. Early '70s or thereabouts and it only lasted a few years. Even thought it's been abandoned for that long, there is no doubt what was here.
You know we like the the obscure stuff and this one fits the bill perfectly. Found by accident while backroad cruising and the history comes thanks to local car guy Mike.
Exploring history with Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie. Photo: 2022. Posted by Connie.
On top of little Myrtle Mountain in the Kimberley (BC) Nature Park.
There's some good wilderness fun to be had here and nice views as you can see, but the real reason we came is mining history. The whole area near the ski hill was extensively worked over a century ago and we were looking for evidence of this. We didn't find much in the area searched, but it's a big chunk of property and we hope to return to cover more ground again soon. Of all the subjects we cover, mining related is a favourite.
Still, it was a good hike and that can't be bad. Look to the comments for more info 👇.
Exploring nature and history with Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie. Photo: 2022. Posted by Connie.
It's a strange curiosity in south Kananaskis, there on a hillside and we have no idea who created it. We asked around and no one's completely sure about its history. In the past it showed the Canada 100 logo from 1967 but in 2017 someone changed it to reflect the country's 150th.
That's our friend Emily from DanOCan.com having a look.
Exploring history with Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie. Photo: 2017. Posted by Connie.
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Still have my Tandy 1000!! The Source was was a gloried cell phone store.
Worked on a TRS-80 model III at one time. Predated the 1000/2000 series. No arguments here about them focusing too much in cell phones. Westbrook already has too many of those places already.
I miss Radio Shack so much. It was a great place to go get those electronics parts you needed… or batteries. SO MANY BATTERIES.
When they became The Source, they went all USB-gadgety and now resemble those kiosks in the middle of malls that hawk cheap helicopters, cell phones and cases. Bleah.
Yes, the batteries. Every type, shape, form, use. Back then they were the only place to get the odd ones or large quantities of those that were common. Agreed, the Source morphed into something of a joke. Nothing like the old Shack.