07/13/2026
Thanks for visiting and shopping with us! Here since 1972 and plan to stay! Electronics, CB, Car Stereo, Computer, furniture, storage sheds, … we’ve got it all!
Radio Shack (Cannelton, Indiana)
A ROADSIDE MIRAGE. When driving through Cannelton, I had to do a double-take when I saw a RadioShack that is still in business. I pulled off at The Patio restaurant and went back, as if I’d seen a mirage in the desert. You just don’t see RadioShack’s anymore.
When I was growing up, RadioShack electronic stores were all over the country, especially in shopping malls. Throughout the year, they seemed to only have business from people building radios and remote controlled toys, and you wondered how they stayed open. They seldom ever looked busy, but they weren’t for everyone.
I remember dad and I going to get parts for his CB radio, and it felt like an older man’s store, where everyone shopping there was secretly more intelligent than their outfit would indicate. They could probably read an electronics schematic and use a soldering iron. It wasn’t a store for everyone. Though if you couldn’t find a battery in town, you could go to RadioShack and they would either have it or order it for you. They had your back. They would help you find what you needed and then you probably wouldn’t see them again, until you needed another battery.
However, at Christmas each RadioShack took on a completely different personality. It came alive with shoppers looking for a unique Christmas gift. I can’t tell you how many walkie-talkies, remote controlled cars, and generic space gizmos my parents got me from RadioShack, and I loved them all. Most of those toys didn’t last very long, but the happy memories they provided have stuck with me for decades. I guess that’s why I have such a fondness for RadioShack. 
My last RadioShack purchase was a few guitar cables and stereo adapters for recording, back in the 1990s. But just around the corner, seeing a consumer opportunity, was eBay, Amazon and Sweetwater. With each of those, you didn’t have to get in the car and go anywhere, you just got on your computer, ordered what you wanted, and within a few days to a week it was in your mailbox. You didn’t have a RadioShack electronics expert to help you make a buying decision, but the items were cheaper and usually had a good return policy. These days you can simply ask ChatGPT for advice, and within seconds, it will tell you what you need, provide pictures, descriptions, stock numbers, prices and a link to buy it. The human has been replaced. The human interaction has been eliminated.
They say we’ve came a long way, with complex systems that make purchases easier and hassle- free. But I have to say, I miss the person behind the counter, that would ask how they could help me, walk me through the store, and show me options. Maybe faster isn’t always better.
