RadioShack was the go-to tech pit stop for decades, peaking in the ’80s and ’90s when every mall had one and every DIY electronics fan practically lived there. Founded in 1921, it blew up during the personal electronics boom, selling everything from Tandy computers and TRS-80s to remote control cars, scanners, and enough audio cables to wire a stadium. By the early 2000s, it pivoted hard into cell phones, but that move couldn’t save it—big box stores and online shopping crushed foot traffic. For a whole generation, though, RadioShack was where you grabbed AA batteries, a soldering iron, and maybe a police scanner, and felt like you were holding the future in a plastic bag.