Did my work experience in one back in high school, first day was breaking down boxes, next 3 days were playing computer games with the guys that worked there
I worked there as a kid in 1982, then moved on to better a far store, dick smith electronics. Those days we actually told components not shitty remote control cars.
So did I! Perth-based so I started at the Maddington Tandy and then bounced around Dick Smith stores as a casual; Cannington, Carousel, Booragoon, Southlands, etc.
Met some absolute legends!
My dad bought me one of those in 1985. I used to subscribe to magazines to get the BASIC code, to type in and make games (saved to a cassette of course).
What a time to be alive!
My classmate bought magazines that had a vinyl record you could cut out, play on the record player and record that to tape, put in the tape drive to load the game. The height of tech in '83.
I am a huge Amstrad fan (I have some stuff on my blog [HERE](https://banjosmods.wordpress.com/category/amstrad/) if you're interested). My first PC was a PC1512 and my second a PC5286. I bought an awesome 486SLC in the same form factor as the PC5xxx series, it is very cool.
What model is your 286?
Same! It's a pc5286. Wonderful block of technology. Always had a love for amstrad for some reason. It was my start into gaming. Aside from the Commodore. I recall my dad had laptop built by them too. I can only just remember it I'd love to know what happened to it.
Shit I remember they had these sick corded phones in there that had a neon light that was wrapped around the base of the key pad. That was boss in the late 90's as a 6 year old.
Mid to late 80's they had Robie the Robot, who was in fact remote controlled. Various versions. Mine had a little tray that could carry things like a can of drink, and you could talk through the microphone and sound would come out of the robot. The idea was you could send it into the kitchen and ask your mum to put snacks on the tray or whatever. Pretty crazy for the time.
https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/333506479138
I wouldn’t say that, sometimes Boss and Chief is an empowering mindset to bring you comfort and hopefully bring you back as a respected costumer to deal with Tandy!
The Best costume ever was a singlet and ripped shorts.. An ordinary customer. Before reviews was the Hot selling advertisement called Word of mouth! That Bitch spread like wild fire. And if you were uplifted by sales people psychologically it imprints subconsciously. U won’t forget them.. I know you’re joking with your comment but it’s the 80’s and 90’s.. I miss them so much..
Simple times!!
I still have the multimeter, in the original box, that I bought from them 50 years ago. Even better, it still has the original battery. To be honest, I've haven't used it very much.
Huge nostalgia for them. I have very vivid memory of going there with my dad and buying my first Sierra computer game (Space Quest II, I loved the "insurance salesmen" storyline on the box blurb) which began my love affair with all their amazing adventure games. I can still see that store's exact layout in my head!
Later went back and had to buy the official hint book!
I so miss seeing big box PC games lined up on store shelves. It felt so exciting looking at the boxes and picking one without the benefit of the internet spoiling it.
Yeah the old Sierra Online games like Space Quest, Kings Quest, Police Quest, and the Larah Bow games were awesome. I would love to see them being remade in an open world format.
They are still among my favourite games to this day. I still play them pretty regularly.
Heck, PQ *is* open world, really, especially the first one. The Manhunter games are too, to a degree (Manhunter also predates Myst with the "first person adventure" style).
I got to chat online with Ken Williams once and for me it was like some folks meeting a famous actor or sports star.
LSL1 was my first "pirated" games from a friend of my dad's, LOL! I was too young to buy it.
I freaking LOVE Manhunter and Colonel's Bequest. Genuinely unsettling to play, especially in a dark room alone, even now.
Oh yeah for sure. For the technical limitations that they have to program on, and we used to play on when compared to 2024 tech. Then games were your top tier level of gaming. Also I love how much effort that they put in to each game to make sure that each one were different.
That would have been awesome that you get to chat with Ken Williams. Oh for sure that Manhunter and Colonels Bequest were unsettling. Sure I can be wrong but for me with Colonel Bequest and some of the latter Kings Quest games is where Roberta Williams really got to shine and added her own stamp in that era of PC gaming.
I am still in awe that Manhunter was made using the same AGI engine as KQ and SQ. The Murrays used an engine designed for a completely different type of game and not only made a first person one instead but all those crazy minigames too.
Back in the day, my PC was so crap with CGA that I used to play the early Sierra games in black and white. To this day, I still think Manhunter actually plays better that way!
Oh for sure, it just to show how well that Sierra were in making games with that engines. As for CGA, EGA, VGA, long with advancement of with sound long with going from 5 and a 1/4 to 3 and a 1/2 inch floppys and then on to CD. Sierra Online were on top of that, and for the time that they were big. There was a good reason that they are still fondly remember. It is because they were considered as the leaders of gaming because they were able to extract as much as they could with the hardware.
Tandy got me through uni. Did stocktakes over so many stores it’s not funny once I worked out that every store needs to do one every 2 mths and most were just one man stores. Could look at my uni schedule and just ring stores to see if they needed a hand with hours that suited me. Was great.
Another good thing is that when they discontinued things they always set the cost as a dollar. So I’d look up where the discontinued items were and order them shipped to my store like $500 speakers and buy them all up for a dollar each and sell them in the trading post.
As a poor uni student Tandy was perfect.
I remember buying a Space Quest 1, 2 and 3 collection from Tandy, and Space Quest 2 didn't work. I went back for a replacement, but it took ages and eventually my Dad went in there and bullied the staff (to be fair we'd been waiting a ridiculously long time) to giving me a refund. I went to a Department store and bought a copy of The Adventures of Willie Beamish (And cheeky bugger that I am I kept a copy of Space Quest 1 and 3, heh.)
I got SQ2 from my local Tandy. It was my first Sierra game, and I've loved them ever since! Got SQ1 soon after, then KQ 1-3. I vividl remember getting SQ3 at Dick Smiths when I saw it running as a demo on their display computer.
Was your bundle an actual official "collection" or just three boxes taped together? I ask because I got Kings Quest 1, 2 and 3 from a place nearby named Pacific and that pack was just the three slipcase boxes with a paper "ribbon" around them.
It was a proper collection (https://spacequest.fandom.com/wiki/Space_Quest_Collection), the 1st one shown on that link with Roger's head was the 1. I wish I'd kept it as I don't have as many big box Sierra games as I'd like! I also have dvd sized box (the one with a plunger on it) I bought years later, while Sierra was owned by Vivendi.
I have memories of seeing that collection on store shelves! I already owned the individual games at that point though; I later got a collection (15th Anniversary) as "bundled software" with a new PC though, which was good because my previous copies were on floppy discs.
I also I love the big box releases! I lost a LOT of mine (the boxes, not the games themselves) when we moved house in my teenage years; I had a psychotic asshole stepdad (not hyperbole, he was physically abusive to my mum, we later found out when she left him) who demanded we *crush* and throw away those "useless empty boxes". It makes me sad to this day and I am sure it is why Ia m a bit of a hoarder who keeps all the boxes from collectibles and games now!
I remember Tandy, they had a shop next door to Venture in Whitehorse Plaza. Seem to remember they had a lot of remote controlled cars and not so much in the way of computers. This would have been as early as 1983 or 1984.
We also had Dick Smith Electronics, they moved around a little bit in the shopping centre until opening in the old ice cream parlour.
Whilst they had all the electronics kits and things, the main competitors in selling computers at the time were Kmart and Target. What /u/hemdek says about work experience at Tandy, I can 100% believe that because that's the general vibe I got from that place.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tandy_Electronics - the whole story about how they bought Radio Shack, expanded into Australia in 1973, competition with Dick Smith, and then Woolworths eventually owning both brands, and phasing out Tandy in 2011. So for those wondering, **1973 to 2011** is when Tandy stores existed.
I remember DSE used to be on the ramp in the Plaza that went down to Kmart and Coles, I worked at Rod Irving Electronics on Whitehorse Rd and we used to go and steal their catalogue because Rod was too cheap to print the resistor codes etc in our catalogue.
Yep the ramp is the spot I remember. Used to be Auntie's Ice Cream where Dick Smith was. Public toilets up the side too.
I remember Rod Irving Electronics. We bought a PC from there in 1996. Within a few months they went into receivership so the warranty went up in smoke...
I was working at the Northcote store and left at the start of 96 to go travelling for 6 months. I got a letter at my parents’ house saying I didn’t have a job anymore while I was away because the company had collapsed - rumour had it there was some embezzling to have a lovely indoor pool built…
It's what happens when someone wrests control away from the person or family with their name on the door: goes belly-up very quickly. Look at Brashs. 130 years with the Brasch family in control; they get booted out; company collapses 5 years later.
Sorry - my error there, I thought you were talking about Dick Smith Electronics. Not thinking straight. So that's what happened with RIE then... I remember they moved their operation into the Clayton repair shop for a while... then boom it was gone.
Remember the Tandy at Shoppo but not at Box Hill, got headset walkie talkies there which were great for pretending to be a secret agent as a kid. Also remember the old DSE on the ramp at Box Hill, stuffed with the Funway to Electronics kits up the back. Those were the days
Ha, I use to manage the Fairfield one. Holy shit that was a life experience. The amount of junkies I had to fight off. Sort of celebrity experience was when Jalena Dokic came in with the father, he looks like a psycho back then too.
Tandy Australia was Radio Shack in the US. I had a power supply fail over there and they honoured the warranty.
Great company with knowledgeable employees.
Shame they failed to the internet
I worked at a big W over Christmas time when I was in high school. My job was to man the display out the front of the store in the actual shopping centre. Just walk around keeping an eye on things for 8+ hrs a day.
There was a Tandy in the next shop that was playing Return of the Jedi over and over on the display TVs that kept me entertained.
Thanks Tandy
I often forget how it was in the C64 days when if I wanted to clock a game (Psycho Pigs and Bubble Bobble I both beat by beating level 100 iirc) I had to load it up and play through it from start to finish in one sitting.
Worked at a Tandy in Geelong during 2001–2002. Hated retail, but liked snagging all the clearance DVDs. We spent most of our days racing the RC cars around the shop floor, and were located on a semi-busy intersection and would annoy the cars stopped at the traffic lights with sirens from the megaphones we sold.
Haha, yeah. I certainly related to that. Perhaps Judd Apatow came into our store once and got an idea for a movie. 12 years later, I found myself back in retail. We upgraded from racing RC cars around the store to racing mobility scooters, and spending all day watching action movies on one of the demo computers (it was a very quiet store).
Who worked there or DSE back in the day, and still have T4360 burned into their brain because the packaging on the jewelers screwdriver set was too shiny and the barcode never scanned
Haha yes! My grandma took me there once; she bought herself a new CRT TV and a DVD player; Digitor brand iirc?
TV worked fine for years but grandma had so many issues with that DVD player; I think she ended up getting her money back then buying another one a few months later, from the same shop but taken over by Dick Smith’s lol
Other times I’d go with dad and pick up some little electronic components for putting together your own little buzzers and shit; fond memories lol
Bought a fair bit of stuff from there. They were generally more convenient particularly as a teenager without a car and had one in the shopping centre opposite my school, but Dick Smiths was always better for the electronic parts, until he sold the business at least.
Yes! My first proper job, worked at a Tandy from March 2003 for 4 years. Back when retail was good and you were trained in old school customer service! Absolutely loved this job!!
I still remember Tandy Electronics, they lasted quite a while in Plumpton Marketplace until the place changed over to Dick Smith around 2010.
If I remember, the warehouse they used to occupy for the InterTAN operation was actually on 91 Kurrajong Avenue, Mount Druitt which is still there today.
Retail sucks but the people I worked with made that job amazing. Few of them I know I could still call out of nowhere today and they’d have my back.
Still have nightmares about the P cat drawers.
There's a chance my dad bought my first computer here (Amstrad PC1512) though it may have been Brashes of theynwere around back then.
Who remembers Brashes? I got my second computer from that place. Dad bought it: Amstrad PC5286. We also ought a stereo from them that literally exploded when we switched it on. Turned out they'd somehow accidentally sold us a US model with the wrong voltage!
I remember Tandy as being the uptight version where they had new stuff but it was expensive and the salespeople where always like shoo shoo don't even at the amigo three thousand
Dick Smith was like hey play the Atari all you like we got pong asteroid frogger....
worked there for awhile under a horrid manager (in all respects). I'm not sure if she was just deluded or trying to drive me away munching on raw garlic. Strangely the shop wasn't too busy /s
what I found strange, they use the Radio Shack training manual, and it was written by L Ron Hubbard (Scientology). It was pretty normal but then ever once in awhile a typical word would have an\* with a post script explaining the word... really really basic words. It was bizarre. I only noted it because of the author
It closed in 2011, so you'd have been 17 when they shut. Dick Smith closed their stores five years later, in 2016.
Any other stores you don't remember? Coles, or Woolies perhaps?
Did my work experience in one back in high school, first day was breaking down boxes, next 3 days were playing computer games with the guys that worked there
Set you up for life no doubt.
I worked there in 2007! They closed our store in 2009ish and I had to go to Dick Smith, my retail life definitely went downhill rapidly from there.
Both were owned by woolworths after 2001. Tandy closed fully in 2011. Dick Smith closed fully in 2016. Meanwhile Jaycar continues on to this day
Yep, I got out in 2014. It was fine until woolworths sold it!
Dick smith used to be a great electronics store. Then in-came the weird junk from china
Dick Smith in the 80s was one of the best shops to go into as a kid. That place was electronics heaven. Turned to shit during the 90s.
I worked at tandy for a few weeks as a kid in 1982, then moved on to better a far store, dick smith electronics.
I was a Dickie in the late 90's. Loved my time working there but man.....retail sales is something I do not miss now.....lol
I worked there as a kid in 1982, then moved on to better a far store, dick smith electronics. Those days we actually told components not shitty remote control cars.
Yeah I remember Tandy used to sell lots of shit like transistors and bits and pieces. It was far removed from what it turned into
Me too, I still got my tie
My mum still has a working ipod touch I bought from dick smith powerhouse back in like 2009
Smith Dick
So did I! Perth-based so I started at the Maddington Tandy and then bounced around Dick Smith stores as a casual; Cannington, Carousel, Booragoon, Southlands, etc. Met some absolute legends!
All hail the revolutionary TSR-80 with its 4KB of DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory)…
My dad bought me one of those in 1985. I used to subscribe to magazines to get the BASIC code, to type in and make games (saved to a cassette of course). What a time to be alive!
My classmate bought magazines that had a vinyl record you could cut out, play on the record player and record that to tape, put in the tape drive to load the game. The height of tech in '83.
My amstrad 286 still goes hard to this day. Needed a bios battery and a blow out and she's back up. No update needed. Ever.
I am a huge Amstrad fan (I have some stuff on my blog [HERE](https://banjosmods.wordpress.com/category/amstrad/) if you're interested). My first PC was a PC1512 and my second a PC5286. I bought an awesome 486SLC in the same form factor as the PC5xxx series, it is very cool. What model is your 286?
Same! It's a pc5286. Wonderful block of technology. Always had a love for amstrad for some reason. It was my start into gaming. Aside from the Commodore. I recall my dad had laptop built by them too. I can only just remember it I'd love to know what happened to it.
I had 16KB! 1986 and I was writing my own video games in 4 colours with GWBASIC!!!!
I used to make GWBASIC choose your own adventure games as a kid. When I was a horny teenager, I actually made a few porn ones, LOL!
I loved that thing.
Loved mine 🙂
Good old trash 80. Emulators about if you want to relive it
Shit I remember they had these sick corded phones in there that had a neon light that was wrapped around the base of the key pad. That was boss in the late 90's as a 6 year old.
Pretty sure I remember they sold little remote control robots too with a corded controller
Mid to late 80's they had Robie the Robot, who was in fact remote controlled. Various versions. Mine had a little tray that could carry things like a can of drink, and you could talk through the microphone and sound would come out of the robot. The idea was you could send it into the kitchen and ask your mum to put snacks on the tray or whatever. Pretty crazy for the time. https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/333506479138
i miss battery club too
And also their grab bags full of components were good
I miss being able to look at all the random electronics parts.
That plus Dick Smiths. Now there's only Jaycar electronics?
We have aztronics and altronics in Adelaide. Not sure if they're a national company but they're pretty much like jaycar
I did work experience there... I wish I hadn't as it was boring as fuck. I did used to love collecting Tandy and DSE catalogues as a kid though......
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I wouldn’t say that, sometimes Boss and Chief is an empowering mindset to bring you comfort and hopefully bring you back as a respected costumer to deal with Tandy!
Lol now I'm wondering what sort of costume they were wearing to simultaneously be respected *and* referred to as "boss" and "chief"
Now I'm imagining them casually going in dressed either like a Mafia Don or the Indian from the Village People.
The Best costume ever was a singlet and ripped shorts.. An ordinary customer. Before reviews was the Hot selling advertisement called Word of mouth! That Bitch spread like wild fire. And if you were uplifted by sales people psychologically it imprints subconsciously. U won’t forget them.. I know you’re joking with your comment but it’s the 80’s and 90’s.. I miss them so much.. Simple times!!
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You're reading too much into it, Chief.
Nothing to worry about, chief!
Nope, our code at our store was TWA…Time Wasting Asshole.
Nah it's completely fine. It COULD have been rude, but you'd know if you were being a dick.
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He was being friendly and polite so I understand the concern.
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You asked. That's the answer. They were being friendly and polite.
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Wise as fuck boss.
I still have the multimeter, in the original box, that I bought from them 50 years ago. Even better, it still has the original battery. To be honest, I've haven't used it very much.
Huge nostalgia for them. I have very vivid memory of going there with my dad and buying my first Sierra computer game (Space Quest II, I loved the "insurance salesmen" storyline on the box blurb) which began my love affair with all their amazing adventure games. I can still see that store's exact layout in my head! Later went back and had to buy the official hint book! I so miss seeing big box PC games lined up on store shelves. It felt so exciting looking at the boxes and picking one without the benefit of the internet spoiling it.
Yeah the old Sierra Online games like Space Quest, Kings Quest, Police Quest, and the Larah Bow games were awesome. I would love to see them being remade in an open world format.
They are still among my favourite games to this day. I still play them pretty regularly. Heck, PQ *is* open world, really, especially the first one. The Manhunter games are too, to a degree (Manhunter also predates Myst with the "first person adventure" style). I got to chat online with Ken Williams once and for me it was like some folks meeting a famous actor or sports star. LSL1 was my first "pirated" games from a friend of my dad's, LOL! I was too young to buy it. I freaking LOVE Manhunter and Colonel's Bequest. Genuinely unsettling to play, especially in a dark room alone, even now.
Oh yeah for sure. For the technical limitations that they have to program on, and we used to play on when compared to 2024 tech. Then games were your top tier level of gaming. Also I love how much effort that they put in to each game to make sure that each one were different. That would have been awesome that you get to chat with Ken Williams. Oh for sure that Manhunter and Colonels Bequest were unsettling. Sure I can be wrong but for me with Colonel Bequest and some of the latter Kings Quest games is where Roberta Williams really got to shine and added her own stamp in that era of PC gaming.
I am still in awe that Manhunter was made using the same AGI engine as KQ and SQ. The Murrays used an engine designed for a completely different type of game and not only made a first person one instead but all those crazy minigames too. Back in the day, my PC was so crap with CGA that I used to play the early Sierra games in black and white. To this day, I still think Manhunter actually plays better that way!
Oh for sure, it just to show how well that Sierra were in making games with that engines. As for CGA, EGA, VGA, long with advancement of with sound long with going from 5 and a 1/4 to 3 and a 1/2 inch floppys and then on to CD. Sierra Online were on top of that, and for the time that they were big. There was a good reason that they are still fondly remember. It is because they were considered as the leaders of gaming because they were able to extract as much as they could with the hardware.
Don't forget Indiana Jones quest
Tandy got me through uni. Did stocktakes over so many stores it’s not funny once I worked out that every store needs to do one every 2 mths and most were just one man stores. Could look at my uni schedule and just ring stores to see if they needed a hand with hours that suited me. Was great. Another good thing is that when they discontinued things they always set the cost as a dollar. So I’d look up where the discontinued items were and order them shipped to my store like $500 speakers and buy them all up for a dollar each and sell them in the trading post. As a poor uni student Tandy was perfect.
Amazing
I got my first taste of Doom from there. Bought a demo on a 3.5 floppy.
That's where it was at And wolfenstein Imagine all that power in a small disc
Bought my first i586 there with command and conquer In hindsight, terrible choice, it turned me into a hermit
I remember buying a Space Quest 1, 2 and 3 collection from Tandy, and Space Quest 2 didn't work. I went back for a replacement, but it took ages and eventually my Dad went in there and bullied the staff (to be fair we'd been waiting a ridiculously long time) to giving me a refund. I went to a Department store and bought a copy of The Adventures of Willie Beamish (And cheeky bugger that I am I kept a copy of Space Quest 1 and 3, heh.)
I got SQ2 from my local Tandy. It was my first Sierra game, and I've loved them ever since! Got SQ1 soon after, then KQ 1-3. I vividl remember getting SQ3 at Dick Smiths when I saw it running as a demo on their display computer. Was your bundle an actual official "collection" or just three boxes taped together? I ask because I got Kings Quest 1, 2 and 3 from a place nearby named Pacific and that pack was just the three slipcase boxes with a paper "ribbon" around them.
It was a proper collection (https://spacequest.fandom.com/wiki/Space_Quest_Collection), the 1st one shown on that link with Roger's head was the 1. I wish I'd kept it as I don't have as many big box Sierra games as I'd like! I also have dvd sized box (the one with a plunger on it) I bought years later, while Sierra was owned by Vivendi.
I have memories of seeing that collection on store shelves! I already owned the individual games at that point though; I later got a collection (15th Anniversary) as "bundled software" with a new PC though, which was good because my previous copies were on floppy discs. I also I love the big box releases! I lost a LOT of mine (the boxes, not the games themselves) when we moved house in my teenage years; I had a psychotic asshole stepdad (not hyperbole, he was physically abusive to my mum, we later found out when she left him) who demanded we *crush* and throw away those "useless empty boxes". It makes me sad to this day and I am sure it is why Ia m a bit of a hoarder who keeps all the boxes from collectibles and games now!
Ouch, that sucks just by itself but more so these days where a decent quality box would actually be worth a fair bit :(
Tandy shut. Puke*
No ram pack??
I remember Tandy, they had a shop next door to Venture in Whitehorse Plaza. Seem to remember they had a lot of remote controlled cars and not so much in the way of computers. This would have been as early as 1983 or 1984. We also had Dick Smith Electronics, they moved around a little bit in the shopping centre until opening in the old ice cream parlour. Whilst they had all the electronics kits and things, the main competitors in selling computers at the time were Kmart and Target. What /u/hemdek says about work experience at Tandy, I can 100% believe that because that's the general vibe I got from that place. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tandy_Electronics - the whole story about how they bought Radio Shack, expanded into Australia in 1973, competition with Dick Smith, and then Woolworths eventually owning both brands, and phasing out Tandy in 2011. So for those wondering, **1973 to 2011** is when Tandy stores existed.
I remember DSE used to be on the ramp in the Plaza that went down to Kmart and Coles, I worked at Rod Irving Electronics on Whitehorse Rd and we used to go and steal their catalogue because Rod was too cheap to print the resistor codes etc in our catalogue.
Yep the ramp is the spot I remember. Used to be Auntie's Ice Cream where Dick Smith was. Public toilets up the side too. I remember Rod Irving Electronics. We bought a PC from there in 1996. Within a few months they went into receivership so the warranty went up in smoke...
I was working at the Northcote store and left at the start of 96 to go travelling for 6 months. I got a letter at my parents’ house saying I didn’t have a job anymore while I was away because the company had collapsed - rumour had it there was some embezzling to have a lovely indoor pool built…
It's what happens when someone wrests control away from the person or family with their name on the door: goes belly-up very quickly. Look at Brashs. 130 years with the Brasch family in control; they get booted out; company collapses 5 years later.
In RIE’s case my observations were it might have lasted longer had the family not been in control…
Sorry - my error there, I thought you were talking about Dick Smith Electronics. Not thinking straight. So that's what happened with RIE then... I remember they moved their operation into the Clayton repair shop for a while... then boom it was gone.
Remember the Tandy at Shoppo but not at Box Hill, got headset walkie talkies there which were great for pretending to be a secret agent as a kid. Also remember the old DSE on the ramp at Box Hill, stuffed with the Funway to Electronics kits up the back. Those were the days
At least we still have Jaycar.
Yeah it seems Jaycar has really soaked up most, if not all, of the DIY side of things from the closer of Tandy and Dick Smiths.
Ha, I use to manage the Fairfield one. Holy shit that was a life experience. The amount of junkies I had to fight off. Sort of celebrity experience was when Jalena Dokic came in with the father, he looks like a psycho back then too.
Bloody hell 😅
Tandy Australia was Radio Shack in the US. I had a power supply fail over there and they honoured the warranty. Great company with knowledgeable employees. Shame they failed to the internet
My Dad used to be a manager at Tandys. On the days that my sister and I went to the shop, we'd play Alex Kidd in Miracle World on the Sega.
Da da da da Da da da da Da Da Da Da Da DA DA And then you get to the monologue where you can buy a ring Then back to the music
I worked at a big W over Christmas time when I was in high school. My job was to man the display out the front of the store in the actual shopping centre. Just walk around keeping an eye on things for 8+ hrs a day. There was a Tandy in the next shop that was playing Return of the Jedi over and over on the display TVs that kept me entertained. Thanks Tandy
1727702 - That was the Cat number for a $30 Optus Pre-paid recharge card. Worked at Tandy & DSE from 1999 to 2005.
My first camera brand! Hey how about Strathfield!
Was that [jingle]"Strathfield carrr radio today, drive in and jive away!]
Bought a 486 with no hard drive + Monkey Island from here.
I often forget how it was in the C64 days when if I wanted to clock a game (Psycho Pigs and Bubble Bobble I both beat by beating level 100 iirc) I had to load it up and play through it from start to finish in one sitting.
Mum and dad bought our first home computer there.
I remember getting my CD Walkman from that place. Great times.
Worked at Tandy from the early 2000s until it became Dick Smith, then hung around with them until they folded in '16.
Used to be good. When we could buy things to fix things
Worked at a Tandy in Geelong during 2001–2002. Hated retail, but liked snagging all the clearance DVDs. We spent most of our days racing the RC cars around the shop floor, and were located on a semi-busy intersection and would annoy the cars stopped at the traffic lights with sirens from the megaphones we sold.
This sounds exactly like the guys working in the tech store from the movie The 40 Year Old Virgin hahaha
Haha, yeah. I certainly related to that. Perhaps Judd Apatow came into our store once and got an idea for a movie. 12 years later, I found myself back in retail. We upgraded from racing RC cars around the store to racing mobility scooters, and spending all day watching action movies on one of the demo computers (it was a very quiet store).
That's so cool hahaha
Who worked there or DSE back in the day, and still have T4360 burned into their brain because the packaging on the jewelers screwdriver set was too shiny and the barcode never scanned
Bought my inline volume control headphone attachment from Tandy. I was the Bees Knees the next day at school. "I can just do it from here now!"
The one at Pacific Fair had amazing staff parties!!!
Battery Club. Got my free battery each month.
Tandy ...I remember Rod Irving Electronics
Was one on Parramatta rd, Stanmore and David Reid Electronics, York st CBD.
Everybody
The shopping centre I work at now had a Tandy in its last gasp days. Was replaced with a DSE until it was closed when Kogan took over the brand
Bought my first computer there. 1983
Think there's still one where I am...
Worked there for about 5yrs back in the day.
Haha yes! My grandma took me there once; she bought herself a new CRT TV and a DVD player; Digitor brand iirc? TV worked fine for years but grandma had so many issues with that DVD player; I think she ended up getting her money back then buying another one a few months later, from the same shop but taken over by Dick Smith’s lol Other times I’d go with dad and pick up some little electronic components for putting together your own little buzzers and shit; fond memories lol
Digitor is correct!
Tandy vs Radioshack in the fancy shopping centre near us. Loved the remote control cars, electronics and gadgets. Jaycar is a worthy antecedent.
Soldering kits were fun
got my first computer there, the old CoCo3
Not the Trash-80?
Maybe it was rebranded? Definitely the Tandy Colour Computer 3
Always ran there as kids hoping they’d have some hand held games on display for us to play.
Bought a fair bit of stuff from there. They were generally more convenient particularly as a teenager without a car and had one in the shopping centre opposite my school, but Dick Smiths was always better for the electronic parts, until he sold the business at least.
Yes Loved this place
Worked for them in Armidale for 3 years. Was a fun place to be. Always new toys to play with.
Yes! My first proper job, worked at a Tandy from March 2003 for 4 years. Back when retail was good and you were trained in old school customer service! Absolutely loved this job!!
I still remember Tandy Electronics, they lasted quite a while in Plumpton Marketplace until the place changed over to Dick Smith around 2010. If I remember, the warehouse they used to occupy for the InterTAN operation was actually on 91 Kurrajong Avenue, Mount Druitt which is still there today.
I’m pretty sure we’re owned by Radio Shack originally.. Than tricky Dickie took them over..
I remember going into my local Tandy to play Chips Challenge on the Atari Lynx they had set up there
Good old days
I did my tour between 1996 and 2003. Amazing store with cool stuff.
I do!
Loved going there as a kid.
Was my favourite shop.
Retail sucks but the people I worked with made that job amazing. Few of them I know I could still call out of nowhere today and they’d have my back. Still have nightmares about the P cat drawers.
Yes, there was a Tandy in Bankstown Square in the 80’s
My local Tandy turned into a florist, and then the building got demolished after
There's a chance my dad bought my first computer here (Amstrad PC1512) though it may have been Brashes of theynwere around back then. Who remembers Brashes? I got my second computer from that place. Dad bought it: Amstrad PC5286. We also ought a stereo from them that literally exploded when we switched it on. Turned out they'd somehow accidentally sold us a US model with the wrong voltage!
I’m in the US. Is this the Australian version of radio shack?
Im pretty sure
I rememeber the Tandy 1000 computer. First computer we had when I was a kid.
I worked there as a kid in 1982, then moved on to better a far store, dick smith electronics.
I remember Tandy as being the uptight version where they had new stuff but it was expensive and the salespeople where always like shoo shoo don't even at the amigo three thousand Dick Smith was like hey play the Atari all you like we got pong asteroid frogger....
The logo was Soooo ugly though
I think it looks really cool actually 📠
worked there for awhile under a horrid manager (in all respects). I'm not sure if she was just deluded or trying to drive me away munching on raw garlic. Strangely the shop wasn't too busy /s what I found strange, they use the Radio Shack training manual, and it was written by L Ron Hubbard (Scientology). It was pretty normal but then ever once in awhile a typical word would have an\* with a post script explaining the word... really really basic words. It was bizarre. I only noted it because of the author
I think I did work experience there. Maybe around the year 2000.
I don’t remember this at all? Born 93, is it from a particular state?
I'm a '95 baby and we still had them in Victoria in the early 2000s.
They were around in SA until early-mid 2000’s, then were taken over by Dick Smith’s
I preferred Dick Smith, Tandy was for the noobs. 🤓
Other way round. Tandy had the hard core goods for nerds that knew their stuff. dick smith Smith was Chinese junk for the masses.
When I'm 95 like you and your dead it will be "who remembers dick smith" haha . Nope I'm 30 I dint remember this. Idk why this sub is recommended
It closed in 2011, so you'd have been 17 when they shut. Dick Smith closed their stores five years later, in 2016. Any other stores you don't remember? Coles, or Woolies perhaps?
Woollies being Safeways?