We'll miss those gizmos

Millennials, don't bother reading this.

For you over-30 types (okay, maybe 40) who lean toward tech-geekiness though, don't you feel a little wistful about RadioShack?

RadioShack catalogue covers from 1965 (L) and 2002 (R).

Source: RadioShack Catalogs

Remember "hi-fi"? How about crystal radio sets? Breaker, breaker, CB radios anyone? Realistic receivers? Yep, they litter RadioShack's history, along with countless other all-weather radios, red LED calculators, and hard-plastic AA-battery walkie-talkies. And don't forget the first mass market personal computer (TRS-80), lovingly called the "Trash Eighty."

Now it looks like RadioShack's days, at least as a standalone entity, are coming to an end. The company, which has been struggling financially for quite some time, . Some stores will live on, but with a distinctly Sprint flavor.

And so the 94-year-old RadioShack, at least the one we Boomers and some Gen-Xers grew up with, will be gone forever. That's happened to plenty of retailers. All that remains of F.W. Woolworth Co. is Foot Locker, after all.

Or, if they don't manage to morph, they go away completely, like Circuit City, Levitz Furniture, Montgomery Ward's, to name just a few.

There's plenty of reasons for those retailers not to be there anymore: Competition, changing tastes, the Internet. But that doesn't mean they didn't play a significant part in history or to some extent, people's lives.