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RadioShack Under $1: The Clock Is Ticking
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Radio Shack forgot who their target market was and got into segments other people do better. I used to shop there a lot for my projects but there is no point going anymore since they no longer carry most of the stuff I am looking for.....they have made themselves irrelevant. Idiots.
CZroe
Lifer
Speak for yourself. Thanks to YouTube, iFixIt, FixYa, and such there are more people than ever doing DIY repairs and mods that require RadioShack components if you aren't going to wait for mail-order. The problem is that they aren't going to stay afloat selling me only some wiring or a fuse and fuse holder. They should have branched but it should have been in the same vein. Instead of going to an auto parts store for the bits I need in my HID headlight retrofit (relays, sockets, wiring, connectors, and such), I should be able to go to the same place as I go for my diodes and resistors and such: Radio Shack. Instead, they limited their selection and branched into gaming and stuff they couldn't remain price-competitive in.
DIY automotive, PC, and audio electronics are as big as ever.
Rakehellion
Lifer
Better get your short selling hat on!
Rakehellion
Lifer
I've bought their soldering irons and torches, but I hate the proprietary connectors. Those you can get at Home Depot anyway.
For more specific stuff, I'll most likely buy from Amazon or ebay. $2 for an LED is just outrageous.
Possessed Freak
Diamond Member
They should never left their niche market. There is no reason to try to stock cell phones, tvs, etc when bigger stores and specialty stores had that well covered. They should have stayed in low rent strip malls so that the Dad's of the US could buy the shit they needed to get their kids stuff working again or do DIY projects.
Batteries, cables, adapters, electrical components. Done. What kind of footprint of a store is that if they just cut the crap that took up 50%+ of their store that NOBODY bought.
You didn't even need a knowledgeable employee at the store as the people that went there KNEW what they wanted. Cashier was about the only one you needed or somebody to run inventory checks to see if they had any more 330 ohm resistors hiding somewhere other than the specially marked drawer.
Batteries, cables, adapters, electrical components. Done. What kind of footprint of a store is that if they just cut the crap that took up 50%+ of their store that NOBODY bought.
You didn't even need a knowledgeable employee at the store as the people that went there KNEW what they wanted. Cashier was about the only one you needed or somebody to run inventory checks to see if they had any more 330 ohm resistors hiding somewhere other than the specially marked drawer.
PottedMeat
Lifer
i could see a business like this working
instead of waiting 2 weeks for my cheap chinese electronic bits from ebay they can stock them locally with a little more markup than the ebay sellers but less than some place like digikey
Engineer
Elite Member
Yea, pretty much this.
To think Tandy and especially Commodore (who had a much grander vision) were both poised and positioned to become the next Apple and dropped the ball. Instead we're about to talk about Radio Shack in the past tense, with far fewer people realizing their rightful place at the foundation of personal computing history. Perhaps this is what saddens me most.
Stewox
Senior member
Will be sad seeing america imploding on it self, but you know, gay rights and gun control is more important, so march forward! Forward to corporate feudalism.
MongGrel
Lifer
Then you had to show up.
feralkid
Lifer
My father has insisted for 20 years that RadioShack had to be a money laundering front. He couldn't imagine any other way they could stay in business.
Waaaay back in the day they were really the only place in the small town I lived in where one could find a weird cable or battery.
Waaaay back in the day they were really the only place in the small town I lived in where one could find a weird cable or battery.
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Mobile business hit a peak and accounted for 51% of Radioshack's net sales in 2011. However their mobile business had recently declined sharply; additionally, any attempts to recapture those lost mobile clients with a newly added in-store, same-day repair service for smartphones and tablets were mostly failures.
ericlp
Diamond Member
It is kinda a bummer that radio shack is going out of business. Remember the sharper image stores? Was always cool to see the new gadgets. I went the different route... We had a heathkit store not far from our house... Put together a H8 (octal) 8080 cpu with the H9 terminal. I remember as a kid going down to get the free kits to solder up. 🙂 Good fun. What's really kinda sad is, the Hero robot was and is kinda still state of the art in robotic fields. I mean, for consumer stuff the Hero robot was ahead of it's time. I expected to see a lot more advances in robots today. Sadly, not much has advanced.
Last time I was in the rat shack was to buy speaker wire. I think they had it on sale and the copper stuff was not bad. So... got a 50' spool of the 12 gauge stuff. But other then that, I think I walked in a few times to just look at the kits. Even tho, I don't solder anymore or plan to anytime soon.
Oh well...... It's down to 90 cents a share. Anyone feeling lucky? haha
Last time I was in the rat shack was to buy speaker wire. I think they had it on sale and the copper stuff was not bad. So... got a 50' spool of the 12 gauge stuff. But other then that, I think I walked in a few times to just look at the kits. Even tho, I don't solder anymore or plan to anytime soon.
Oh well...... It's down to 90 cents a share. Anyone feeling lucky? haha
IndyColtsFan
Lifer
Ah Commodore......I miss them and still have many of their machines in working condition (A2000, A3000, C128, C64) and in my man cave.
Back in the late 80s/early 90s, if I needed an electronic component in a hurry for a project, Radio Shack was often the closest place to go even though I preferred other places. The rest of their selection sucked and was overpriced. I'm really shocked that they made it this long but I'm guessing that maybe many folks still bought RC toys and stuff for their kids at Christmas from them, along with some OK success with cell phones for a time.
I would consider it, but I don't see anyone acquiring Radio Shack and I don't think they'll be able to turn it around so I am not sure it is worth it. I think they're done.
Yeah, we used to say the mob had to own them because you'd never see anyone in there. In my town, they even moved to a brand new store and I'm sure I wasn't the only one saying "WTF?"
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somebody decided that the connotations of "The Shack" were about the same as those of "out house."
Its funny that people are saying that radio shack should have stayed in their old market.
I used to work at radio shack. The things that sold the most, were cell phones, cell phone accessories, and batteries. The things that almost never sold were the electronic components. DIY people almost never go to RS, because they can get what they want online. Cell phone sells are what kept RS afloat. There was a time when RS was the biggest seller of cell phones in the US.
The problem with radio shack is selection, and price. Both of those are issues because of the RS model. We never had the TV people wanted, and if we did, it was too expensive. We sold toys around X-max, but we always ran out, because you can only hold so much in store.
With the internet, small electronic stores are becoming a thing of the past, and for good reason. Why would you go to RS, when you can go to bigger stores, that have more selection at cheaper prices. People hate Walmart for the same reason, and Walmart will start running into the same issues because of the internet. Its just less efficient to have physical stores for many things.
What you will likely see are storage hubs that double as stores. Most people will order online, and the few that live near that hub can go to the store if they wish.
I used to work at radio shack. The things that sold the most, were cell phones, cell phone accessories, and batteries. The things that almost never sold were the electronic components. DIY people almost never go to RS, because they can get what they want online. Cell phone sells are what kept RS afloat. There was a time when RS was the biggest seller of cell phones in the US.
The problem with radio shack is selection, and price. Both of those are issues because of the RS model. We never had the TV people wanted, and if we did, it was too expensive. We sold toys around X-max, but we always ran out, because you can only hold so much in store.
With the internet, small electronic stores are becoming a thing of the past, and for good reason. Why would you go to RS, when you can go to bigger stores, that have more selection at cheaper prices. People hate Walmart for the same reason, and Walmart will start running into the same issues because of the internet. Its just less efficient to have physical stores for many things.
What you will likely see are storage hubs that double as stores. Most people will order online, and the few that live near that hub can go to the store if they wish.
soccerballtux
Lifer
all of which are selling the $1 cables at $9.49
I've shifted all that purchasing to ebay straight from hong kong. takes 2-3 weeks but it's $1. mostly worth it.
But I will miss being able to buy the cable right now.
zephyrprime
Diamond Member
Dude, I used to work at radioshack. Cell phones were by far their most profitable product. Nobody bought the electronic components or hobbyists stuff. This forum is full of nerds so we tend to think there is a market for stuff like that. THERE ISN'T. There are hardly any electronic hobbyists in the world and most of them shop online.
You can post facts on these forums till blue in the face. Many posters will breeze right past it to present or substitute with their own reality. 🙂 I think it reflects the old saying about leading a horse to water, but not being able to make it drink-think.
Radio Shack actually did a pretty damned good job adapting and changing with the times for an almost ninety-three year-old business. Cell phones were pretty much their last B&M stand, due to Internet commerce and globalization.
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