It's awful to read that and compare it with what Radio Shack was for us geeklings in the 1980s. For those of us living far from big cities, Radio Shack was the source of electric parts, IC chips, LEDs, not to mention hands-on access to actual computers.
Exactly. It makes me sad that the only remaining source of electronic parts in many areas is likely to close down.
Even with other options nearby, Radio Shack is still the closest place to me that sells such parts -- and the only one that's open past 5pm, or on Sundays.
I wonder if there's a way for them to double-down on the geek side of their inventory. They're at least picking up a lot of "maker" inventory: Arduino and related kits, etc.
They just need to raise demand. They could, for instance, provide and promote free curriculum plans for schools or clubs that just happened to need the kinds of components you can't buy anywhere locally but Radio Shack.
Exactly! With the current maker movement you'd think they would be primed to reinvent themselves.
After reading that article, however, I'm inclined to think that their problems are not so much from a market that changed out from under them, but rather are internal and self-inflicted. If so, then they completely deserve their current situation.
They've actually tried somewhat to stock parts that maker movement-types might want: I was in an RS recently, and I was shocked at how much Arduino stuff they had on the shelves, for instance. When you look at their website, though, it's dominated by Beats headphones and iPhone 6s - they've somehow managed to survive for at least 20 years or so without really picking the market they are trying to serve.
I worked at CompUSA in the mid 90s... They basically suffered from the same problems, but flamed out more quickly because of their large big box format.
The hobbyist stuff at CompUSA (video cards, disk drives, tools, etc) were just a way to get you in to potentially buy a PC.
What's the issue? These stores survived by selling big ticket items like computers and cellular phones at high margin, and upselling people into accessories, service plans, etc. A TRS-80 sold for the equivalent of $1500 2014 dollars, sold at a 25% margin and generated sales of all sorts of other crap. A bag cell phone in 1990 was $1200, and carriers paid substantial commissions for the contract life.
By 2004 when this dude worked there, the PC market tanked for retailers as PC prices imploded and margins shrunk. So they were stuck with selling toys and other stuff. The Nextel craze and smartphone revolution propped them up a bit, but the market for phones is about as saturated as you can get -- my local supermarket sells crappy droids for $40.
I lived in a country town in South Australia in the early 80s, and without the local Tandy (Oz brand of RS) I wouldn't have got into electronics or software, both of which now are my main source of income and also a source of a hell of a lot of fun. Fortunately these days the opportunity for kids to discover new stuff is provided by Internet access, but it's still a sad coda to the joy RS provided in my youth.
I didn't realise that these were the same place! My 50-in-1 Electronic Project Kit manual often referenced "Radio Shack" and visiting a Radio Shack was my number one reason for wanting to go to the US.
