"Radio Shack" predicted to disappear in the next year.

I'm not especially fond of Radio Shack equipment, but the first radio scanner I bought was a RS PRO-2006. It did get me hooked on ham radio. And now we have RigReference.com...

 

Radio Shack and...

I am not surprised at all. Radio Shack going away! I would have thought it had been a no brainer 20+ years ago. They changed into another phone store and this is such an over marketed thing; they pigeon holed themselves with that.

What bothers me is seeing T-Mobile on there. I have T-Mobile phones and the services have been great. I'd hate to be stuck with Verizon or AT&T worse yet.

 

Good..

Last time I walked into my local RS, I ended up wanting to punch the kid in the mouth.


Fuggum...

 

Well, I might put in my 2 cents. About 5 years ago the battery went out in one of my cordless phones. A V-Tech or something like that. It used the standard 1/2 AA pack of 3 cells that most phones used. And as usual, Radio Shack up here in Saugus CA. was out of stock on anything that might fit. So I figured I'd just pop off the I-405 Freeway on my way to work and pick up a couple of packs at All Electronics who had them for about $2.98 or some such give away amount vs. the $11.95 that R/S wanted.

Anyhow, I'm walking out when I spy a pegboard loaded with Kodak, Canon and Olympus digital still cameras. On the top is a sign that says "CLEARANCE SALE." I ask the salesman what the sale was for? He told me Radio Shack was leaving the digital camera market and they had marked down everything 35 to 70 percent to clear it out.

Having had my Canon A-60 die on me a few weeks earlier after 5 years of being hauled with me wherever I went, I decided to see what was there. My eye immediately went to a Canon A-530 -- a 5.5 mp camera that was the latest incarnation of the old A-60 that had been tossed. I had already priced it on-line with B&H and a few other NY mail order houses and knew that it was selling for roughly $160 plus shipping. So I asked the salesman what the price was: He responded $89.99 plus tax. I said that if he had one in a sealed box, I would take it. He did and I said "write it up!"

As he was doing so, he stops and says something like "...oh yes. I forgot. This comes with an extra memory card, rechargeable batteries and a rapid charger."

He then disappeared for a few moments and hands me a second smaller box marked Canon A-530 accessories. Curious, I open it up to find a set of four 3000 ma/hr Kodak "rapid charge" AA batteries (the camera only uses 2); a Kodak rapid charger, a San-Disk 512 MB SD card; a 5" tall mini-tripod and a complete camera / lens cleaning kit. And this was a free-bee. With sales tax, the bill came to $105.00 or so.

And so I ask almost jokingly if an extended warrantee is available to which he replies something like we can sell you a 5 year warrentee for $15.99 but you have to send it back to Canon for actual repair. (Like Im going to let Radio Shack try to fix a digital camera...). That seemed reasonable so I went for it as well.

Bottom line: For roughly $120 I got the camera, the accessories and the 5 year extended warrentee that expired last May.

So I cant really complain about Radio Shack. I still have a mint DX-160 shortwave receiver (built by Kenwood) and the Canon A-530 that has logged over a quarter of a million air miles with me -- so far.

Just a case of being in the right place at the right time and Radio Shack not having what I went to buy.

de
WA6ITF

 

I know I posted this already but for those who didn't see it.

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r/s possibly disappearing

The Radio Shack in Chicago's loop seems to me to be all about the almighty cellphone. Went in looking for some egg insulators and got nothing but a blank look from the youth behind the counter.
if the current incarnation of R/S dies....good riddance.
73 Greg WB9MII

 

I've got to agree on the T-Mobile thoughts. I'd miss them. On the other hand, R-Shack started their downward spiral decades ago with their frenzied overexpansion. They tried to be too many things for too many people in too many locations and hired too many untrained kids who thought a "watt" was an unwanted growth on their hand. It's sad to think that now when you need a fuse for your rig - you have to go to an auto parts store...

 

Tandy bought Allied Radio in 1970. I got a lot of parts over the years from Allied. Even got some replacement parts for our avionics shop when the Army couldn't come through on them in Vietnam. And I spent my whole 1967 reenlistment bonus on an HT-46/SX-146 and Johnson Matchbox from Allied.

Cortland
KA5S

 

this is their us business ... they've been the low-cost leader in the us gsm space for a while now ... they're rolling out 4g faster than their competition (at&t) but with different frequency assignments so the equipment can't realistically be used across carriers with full 4g service.

their business in europe, otoh, seems to be mostly fine. in the uk t-mobile and orange are joining up ... not sure which brand will survive.

 

There are some Radio Shacks that will probably be around if the parent company folds--those are the 'associate stores', with local people owning the stores and franchising the name Radio Shack.

There is one about 25 miles from me, in Wareham, MA. I was visiting a friend one day and had the opportunity to go into that store. What a refreshing change! They actually stocked parts and not only had what I wanted to get--but they had some things I usually got over the internet. The resistors they had were in various wattages--and they had ALL the popular values. Caps, transistors--everything the RS of old stocked, but not all with the RS name.

The owner IS a ham, and when I told him it was nice to find an old fashioned RS store. He told me he has to continually fight to get what HE wants from RS, they wanted him to change his inventory, but he refused.

I haven't been in that store for the past few years, I don't even know if they're still open. I'm going to have to go by there one day and see.

 

Is U-Do-It still in Needham?


Cortland
KA5S

 

I suppose the terms of that injunction will be moot after Radio Shack disappears.... Or not? They seem to have you guys pretty strapped down.

 

Radio Shack gone !?!?

I guess I am one of the few lucky ones... The Radio Shack by me is owend by a guy that has 3 Radio Shack stores... and his main one (close to me) is still fairly well stocked with electronic components and stuff. AND believe it or not... The help actually know about the stuff !!

The owner has made up his own job application, which there is a mini test on the app to test if you know the stuff or not, and you have to fill the app out in the store, he will not let you leave with it.

Guess I will injoy the parts while I can get them.... maybe when RS is gone.... the hamfests will start to have more of this stuff... and less of the NON-Ham radio related junk (arts & crafts crap,car parts, tools, cheap china made toys, and such).

 

There is money to be made in parts providing the public wanted them. No store can devote a lot of space to products that don't appeal to the masses. I have been working for RS for 23 years. We have 40 drawers full of parts. If I sell 1 pack of resisters a month that is a lot. The average customer has no idea what a resister is.

Do you go to a shoe store and expect to find a style of shoe you bought 25 years ago. No way. The store has to stock items it will sell - not items that will collect dust. The cost of running a store is too high to be stocking stuff that does not sell.

If you think its easy to stock parts then try it for a year and see what you can do. Yes, we sell cell phones because there is profit to be made. That's profit to pay for parts and profit to keep the lights on in the parts area so you can find the parts. Sure there are new people who might not know what a resister is. Employees don't come fully trained anymore than new people getting into Ham Radio are fully trained. Share your knowledge and and inform them. Tell them you are a ham radio operator and you just might interest them to join your hobby. I have been an Elmer to several people, in part because I was there to inform and to learn from my customers.

Dave, WC3A

 

Close analogy

Going into a Radio Shack and asking for a particular transistor SHOULD be like walking into a McDonalds and asking for a Big Mac. Everyone working there should have a clue what it is you're looking for. If they don't, it wasn't a Radio Shack to begin with. If they don't have it in stock, they should be able to put one in your hand within 48 hours at no shipping cost. The problem is, Radio Shack has become something else besides Radio Shack. It's become a purveyor of future technology, something Radio Shack has never been about.

As hams, our bread and butter is old technology (to a degree). How many of you would walk into a Radio Shack, see a 25 watt SSB transceiver kit on the shelf for $500.00, and NOT walk out of the store with it under your arm? If you'd walk out carrying a new cell phone and leave it languishing on the shelf, you're probably not a real ham...

I see an ideal marriage between Elecraft, DZKits, Wouxon, MFJ, and a few other similar companies. If they would commit a 10 foot by 10 foot glass room in each store like they did for the old TRS-III computers, where people could shut themselves in the room and listen to the radios (disable the transmitters), and just allow them to dial around and see what they hear... Even put a licensed ham on the payroll for a few months who can explain everything and see where it goes, I prophesy another source of income for "the shack". They could even go as far as to hold tech-level classes for those who become interested.

They're going to have to utilize some of the cheesy marketing that the "hand cream" guys at the mall use. Put someone outside the store and solicit listeners to come inside and give the dials a whirl. A few good salesmen is all it would take to take "the shack" to a new level.

Alas, I, too foresee the closure of all their stores if they don't start to push something besides cell phones and satellite sales.

-WY3X