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

Kia & Radio Shack

The doing away with the Kia brand name, is somewhat understandable. When you consider it is owned by Hyundai Motors. More then likely their models will be blended into Hyundai's.
And on the Radio Shack situation. Yes they did at one time sell quality products and components. But that's been quite a few years, as was the loss of intelligent sales people. Quite a few of their stores are already closed around the N.E. Ohio ( Cleveland ) area. And yes I do remember the days of Heathkit, Allied Radio, and Olsen Electronics stores. Amazing that Radio Shack lasted this long. The others have been gone for decades around here. So another old friend will bite the dust.

 

As someone who spent almost his whole adult life in electronics servicing of one sort or another (from Early Warning radar systems to TVs and VCRs), the real problem is the sheer multitude of spares needed nowadays to effect even a simple repair. Gone are the days when you could wander up to a house with a suitcase of components and fix almost anything in situ - nowadays you'd need a furniture van to bring round what's needed.

The demand for discrete components is gone really - when you can buy a replacament VCR for a fraction more than it costs a tech to buy a set of heads - who wants to bother with repairing it?

 

It wouldn't surprise me if RS went away. The electronic hobbiest market has declined over the years, and those still in it probably buy parts over the 'net these days anyway.

The only things I buy from them are cables, connectors, and unique batteries I might not find elsewhere, and that's only if I need them right now. Otherwise, I order them off the 'net.

I recently was adding some gear to my station and needed some short runs of coax with PL259s on them. I didn't have any extra PL259s on hand so I went to Radio Shack and they had some short pieces of coax with the connectors already on them, eliminating the step of me having to make them myself.

The most expensive thing I've bought there in the last couple of years was a Netgear wireless router, and that was around $35. They had it cheaper than Best Buy, so I got it at Radio Shack instead.

Having them close by to get stuff like this is convenient, but whether or not it is profitable is questionable. As for the stuff that bothers me about them, sales staff with a lack of knowlege, but I have that same complaint about many other stores, highly variable quality of their products has been a problem for a long time(depends on who they contract with to make them), and lately it seems everytime I go in there, the place is totally different in terms of products. It's like they are having an identity crisis.

Retail has changed a lot in the U.S., with the rise of the big box and ecommerce, many retail sectors have undergone a radical change, and electronics is one of them.

 

They are still around? ;-) Haven't noticed.. haven't been there for years..

 

Have you ever run a business?

Do you realize it's ometimes not actually about "demand" ?

Do you realize sometimes it better to specialize in a specific "group" or area of products?

As a business owner, you don't actually have to cater to "demand" you know. In fact, sometimes it's actually better you don't do that at all and do the opposite instead. Let me explain..!!

For example, consumers can "demand" cell phones, but that doesn't somehow mean my business model has to go into that businsess direction. In fact, with 100,000 other business models already catering to the "cell phone" industry business, what makes you somehow think that going into that direction is going to be especially lucrative for my business model? .. Well the fact of the matter is that with so much other competition in the "cellphone" marketplace .. The simple answer is that it ain't!

Here's how running a successful business works... (No it's not about "following the crowd" in fact, it's about doing completely the opposite!!)

What the businessman does is he creates a what is known as a "niche market." This is what people consider as products that are "unusual" or not normally available anywhere else. The way that this all works it that the businessperson "positions" themselves in such a way that they have little or no competition at all!

Now instead of "competing" with other businesses, (like cellphones for example) They are now the only one or a select few who even offers such items anywhere in the entire business!!

This is not about about a business trying to meet "consumer demand" per se, but rather it's about having something no one else deals with. Hence the idea of a "niche market."

I'm sorry and I do realize you probobly never ran a business before, but your business concept of "supply and demand" isn't a simple cut and dry matter as you seem to make it out to be.

My Best,

 

I agree. The marketing issue Radio Shack is dealing with at the moment is they are trying to "compete" with the big box stores instead of trying to remain specialized within a specific market niche.

Simply put Mel, Radio Shack neither has the financial resources, nor will they ever be capable of competing in such markets. So, why they are even trying to do that exactly is anyone's estimation.

One thing is for sure though, they will never succeed doing that!!! They will fail and this will lead exactly into the precise direction they are already going.

My question is, why are they trying to do that in the first place? It's like i'm standing on the sidelines watching them sabotage themselves.

My Best.

 

I think you have it quite right. I worked for Tandy many years ago. We never tried to compete with the big discount stores selling electronics. We provided the accessories and knowledge to use them. People would go buy a big TV from Sears or Kmart, then come to us for the cables and accessories. The most frequent comment we got was "you are the only guys in town who know about cables, adapters and stuff". Now sales people at Radio Shack have no more knowledge than somebody behind a kiosk in the mall....sad.

 

Yes sir! I sincerely agree and think if they capitalized on the idea of ,"You are the only guys in town who know about cables, adapters and stuff", they would be in a MUCH better position today as a business model.

Radio Shack used to provide knowledgeable "service" but now it seems they only know how to operate a cash register. It seems they dropped the ball somewhere along the way. I agree with you, it's sad really.

My Best.

 

I am not surprised, it's a shame to say but the shack is nothing like it used to be. The employees know even less about electronics than they have stock. Over the years a lot of the independent parts suppliers have gone by the way side, due to electronic products now being cheaper to replace than repair. It's a throw away society, where once it was cheaper to have your television repaired now you just as well go down to Wal-Mart and pick up a new one. Even at my work where we used to extend the life of Lenkyrt 76a microwaves repairing modules and replacing klystron tubes, the new equipment these days although much more sophisticated and great pay load capabilities, there is not much you can do with them once the factory drops support. Repairing modules takes special equipment and components that were made special for the manufacturer and they would be happy to make one for you if you wanted 3000 of them(good example TI's AM26LS33 tristate buffer). Luckily in New Orleans we still have W. B. Allen supply, they have a good stock of components and their staff are very knowledgeble.

 

wall warts selling @ $25

when I saw that, I knew they were about to fly below the level of the existing terrain.. ed

 

Try more then 4 decades... RS used to be the place to buy second only to to Heath Kit... RS has not been the place to buy anything "RADIO" or PARTS related, in over 20 years and has been moving away from RADIO for over 40...


Now they have very little and what they do have the prices are way over priced..
Take a computer part (Something do do carry)
Take a 6 foot USB extension cable $39.00 NFW...

I can buy these all dfay at Best Buy and Wal Mart for a very small fraction of that cost...

RS has left the building a long time ago...

73 Jerry N9LYA

 

I remember seeing a Radio Shack training video one time. They taught their sales force that the 75 ohm cable was a lot less loss than the 300 ohm twinlead because "ohms" represents loss. So salespersons were instructed to sell coaxial cable over twinlead.

 

Yes, that shop is still there. I take a trip up there every few months.

73, Chris, K1CJS

 

It isn't that the hobby is dying, it is because the hobby is evolving. Granted, the VHF/UHF repeaters are losing popularity, but the HF bands are not. When you say "...in my area." it is all too apparant you mean the VHF/UHF frequencies. It is just that the hobby is once again becoming what it used to be before repeaters became popular---except for the emcomm people and their off the wall cousins, the whackers.

The decline in the number of parts stores and the number of hams who do homebrewing and their own repair work is due to the evolving nature of electronics in today's world. Devices are small because the level of SMT (surface mount technology) has risen to the point that just about everything in a modern transceiver requires a specialized workstation and tools to even open up to look at.

The internet has hurt the localized ham stores because hams still are a cheap bunch. They tend to look for the best price, and there is no way an open store can beat a warehouse/internet sales only store. The overhead the open store has to charge for increases the prices they have to charge.

Again, that is because of the internet--and the auction sites on it. Who wants to spend their time at hamfests when they can sell their gear without spending a day or two babysitting it--AND they get a better price for it to boot!

Sorry to disagree, but the hobby is far from dying. The HF bands are alive and well, especially the CW portions. On the HF frequencies there has been NO decline. It just seems that way because the solar minimum seems to want to hold on. The decline has been in repeater useage, club membership and areas of the hobby revolving around those two things.

 

Sadly, radio shack betrayed it's original baseline of business sales which was "electronics and anything associated with it" for the short sightedness of the cell phone profit, and they didn't loose any money doing it. I miss the time when you could go into radio shack and count on finding most anything electronic that you needed. for the past 10 years all I've seen is cell phones. Ask any of the reps about a cell phone and a plan to go with it, I assure you they'll be able to talk intelligently about it. Anything else is a hit and miss. Cell phones are where the money is. Sadly!