Radio Shack ask the "DIY Community" for Input

It was absolutely a dealer store. They still harassed him.

 

IMHO, I think this is really just a marketing/PR stunt.

With the Internet and access to a huge number of commercial suppliers, with respect to components and building I think they need to embrace what they are now --- the "7-11" of components. Carry the essentials, and the things I need that I can't wait for mail order (tools, connectors, solder).... basically, exactly what they are doing now (which is why I think this is a stunt).

I remember the days of buying PC board projects --- anyone remember the Archer One Digit Counter? Archerkits? Micronta? the Globe Patrol? Buying 555's and TTL logic in the bubble packs? The hobby moved out of the mall and strip mall and on to the Internet. TechAmerica was a failed attempt to follow it.

Look at hackaday.com or adafruit.com, and you will see how far behind the mainstream "maker" user-base these guys are.

Bill

 

RE: Quote Originally Posted by W0BTU
That's interesting. A guy I know locally tried to sell non-Radio Shack stuff in his store, and he was constantly harassed by Radio Shack reps who visited...

Local Radio Shack store here in KY is also a gun and knife store. It's a very small part of it, though. Just a couple of glass counters and some gun racks on the wall behind the counter. This is what keeps the RS store in business. Many come in to check out guns and ammo and end up buying a camera or some other entertainment item. They have the room for it. However, I know other RS stores that are crammed to the ceiling with "stuff" and could not do this or anything similar because of the lack of space. Even the rolling nail boards are full to overflowing in some stores. They are not nearly as universally consistent as the famous Dollar Stores. In this, then, there are possibilities of change for the better in many stores once they know there is money to be made.

By the way, here is an excellent hobby website that provides electronic parts and kits for motor speed control and many other items -- even crystals. Check it out...

http://www.hobbyengineering.com/

 

I'm one hour away from nearest RadShack and its part of a Drug Store...the next nearest one is just over two hours away, been in both of them, NOT IMPRESSED at all ...gotta love the internet when your out in the MIDDLE of NO WHERE

 

RADIO SHACK,you"ve got questions we"ve got BLANK STARES! YES we have RADIOS,like in this REMOTE CONTROLLED car or truck or in this CELL PHONE & I THINK we still have an AM-FM RADIO......LOL

 

Last time I was in there I had to wait and wait behind a line of Spanglish-speakers who either had a cell phone billing issue, a dead cell phone, wanted to buy a cell phone, or had questions about a digital camera or MP3 player they were too stupid to operate. They have to keep their prices high to offset all the customers who get mad and walk out rather than wait 10-15 minutes to purchase something.

 

Speaker wire, phono plugs, A/V patch cables, batteries, and Clown Band crap are about all they are good for as far as the "do it yourselfer" goes these days. The local Radio Shack here sells guns and ammo, Whites Metal Detectors, and a #### load of cell phones. Thats how our local franchise guy keeps his head above water. Ask the sales guys about RG-8, PL-259's or Twin lead and you get that thousand yard stare. They cannot compete with on-line suppliers.

 

its about the money

as much as we would all long for the days of the old Radio Shack with it's aisles of component parts, a dozen scanners and radios on display, the bottom line is those days are gone. There is no money in selling this kind of stuff at RETAIL anymore. the Wal-Mart low price junk mentality is what the masses of consumers want. Sans the handful of resistors, caps and RF connectors, everything else "the Shack" carries in those bins is cheaper at Walmart and online.

They want cellphones, overpriced accessories, and to be conned into thinking they are getting "a good deal" on the latest iWhatever. Something breaks, it's trash. No more fixing your own equipment. For this to happen, RadioShack would have to start carrying 30K SMD rework stations, 50K analyzers and test sets, and hundred dollar jigs. It's just not reality.

RS will never be what it was. The market isn't. Big box retail is shriveling up, it's amazing stores like Macy's, RadioShack and Best Buy can even keep the lights on. So many big retailers have tanked in the last 10 years and this is just the beginning.

 

They should do consignment sales of used electronic equipment which would be offered for in-store buy-it-now prices and combined with online auctioning/sales front. That would draw me into their stores on a regular basis; they could take it from there and try to sell their cellphones or batteries or whatever else they are pushing. At least they will get some live bodies into their stores.

 

Radio Shack

Well, if nothing else, they have certainly started an advertising Blitz.........think about it, it sure got alot of responses, and people talking and thinking about the Shack...........true, the point of all of this may be moot, but you are talking, thinking and considering the shack. Advertisement in any form is still advertisement.

As far as my thoughts, years ago, my gang called them Radio Rip. I could find all sorts of electronic books, project books, and parts to build same, back when I wasnt as interested in that stuff....

Now-a-days, lucky to find a banana plug.....in the right drawer space.....it always is fun to have one of the help ask me if they can help me, most of the time I say no....why bother? when I am feeling giddy, I will ask them for some techincal help or maybe a Johnson watt c0-inverter for the purpose of exercising my coax efficiency, then I can see the look of WTF????? comes over their face...........The store in my area is truly a cell phone store 1st.....and not sure what it is 2nd.....

anyway, my 1 cent worth, with gas prices so high, I gotta save the other cent.

 

They might as well have been! NOTHING used to irk me more than going in to find a part and having some pimply-faced kid with not a CLUE as to what I was talking about tell me there is no such part!!! I told him, "YOU are the one that doesn't know beans about what you're talking about".....and walked out. AW........he didn't get to sell me the latest cellphone widget!

 

Wow, all this vitriol about a company reaching out to it's customers...

Lot's of venom about "stupid spanglish speakers", and RS's that sells guns and ammo... I think it's your location and personal attitudes.

My local Radioshack sells lots of parts, and the folks working there are somewhat knowledgeable.

 

Well, I've got to tell ya... at least they are asking for advice so I would guess this is a chance to let them know what you would like to see instead of yapping and complaining. Sure, I long for the old Radio Shack days too - as a kid I used to shop in one of the two original Shacks on Washington Street in Boston back in the '50s - but those days are gone and ain't coming back - so get used to it. And this thing about the "thousand-yard stare" - well, my local RS has TWO middle-aged hams behind the counter and they are the most unhelpful and arrogant pinheads of the bunch. They are full of wrong information about components and are not afraid to share their misinformation and have scarcely hidden contempt for those who ask "stupid" questions. So I don't think it matters much if the geek behind the RS counter is a cell fone seller or an active ham because they both can stink. Anyway, if RS wants to explore the market for DIY and makers more power to them and I will certainly let them know how I think they can do it.

 

Your bad... shuda gone to You Do It No need to got to Rat Shack if u in Boston area:->

73,
Chip W1YW

 

I have a friend who has managed an RS store for years, and he says RS has been so out of touch with reality,it has been sad. He says it's like a blind upper managment has been stumbling around in a dark room, knocking over all the furniture and not knowing where they are or where they are going; it has been the blind leading the blind. Let's hope they find some business direction and are successful at last.