Are they going back to the old business model, geared toward hobbyists? (Riiiight.) Are they actually going to sell decent stereo equipment and computers? Computer parts?
Are they going to "upgrade" and become even more like every other cell phone store in the country?
I used to spend $1000 @ month buying parts to make and install custom stuff. Now RS is a cellphone and IPod store. I went in yesterday to get some pigtails with the clips that fit 9 volt batteries. The guy there didnt have any idea what I was talking about. He first took me over to a wall rack of transformers/adapters and said I should find a 9 volt one there. I did eventually find them in a drawer under a display.
I actually thought it was one of the better commercials. Certainly brought back a lot of (old) personalities (and memories).
I do miss the wonderful 'Science Fair' electronic project kits they used to sell to teach circuit fundamentals and such. Wish I still had mine from the late 70's...I think it was the 150 in 1 project kit, and I did all of them...it really taught me about electronics at a time when that kind of stuff wasn't really taught in school.
Everyone in the first video are old relics. Maybe Radio Shack is going to start selling antiques for your shack. Next comes a name change. Redux Shack.
radio shack is the only "electronics" store in town, and competes with wally world. i make it a point to shop there and know most of the people. a couple of them actually know their stuff. yes, theyre mostly cell phones, but they do have a selection of electronics parts, switches, ICs, fans, circuit boards, arduino, etc. it's vastly improved from what it was 10 years ago. no, they don't stock computers or parts.
and i have 3 timex sinclairs in a box, with a shoebox full of manuals and software. databases, flight simulator, RPGs, you name it. the ts1000 was a good little machine crippled by shoddy graphics and poor storage. it was a hobbyist's machine, not a business machine. i wired up a real keyboard, converted a joystick and made an 8255-based I/O controller. its 8kram taught me to write tight, clean, compact code, which appears to be a lost art.
radio shack is the only "electronics" store in town, and competes with wally world. i make it a point to shop there and know most of the people. a couple of them actually know their stuff. yes, theyre mostly cell phones, but they do have a selection of electronics parts, switches, ICs, fans, circuit boards, arduino, etc. it's vastly improved from what it was 10 years ago. no, they don't stock computers or parts.
and i have 3 timex sinclairs in a box, with a shoebox full of manuals and software. databases, flight simulator, RPGs, you name it. the ts1000 was a good little machine crippled by shoddy graphics and poor storage. it was a hobbyist's machine, not a business machine. i wired up a real keyboard, converted a joystick and made an 8255-based I/O controller. its 8kram taught me to write tight, clean, compact code, which appears to be a lost art.
radio shack is the only "electronics" store in town, and competes with wally world. i make it a point to shop there and know most of the people. a couple of them actually know their stuff. yes, theyre mostly cell phones, but they do have a selection of electronics parts, switches, ICs, fans, circuit boards, arduino, etc. it's vastly improved from what it was 10 years ago. no, they don't stock computers or parts.
and i have 3 timex sinclairs in a box, with a shoebox full of manuals and software. databases, flight simulator, RPGs, you name it. the ts1000 was a good little machine crippled by shoddy graphics and poor storage. it was a hobbyist's machine, not a business machine. i wired up a real keyboard, converted a joystick and made an 8255-based I/O controller. its 8kram taught me to write tight, clean, compact code, which appears to be a lost art.
LOL, Lurker. I have 4 or 5 of them plus all the goodies (couple 16k ram packs, old B/W tv, cassete recorders, software tapes) in storage up in the rafters at Dad's place. They been there since the early 90's. At one time I wired a C64 keyboard into one of them. Its still up there too----as well as my old Coleco Adam.
only last few seconds of ad matters... The point is RS going to strip/gut old stores then put in new fixtures etc.
Likely means RS is going to be MORE Cell phone and tablet store, maybe TV, and LESS for projects, audio, etc.
Maybe partly result of RS share price... $2-3.00 for most of last 18 months. The cost for this is not cheap... Will likely close more stores too. The Long-Term Costs of the RadioShack Super Bowl Ad 24/7 Wall St.
------------------ Dr. Ian Malcolm: Yeah, but your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should. (Jurassic Park)
They've been basically doing that for the past few months- totally sellin' off all their "old-schooly" stuff, and gutting the stores. I stumbled across this by accident, I went into there with my son, to see if there were any little kits to get, and everything was 85-99% off. I bought soooooo much stuff!. stuff that was 40 bucks was under 4 bucks! All the little soldering kits, the kid's kits...solar kits...it'll keep us busy for years!
But now, the stores are awful to walk through.
Headphones. Earbuds. Phones. Phone accessories. Some RC toys. Fitness wearables. Some computer stuff. The larger stores have some other stuff in cabinets.
I've ranted about this before, Radio Shack might never have actually been "good", but in my head as a kid, I could jump on my bike, go in there and buy stuff, and build almost ANYTHING.
Now, so much of that last sentence just couldn't even happen anymore.
I know, they have 3D printers and lots of 'cool' stuff, it's just that you can now find that stuff in so many other places... it's like watching some of the older BOND movies...
But the commercials and characters were great....
[This message has been edited by TheDigitalAlchemist (edited 02-04-2014).]
They've been basically doing that for the past few months- totally sellin' off all their "old-schooly" stuff, and gutting the stores. I stumbled across this by accident, I went into there with my son, to see if there were any little kits to get, and everything was 85-99% off. I bought soooooo much stuff!. stuff that was 40 bucks was under 4 bucks! All the little soldering kits, the kid's kits...solar kits...it'll keep us busy for years!
But now, the stores are awful to walk through.
Headphones. Earbuds. Phones. Phone accessories. Some RC toys. Fitness wearables. Some computer stuff. The larger stores have some other stuff in cabinets.
I've ranted about this before, Radio Shack might never have actually been "good", but in my head as a kid, I could jump on my bike, go in there and buy stuff, and build almost ANYTHING.
Now, so much of that last sentence just couldn't even happen anymore.
I know, they have 3D printers and lots of 'cool' stuff, it's just that you can now find that stuff in so many other places... it's like watching some of the older BOND movies...
But the commercials and characters were great....
Up here they are called "The Source" (owned by best buy IIRC) and did the same thing 4-5 years ago, getting out of the R/C toys and more into the phones/ laptops ect. I was scorring zip-zaps for 2-3 bucks and body/ tire kits for 50 cents. LOL, still got a collection of them in a shoe box. Micro R/C helicopters were going under 5 bucks--but I managed to wreck most of them.
We used to have a RS warehouse here. It was full of cut price returns, damaged and discontinued stuff. It was a gold mine. I spent hours just walking thru the isles seeing what they had I could use....even before I had a project in mind.
IMHO, their best bet is to embrace the Maker movement, retrain employees, require them like Apple to complete so many education hours via an intranet education site. Make them prove their "knowledge" and reward them when these steps are being completed. I love the effort, I'd even take a management job to help transition the rebranding. But the only way it will work is if the head's believe and can get the parts on board. They should be offering quality electronics, once proven, ask Apple for a sit down.
I embraced the internet and internet shopping early on. But as B.J. said “The bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of low price is forgotten” I have received so many items from the web only to find out it's not what I had hoped. There's something to be said about going to a physical store and using the product before purchase. Whether they survive and this works, you will see a lot of retail shift back to physical stores but in a more compact way. Sears is headed this way, guess what they started out as, a catalog store with a few of the items on display. All of these retailers need to eliminate the bloat and get back to basics, the 80's/Regan era capitalistic economy are over....
Need to change the name while they're at it. Other than maybe a walkie talkie, can you even still buy a radio or any of one's components at Radio Shack?
I do miss the wonderful 'Science Fair' electronic project kits they used to sell to teach circuit fundamentals and such.
Reminds me of Heathkit. Great stuff, there. Even if "new" technology made the projects relatively expensive (for those that don't know, you could build most of their projects for less than a comparable store purchased product), they were still a blast to build, even if it was something you didn't need. (Honestly, who really "needed" a stand alone TV tuner without a box?) I had a few of the kits including some of the 6 in 1, 20 in 1 and/or 150 in 1 electronics kits. I had fun for little money.
Cool commercial, but the message made me cringe. Most likely getting rid of all the tools and components (the only reason I go there) and turning it into just a cel phone store.
If they DO keep the hobbiest stuff, I hope they finally train their employees on the basics at least. They usually ask ME questions when I go in there.
If I remember right, it wasn't all that capable of carrying out simultaneous multiple inputs. Kindy jerky if you tried to get it to do too many things at once--kinda like my old 70s something backhoe.
I'd like to like them, but Microcenter is 4 miles away.
I remember the same thing kinda with Musicland..
Unless they can find a "Win" market for something.. (Right now they're competing against 10 kiosks in the malls) They're as dead as Blockbuster, BestBuy in the next couple of years.
Sorry, the hobby market has been taken over by small independent stores that cater, RS at it current size is just not workable as anything other as a Cell shop, that also sells toys. The closing of 400 outlets is a good sign they're just circling the wagons.
Not sure how they even could stay relevant. World's shifted, everyone's a geek, and there are so many (dare I say it) better ways to get EVERYTHING than to go to a store.
Originally posted by TheDigitalAlchemist: Not sure how they even could stay relevant. World's shifted, everyone's a geek, and there are so many (dare I say it) better ways to get EVERYTHING than to go to a store.
specifications aren't everything. some of us want to see and feel a thing before we buy. and no, not everyone's a geek. most people like their consumer electronics but have no clue how they work. if everyone was a geek, RS could go back to selling integrated circuits and prosper. i agree, they're struggling to find their market niche, but brick and mortar stores aren't going away anytime soon.
I bought one of those at a garage sale last year for $5. Did I pay too much?
I just went back and looked at it. Still in the box with instructions and everything. I was wrong on the price. sticker on the box is $1. How can I get my login to stay? I didn't used to have to log in everytime I post.
I did eventually find them in a drawer under a display.
