It’s impossible to make money selling a resistor or two at retail. They started out as a ham radio store, hence the name. Later, after ham died, they went into home audio, CB radio and car stereos, then that died, then cell phones, now that’s not profitable, etc.
I have been known to visit their store about once a year to get some part that I forgot to order from Digikey. Other than that, they will not be missed.
Some RSs do sell “maker” stuff, but if you ask any of them about it they start talking about the Beats headphone wall and upgrading your cell phone.
It’s more likely that this vacuum will be picked up by “makerspaces” doing light retail. These sort of low-margin niche commodities can survive pretty well if supported by a co-op.
Monoprice has filled in the space online. If you need something almost ASAP, paying for next-day or same-day delivery on their components ends up costing about the same as RSs overpriced stuff anyway.
If you walk to the back of your average Radio Shack you’ll find a shelf full of Arduino and Pi shields, plus some starter kits and the like. The maker market just isn’t big enough to sustain that many storefronts though, even with the crazy markup. The sales volume is way too low. Plus you can go and buy all of that stuff yourself from Adafruit. Unless you need that GPS shield RIGHT NOW, and you’re lucky enough to have a Shack that supplies exactly what you need (their selection is still quite thin) and it is open, you can just order it online and have it delivered in a couple of days anyway.
I was always amused that a little strip mall in Burbank, CA had a Ham Radio store just a couple door down from a Radio Shack (the Ham Radio store recently moved).
I was also amused by my co-worker who (when he was fresh off the boat) went to the Ham Store and asked for a sandwich…
That message must not have got to the branch on 14th St in NYC - because they asked for my phone number a month or so ago when I wanted to buy rechargeable batteries.
Another victim of terrible management - if they are so broke why did they just remodel all their stores in Manhattan? And why do they concentrate on cell phones and headphones when there are literally a dozen other stores within 1/2 a mile selling the same things?
The thing is, if it doesn’t take up much space… people who would come in for small things like that are likely to buy larger things as well. I’m not convinced that there couldn’t be some sort of balance struck that would have let them keep the maker crowd.
Currently I find myself going to Fry’s for many of the same things I would previously have gone to RS for, simply because they have a selection of useful electronics odds and ends. Of course, they have a much wider product range than RS so it probably gives them a more stable base to absorb less profitable stock.
So you’re saying resistance is futile?
I have run to Radio Shack for resistors fairly recently. They do even sell Arduino now.
In the early 90s their hand held phone dialer was rather popular? Anybody out there remember modding them with a 6.5535mhz crystal?
Fry’s grew from being a single store near Stanford to a chain by buying many of Tandy’s Incredible Universe stores… which were Radio Shacks with kitchen departments and huge selections of stuff RS had no room to stock. I miss Incredible Universe, which had real customer service.
Whereas Fry’s staff always look like they are going to murder each other to try and get the commission on a sale… it’s a little off-putting.
Stopped in a Radio Shack about a month ago and asked the 20 something counter person if they had a 9 pin null modem adapter. It was like I was speaking another language. Believe it or not they had one, and as she was ringing it up she said, what are these used for? I never felt so old. I can remember going in to buy a 150 in one Electronic project kit in the late 60s.
Radio Shack: You’ve got questions? We’ve got blank stares.
When I started playing with Arduinos, it was really convenient to have Radio Shack nearby so I could pick up a couple of LEDs or assorted capacitors I needed because I’d just fried the last greed LED in my toolbox or whatever. Yes, I could go 5 miles down the road to Fry’s, or order them by mailorder, but Radio Shack was near the grocery store, so good for quick errands.
When I objected to this for a pack of AAs (also about 20 odd years ago) in Laurel Maryland, the sales clerk was happy to just enter in “xxxs” in the fields. It was just before Christmas and he, at least, realized that he had better things to do. while he was doing so, he mentioned that another customer dutily entered “Bill Clinton, 1600 Pennsylvania avenue” when a customer told him that. And corporate called and asked “did the President REALLY visit the store?”
“Why, yes, we stuck him in the cash drawer with the others.” Ba dump tish
+5 for you, UncleGeo. They could totally have owned the RaspberryPi and MakerBot-type niches, but they instead chose to push CB radios years ago. There was ALWAYS a better choice for pretty much everything Radio Snack sold, except the electronics parts, tools and supplies that made their fortune until the early 1980s.
Ten years ago, when almost everybody still had CRT televisions, I went into a Radio Shack looking for a degaussing coil. No one in the store had the least idea what one was. I even pulled up their online catalog on the PC in store, and sure enough, they no longer even listed one.
I think the last thing I bought there was a pair of repro Koss Pro/4AA studio phones when they still sold something other than earbuds. I still have them.
Didn’t Radio Shack have a hand in the defunct Computer City chain (circa 1996) or am I confusing that with somebody else?
Remember the Battery Club card? One free battery a month, no questions asked! I had probably ten cards back in the 1980s.
Wow, I didn’t think they would carry it.
