Radio Shack closing 500 stores

[Ritchie200]

As much as I like to make fun of Radio Hack and the lack of direction I see (radio control cars and mobile phone sales?), I also realize we will never see a Radio Shack or Lafayette from the 60's EVER again.  (Or Dick Smith from the 80's (USA locations).)  Even as limited as the supplies are, for soldering hacks like us, the Shack is the ONLY place left on the planet.  They are usually right down the street (or somewhat close by), and you can walk in and look at STUFF.  In a strange kind of way, it still feels like home when you see the drawers of parts, soldering irons, ARDINO parts, shortwave radios, PA's and mics, speakers, and yes even the old CB antennas!  Yes, they are in the back corner of the store, but it's still there.  Time marches on, so it seems that our corner is getting smaller.

Maybe it's because I have always had a soft spot for them.  When I was a kid, I used to live behind a shopping center that housed a Shack location.  I spent hours dumpster diving, digging out old parts, discontinued items, and soon to be refurbished non-working electronics.  I gained a lot of skill with all those repairs - successful or not...

Now we have the announcement that they are closing 500 stores to pay some bills.  That is about 12% of the locations.  They probably could have just closed 100 and passed on spending $M on that stupid super bowl commercial - HEY! LOOK HOW IRRELEVANT WE ARE!!!!  I've got a bad feeling about this as we may be witnessing the death spiral of our last geek store.  I hope I am wrong.

Jim

[SILVERGUN]

          
I wonder if they realize that the ONLY reason I go in there is to get stuff that I can't get anywhere else?

Do they really think that they can compete with big retail electronic chains???

The Fort Worth, Texas, retail chain has been working on transforming its image from an old-school electronics store into a destination for shoppers looking for entertainment gadgets, like headphones and smartphone cases. In October, RadioShack secured $835 million in loans to refinance about $625 million of debt. Those funds, from a group led by GE Capital, also freed up cash for RadioShack's overhaul.

REALLY??!!!
Headphones and SMARTPHONE CASES!!.....I don't know where to get those!?!
Everytime I walk in there and some college dropout asks me if I want to upgrade my cellphone, it takes a lot of restraint to just say, "no, I know what I'm looking for, and I know where to find it"  ,,,,in the corner of the back of the store, the little selection that they do still carry comes in handy sometimes.

[simonallaway]

They've definitely lost focus on people like us, even though they claim now to be the place to go for 'makers'. But to them that means fiddling with Arduinos (which is cool, but not the same).

I wanted to finish off a 9v pedal power supply so I went to my local RS in downtown Chicago for a 12v transformer. I knew they had one as it was on their web site. But they claimed they didn't, so I trudged over to another RS location a few blocks away. They actually had it in stock, so I took it to the register to cash out. When scanned, the item didn't come up in their system. She said "this product doesn't exist...I cannot sell it to you". I had it right there in my hand...the price was on the tag on the shelf...I had cash ready to hand over. But no...they refused to sell it to me. Insanity!

Anyway, my even-more-local Radio Shack in Indiana has a note with my name on it saying "Call Simon before the store closes for good.... he wants our parts cabinets". I'd love to walk out with all those components ;)

[Ed_Chambley]

It makes absolute sense to me.  The closest Radio Shack to me if I am standing at the front door I can see 2 more shopping centers that have a Radio Shack.

Used to be people shopped locally, and there was an electronic repair shop near where you lived.  They fixed things.  For instance I have a old but very nice Pioneer receiver from the mid 70's and one of the boards had a problem with it.  I was heading to Normans Electronics where they used to repair things.  I took the board with me and asked them if they would repair it.  This was before I had much experience soldering on PCB.

Well the counter salesman told me they no longer repair boards and mine has been discontinued.  It is very hard to justify repair services today when you can get a DVD player for $12.  These Radio Shacks used to provide electronic parts for local repairmen, TV, Radio, Toaster.....

We (DIY Guys) for the most part are different in some ways than the majority.  This is the down side free trade.  Why would anyone pay $70 dollars in repair costs on a chinese made SS amp that costs $25.  Same thing happened with you local hardware, lumber suppliers and Lawnmower repair.  Radio Shack is just having to change their business model.  They need to sell you chinese crap that you can throw away too.

I had to change my business model many times as service value has decreased.  My charges for printing today are less than they were in the late 70's, but you receive much less in the way of service.  Now every thing we do is itemized and we charge for everything additional even if it only takes 10 minutes.  I hate it, but I have had to do it to stay profitable.

Years ago when I first heard the comment He Works With His Hands as derogatory, I knew people had changed.

[SILVERGUN]

It makes absolute sense to me.  The closest Radio Shack to me if I am standing at the front door I can see 2 more shopping centers that have a Radio Shack.

Yeah.....it still pisses me off....
I can't (don't want to) get used to this "new world" of disposable everything.....
I've got 5 RS's within 10 miles,,,so I guess I understand the store closings.....
But I don't understand the "business model"
If they've managed to dive $625 million in debt,,,and then managed to acquire $835 million in loans,,,,,whos gonna lose when they can't compete with Best Buy or Walmart for "entertainment gadgets"?

WE ARE,,,cause their just gonna go out of business and default on the loans.

Did anyone ever stop and say,,"wellllll,,, we started losing money when we alienated ALL of our long time customers...etc, etc" ?

Please stop making so much sense Ed,,,you're making it difficult for me to be the pissed off old guy I always wanted to become.

[Ritchie200]

Yeah, Ed has a habit of doing that!!

I'm not sure what the answer is because they CAN NOT compete with the Wally Worlds and the online Best Buy and heck Amazon for that matter for throwaway electronics.

Make Magazine, Pop Sci, Pop Mech all sell a bazzillion copies every month so there ARE a few folks like us out there.  There are high end shops like Brookstone in every mall.  The Shack have GOT to do something different.  Changing the furniture and still selling cell phones aint gonna do it.

Jim

[super&plexi]

hey, I've become that pissed off old guy for you, so you can be upbeat, & funny, .... The other day The Other Half said 'why don't you try RS around the corner' for a 13600/13700 IC  I needed for some phase shifter,...

I promptly shot back 'You Know I Won't Step Foot In That Place Since'.......

I can't remember why/what I'm so pissed at em for..............

but smart enough to buy 'going out o biz' stuff at substantial savings!......

romantic/empathetic enough to feel bad about another closing...............   

[Willabe]

they CAN NOT compete with the Wally Worlds

I just had a vision, Willabe World! Eureka that's it! Where you can buy these;   


            Brad     

[Platefire]

I live in a small town with one RS. Ours actually quit restocking their parts drawers years ago. I've bought out all their 22uf/25V caps, 1.5 K, 1meg & 100K .5 watt resistors, large size SPST, DPDT & DPDTCO switches. I don't even bother going by there anymore because the parts I use are not-restocked. I have to go to the two next larger towns 30 miles away where those RS actually restock their parts items. I guess long as I have the internet I can stay in operation. I can see the big tax burden coming to the internet eventually. They will be charging us for the air we breath as soon as they can figure out how to meter it.  Platefire

[Ritchie200]

They will be charging us for the air we breath as soon as they can figure out how to meter it.  Platefire

Amen brother!  That was the entire premise of the first Total Recall movie.  I'm sure someone is working on that right now....

Jim

[PRR]

> Make Magazine, Pop Sci, Pop Mech all sell a bazzillion copies every month so there ARE a few folks like us out there.

Less than a bazzillion. Make: does fantastic for what it is, but their circulation is 125,000 puff PDF. Personally I don't trust their "2.4 pass-along" rate.

Pop-Sci/Mech are more available and perhaps several hundred thou each, but IMHO they are not primarily "DIY" but "GeeWhizz" new-tech-summary entertainment.

There's rent-a-welder Make Centers opening all over and I suspect 90% close in a couple years due to insufficient income for high-rent space and equipment, and a few abusive customers. The few which stay open will feature one *strong* DIY person who runs it as his personal hobby kingdom, encourages good makers and kicks-out trouble makers.

I go to the Shack for ni-cad cells (ask for "solar light battery") and for 100r 10W resistors to quickly load-down mechanical turn-flashers when you install LED tail-lights. I should perhaps go there to get a nano-SD card for the new (web-ordered) cell-phone, RS's flash prices tend to be decent (unlike the drug store which never marks-down the original price to reflect market reality). But I haven't.

> Brookstone in every mall

You must live with the rich folks. My nearest Brookstone is over 3 hours away (2 Shacks within 25 minutes and maybe 6 more in that 3 hour drive to Brookstone).