A Eulogy for RadioShack • Hacker News Board

Re: A Eulogy for RadioShack

#101

Post by hagope » Thu, Nov 27, 2014, 5:20 AM UTC

kenrikm wrote: post #55

hagope wrote: post #46

I actually think RadioShack can turn things around. "Hacking" electronics is gaining ground esp with Arduino, Rpi, etc. Here's what I would do: - Beef up stock of "maker" electronics, Arduino's, Rpi, modules, kits etc. - Buy/build modules/kits, work with suppliers like SparkFun, Shmart, Adafruit for help in this area - Create "recipes" for building electronics and guide customers through purchasing the materials - Cl…

If you've been to Radio Shack recently, they have a decent number of Arduino kits and the like.. however I don't think people are not dense enough to pay $60 for a kit you can purchase for $20 on Amazon. I think their was a point where they could have course corrected though I think they missed the exit half a decade ago.

True they have a weak supply of Arduino stuff. Since its mostly open hardware they could probably source low cost kits instead of trying to gouge customers. I've been there recently and it took me all of 2 minutes to look through their entire inventory... Imagine an entire wall of different modules, sensors, servos, etc etc... that would get me in the store!

Re: A Eulogy for RadioShack

#102

Post by chipotle_coyote » Thu, Nov 27, 2014, 5:25 AM UTC

dragonwriter wrote: post #78

chipotle_coyote wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Quite a few comments about how Radio Shack lost their way and squandered their opportunity, but really their business model was dead. True, but I'm not sure those are mutually exclusive. I'd bet that the primary reason RadioShack never became a major online parts and electronics retailer is because of fear that it'd start cannibalizing their retail stores. Which it would have -- but either you cannibalize your own bu…

> (I suspect it's only the Sears captive brands that have let it hang on as long as it has, given how woefully it's been managed its last decade.) The Sears you are thinking about before the last decade was already dieing -- the current "Sears" is the result of KMart buying Sears in 2004 (during a brief profitably period shortly after KMart's own bankruptcy, and the combined entity -- which was called Sears Holdings…

It's the holding company that bought KMart and then bought Sears which I'm thinking of as the mismanager (so to speak), actually. Sears had its share of issues pre-merger but they weren't in as bad shape before KMart bought them as they ended up afterward. It's my admittedly anecdotal impression that when someone ends up in a Sears these days it's probably to buy a Sears-specific brand. That could certainly be wrong. (A cynic might say that when someone ends up in a Sears these days it's probably because they took a wrong turn.)

Re: A Eulogy for RadioShack

#103

Post by beloch » Thu, Nov 27, 2014, 5:35 AM UTC

In Canada radioshack rebranded itself as "The Source". I used to pop into radioshack to find plugs, adapters, and the occasional electronics component. They stopped carrying those years ago and now, if I want anything like that, I either drive across town to a hobby shop or order online. Since "The Source" now seems to specialize in overpriced junk, I haven't set foot in one for years. This article makes me feel good about that decision. It would be better for ratshack's workers to be out of a job and then in a job that treats them as human beings.

Re: A Eulogy for RadioShack

#104

Post by jdeibele » Thu, Nov 27, 2014, 5:44 AM UTC

Surprised that nobody has mentioned BatteriesPlus. Checking their website, they have at least 586 stores selling batteries - cell phone, laptop, car, etc. - and light bulbs.

Focusing in those areas seems exactly what RadioShack could and should have been doing.

Re: A Eulogy for RadioShack

#105

Post by Spooky23 » Thu, Nov 27, 2014, 5:50 AM UTC

breadbox wrote: post #38

SomeCallMeTim wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly. It makes me sad that the only remaining source of electronic parts in many areas is likely to close down. Even with other options nearby, Radio Shack is still the closest place to me that sells such parts -- and the only one that's open past 5pm, or on Sundays. I wonder if there's a way for them to double-down on the geek side of their inventory. They're at least picking up a lot of "maker" inventory: Arduin…

Exactly! With the current maker movement you'd think they would be primed to reinvent themselves. After reading that article, however, I'm inclined to think that their problems are not so much from a market that changed out from under them, but rather are internal and self-inflicted. If so, then they completely deserve their current situation.

I worked at CompUSA in the mid 90s... They basically suffered from the same problems, but flamed out more quickly because of their large big box format.

The hobbyist stuff at CompUSA (video cards, disk drives, tools, etc) were just a way to get you in to potentially buy a PC.

What's the issue? These stores survived by selling big ticket items like computers and cellular phones at high margin, and upselling people into accessories, service plans, etc. A TRS-80 sold for the equivalent of $1500 2014 dollars, sold at a 25% margin and generated sales of all sorts of other crap. A bag cell phone in 1990 was $1200, and carriers paid substantial commissions for the contract life.

By 2004 when this dude worked there, the PC market tanked for retailers as PC prices imploded and margins shrunk. So they were stuck with selling toys and other stuff. The Nextel craze and smartphone revolution propped them up a bit, but the market for phones is about as saturated as you can get -- my local supermarket sells crappy droids for $40.

Re: A Eulogy for RadioShack

#106

Post by Spooky23 » Thu, Nov 27, 2014, 5:58 AM UTC

ek750 wrote: post #34

VLM wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Let me demonstrate the problem to you, I have two tabs open on my browser Radioshack.com 10 foot HDMI cable $29.99 "marked down" to $15.99 plus sales tax amazon.com 3 meter HDMI cable $7.49 plus... plus nothing, free prime shipping So I can order from amazon right now and have it in two days, or wait days/hours until I have time to visit a legacy brick and mortar and pay twice as much. So without even looking at the…

> Maybe building rents have exploded? I think this is plausible as a contributing (but by no means primary) factor. I owned a few stores in malls in the 2k's and before the Great Recession hit, the publicly traded mall management companies didn't realize how overbuilt and over-priced their spaces were and charged accordingly. Absolutely insane per-square foot rents + gross profit % of rent. It was absolutely impossib…

Funny you say that, I had a friend who owned a 8-10 mall stores (panera-like cafés), most with one developer who was considered the "prime" mall company in the region.

He had two stores that due to mall expansion and re configurations just died. He operated both at a serious loss for several years -- at one point the mall was fining him for not making money! It killed his cash flow, but He couldn't pull out without losing his good leases. Ultimately, he was saved when a big box store bought out his lease.

Re: A Eulogy for RadioShack

#107

Post by realrocker » Thu, Nov 27, 2014, 6:00 AM UTC

So last month I was in US for the first time and I was dying to walk into a RadioShack, the temple of cool things as I have been hearing about on obscure and popular electronics hobby forums since I was 16. After checking out 6 stores in 4 cities, I was really disappointed. No cool stuff. All I could find was phone cases, cheap earphones and a few IC's(mildly interesting). To be honest, I didn't know what I was expecting but certainly not what I saw.

Re: A Eulogy for RadioShack

#108

Post by bdunbar » Thu, Nov 27, 2014, 6:12 AM UTC

T0m_Paine wrote: post #94

morganvachon wrote: post #25

I'd be willing to bet that this is exactly the way it was at most, if not all, corporate RadioShack stores. On the other hand, the franchise stores (which mostly no longer exist) could be great places to shop and to work, because they were owned by actual breathing human beings, not faceless corporate overlords. My first "real" job after high school was at the local RadioShack, which was owned by one of the most amaz…

We have a fantastic Radio Shack in our town too. Granted, they've branched off quite a bit and sell firearms and ammo as well as electronic components, but the owner is incredibly helpful and knows that his business only thrives because he is service minded. I've long swore off Radio Shacks as a whole, but spend money there whenever I need a component or two even if things are cheaper online.

> Granted, they've branched off quite a bit and sell firearms and ammo

A RS that sells electronics and guns. I would patronize that store so _hard_.

Re: A Eulogy for RadioShack

#109

Post by ryan-c » Thu, Nov 27, 2014, 6:20 AM UTC

cicero wrote: post #37

adricnet wrote: post #2

That's certainly an interesting read... and one I can't really argue with the anecdata of from my own experiences. So I'll add one: After it was too late by that author's reckoning, the parent of Radio Shack tried another venture, a "big box" store called The Incredible Universe. When that failed and they wrote it off, it wiped out the entire profit of Radio Shack thousands of stores for that financial year. I still…

The Fry's in Dallas is in the space of a former Incredible Universe. The Fry's is decorated like a cattle ranch, but Incredible Universe was like a rock concert. The first time I went in there, I immediately thought they were trying too hard to be cool. It was completely over the top, so I'm not surprised they wiped out all of their profits. It's too bad they couldn't find a happy medium.

The Sacramento Fry's also used to be an Incredible Universe. It's the only Fry's I've been to that doesn't seem to be decorated in any theme.

Re: A Eulogy for RadioShack

#110

Post by parasubvert » Thu, Nov 27, 2014, 6:36 AM UTC

realrocker wrote: post #107

So last month I was in US for the first time and I was dying to walk into a RadioShack, the temple of cool things as I have been hearing about on obscure and popular electronics hobby forums since I was 16. After checking out 6 stores in 4 cities, I was really disappointed. No cool stuff. All I could find was phone cases, cheap earphones and a few IC's(mildly interesting). To be honest, I didn't know what I was expec…

That's what RadioShack was like up until the 90s - lots of cool stuff there, and an easy place to get electronic parts for hobbiests. There were Laser Discs on display in the 80s, TRS-80 CoCos (color computers), followed by Tandy PCs. I remember having free access to play with a TRS-80 hooked up to a thermal printer and dot matrix printer so you could figure out what you preferred - big and noisy or small and silent.

I also remember my friend in high school picking up a special ordered US Robotics 14.4k HST modem with his Tandy PC in 1989 from Radio Shack - I was still on 1200 baud on my c64 and I lost a $5 bet that such a fast modem even existed. I was utterly blown away by the speed.

At some point management decided it needed to be another CarPhoneWarehouse or RandomTechJunkShack