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Shack's end looking nigher than usual

There's another issue which tend to push me to the online shops: That whenever I enter a shop with the intention to have a look, not looking for anything very specific, then I'm immediately assaulted by some clerk wanting to know what I'm looking for and if they can help and whatnot. I'm tired of having to answer 'just looking', and feel their eyes in my back from then on. Soon after that I'm out, and I don't go there again.

In Japan, on the other hand, they've got the right idea. At least in the region where I stay. You're left completely in peace, nobody approaching you, nobody tracking you, you're free to browse for as long as you wish. The moment you need some assistance you get it immediately though, and the clerk may wear a mic and headset for talking to somebody else who can answer more tricky questions. Great system. I've spent a lot of time in various shops there and found and bought a lot of items I wouldn't have if those shops had followed the traditional Western style of confronting every customer entering the shop. I even found a small shelf of electronic components in a home depot style shop. Never would if I couldn't have the comfort of browing the shop in peace.

-Tor
 
Uniballer said:
...I've thought of them as irrelevant for a long time...
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Well, RS is only irrelevant in the current configuration. If they enlisted more enlightened management who can see the futility of trying to sell the same things that other big boxes seem to be able to sell for much less, and embrace the opportunity to continue to serve Hams and electronics hobbyists, especially with the "order online and pick up at your local store" idea already proposed, THEN RS can change their relevancy.

The RS infrastructure is already in place. They have the ability to ship items to within a few miles of almost anyone anywhere in the US. What they need to do is focus on a specific mission (or small set of missions) that can be supported by their existing infrastructure. This is practically a classroom case study of a company completely losing their focus. It's all very sad to me, and I sincerely hope that RS can revitalize itself.

No, I, for one, do not want to just "let them die."

smp
 
smp said:
No, I, for one, do not want to just "let them die."
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I get that. But if they don't come up with a new vision for the company that can be made to work pretty damn quick then it is inevitable. If there is sufficient diversity, and the corpse is not poisoned with "embalming fluid", then new life always arises from death (even if it is only maggots for a while).

You have to wonder if RS is holding down the walk-in hobbyist supply niche just enough to discourage new entrepreneurs from entering the market. Or if there is simply not enough demand to support any new enterprise.
 
Uniballer said:
You have to wonder if RS is holding down the walk-in hobbyist supply niche just enough to discourage new entrepreneurs from entering the market. Or if there is simply not enough demand to support any new enterprise.
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That is a *very* good question. Other large hobbyist venues seem to be mail-order only (now known as online-only, I guess) or they maintain one or a few brick & mortar locations and do the rest by mail-order / online. Without RS there, would those enterprises grow? Would someone new pop up to take up the opportunity?

For me here in NH, I do not have any other physical location to go to directly to handle my hobbyist needs. As RS has declined as a reasonable possibility to obtain many things that I occasionally want, I have simply gone online to acquire what I need. The prospect of going online to purchase something, wait a day and then be able to pick up my order at the RS a couple of miles from my home is terrific to me. I just wish that the leadership at RS would get the idea and execute it (no pun intended).

smp
 
The hobbyist market is tiny. If every Arduino was sold at a Radio Shack store, that would amount to selling 2 a month per store.

Radio Shack needs to figure out what the next big electronics fad will be and get there first. The past decade RS has waited for the market to become saturated before entering: see phones. I don't think the small stores selling products that require a lot of shelf space can last.
 
Sadly, I think we've reached a point in time where electronics and computer gear have become appliances, like a toaster or coffeemaker. While there are collectors of old toasters, they aren't many--and I've yet to see a retro-toaster store.

Even professional programmers today probably can't tell you what their language of choice is generating in terms of code. You'd be lucky to find one who even knows the instruction set of the CPU they're writing for. Hardware has devolved to be a commodity concept.

There's a group of people who follow retro computing because it reminds them of a happier time in their life--those who would like to recapture the sense of discovery and wonder of their first computer. That's fine, but those people will age out (i.e. die or acquire a different set of interests). Many discover that you cannot step twice into the same stream.

As an example, there are people who collect slide rules, but how many of them know how to do phasor math on them? When I was studying AC Circuits in school, that slide rule was a necessity, not a convenience. The interest in those sticks of bamboo or aluminum has aged out.

So I don't see a particularly bright future in retrocomputing, sad as it might be. Radio Shack would be foolish to pursue that.
 
I dunno, Chuck. Certainly that's true of the population and the IT industry in general, but there really has been a growing tinkerers' revival in the last few years. I've seen even trés moderne web-app Javascript C# .NET type programmers picking up an Arduino or a Propeller and just mucking around for the hell of it, and I've spoken with teenagers who are interested in C64 or NES homebrew - so I don't think it's merely nostalgia that makes old or low-power hobby computing interesting.

Now, whether that's enough to sustain or even just help Radio Shack, who knows? But it's not nothing, and I wouldn't write off the future of retrocomputing so readily.
 
Uni, I was aware of that site. My point being that there will always be someone interested in buggywhips, but the world will probably not support a national chain of stores offering them. Indeed, there will always be trade between collectors (e.g. snuffboxes), but then only as objects to be put on the shelf for display or inclusion into catalogs. For example, I know of a fellow who collects old cornets (the musical instrument). They're nicely displayed in glass-fronted cases on his living room wall. No, he never plays them.

That's what I'm referring to as "aging out". The object has lost its raison d'être--it becomes a simple object for display or cataloging, and not one that is routinely employed for use.
 
I've found that they really don't carry anything that I need anymore. I did work for RadioShack in college (5 loooong years), and am familiar with what they used to carry. These days, I don't even recognize the store!

For instance, I've gotten into sci-fi scale modeling lately. We tend to light these models using LEDs, and we also like to put in certain effects. The first place I went looking for LEDs: RadioShack.

And what do I find? Nothing. Squat. Zilch.

Why don't they have LED tape? Or LEDs that don't cost $$$ each? Have a pack of LEDs for a reasonable price! Carry some of this stuff. They don't even carry the wire that I needed. I do occasionally pick up magnet wire for hard to reach places, but most of the stuff, I have to get online simply because they don't carry it!

They've simply forgotten who they are. If anyone figures out that they need to go back to their roots, they'll be ok, but while they continue to try to be mini-Best-Buy, they will fail.

Hell, they don't even carry Receivers/Speakers/etc any more. RadioShack used to be king of cheap yet decent audio gear. Now... nada.

It's really a pity.
 
Many moons ago I remember ordering electronic stuff from a catalog put out by Allied Electronics. Allied Electronics somehow merged with Radio Shack. Then they both morphed thru a time as Allied Radio Shack and Tandy Radio Shack. At one point I remember reading that there were more Radio Shack computers in the world that the sum of all other computer brands combined. Supposedly that stat goaded Big Blue into entering the "hobby computer" market and the world as we knew it changed forever. Sad to see the name that created the TRS-80 fold but one must keep in perspective that the top retail company in the world used to be The Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company. Companies either keep pace or wither away.
 
I went to a local RS store at lunch time with a couple of my co-workers yesterday. As expected, store-closing signs were up, and everything was 25% off. Sadly, even at 25% off, nothing in there wanted to go home with me very badly, and we left empty-handed. Nobody else was in the store other than one staff member at the register, who talked on his cell phone and ignored us. I can forgive the staff member for being distracted, because he was presumably in "crap, I need to find a job" mode.

Maybe I'll visit my local RS near home today while I'm out and about. But 25% off already-high prices isn't a great temptation. Maybe things will be more interesting once the closing stores reach the "I'll take one of those shelves, that fire extinguisher over there, three fluorescent tubes and a couple of ceiling tiles" state.
 
The one closest to me is already closed and the Radio Shack sign removed from the wall.
 
The one that is closing near me had cleared out everything interesting and the clerk was hiding in the back room hoping that someone would steal the remaining inventory of fake vintage T-shirts and accessories for cellphones made 5+ years ago.
 
I went to two RS stores having closeout sales this week. Both were getting pretty empty, but still had drawers full of components, including the LEDs and LED tape that MattA complained about RS not having. I bought a few items and got 40% to 50% off of the price -- just enough to negate RS's retail mark-up compared to getting those same items online from other vendors. The signs claim "up to 70% off" but the only discounts that high I saw were on truly worthless items, like cases and screen protectors for two-generation-old cell phones. And if you need audio and video cassettes of various formats, or even portable "shoebox"-type cassette recorders to connect to your TRS-80, RS still has plenty in stock!
 
Chuck(G) said:
There's a group of people who follow retro computing because it reminds them of a happier time in their life--those who would like to recapture the sense of discovery and wonder of their first computer. That's fine, but those people will age out (i.e. die or acquire a different set of interests). Many discover that you cannot step twice into the same stream.

So I don't see a particularly bright future in retrocomputing, sad as it might be. Radio Shack would be foolish to pursue that.
Click to expand...

I dunno, I'm almost 15 and I love old electronics. Everything from TVs to computers. Even alarm clocks. But I'm just one person. There are a few people I know who do old school gaming but their definition of old school is usually around PlayStation 2.
 
vwestlife said:
...got 40% to 50% off of the price -- just enough to negate RS's retail mark-up compared to getting those same items online from other vendors. ...
Click to expand...

Heh, not even close. I worked at a shack franchisee back in 1989-1990, and as an employee I got to buy stuff at 10% over cost. As an example of the markup, the four RCA to four RCA 'quad' cables retailed for, as I recall, $8.99 for a six foot length (I may be missing the length; could be 3 or 5), but the cost was, again as I recall, $0.25 to the franchisee, meaning I got them for less than 30 cents. Of course, our employee agreement limited quantities, and we agreed to not resell anything we bought with our discount, etc.
 
I was going to go to RS today, I was looking for a serial modem cable. They didn't have it, so I asked if I could ship it to store because I felt sort of sorry for them. No dice. So I guess I have to buy it off the web. It's a shame, though. They used to have everything that I could ever need, and that was only a few years ago. Now all they have are cell phones and other items, and in the back corner there is a small selection of connectors. Once I got a DVI-D cable from them. It cost me 37 dollars! It was gold plated, sure, but thats a small fortune right there. Luckily it still works fine.
 
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