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Correction: needed to jump on the Maker movement 20 years ago. In fact, they used to be right in the center of that! RadioShack was the maker movement back whe

Correction: needed to jump on the Maker movement 20 years ago. In fact, they used to be right in the center of that! RadioShack was the maker movement back when makers were really into amateur radio and CB. Then they branched out into home computers (TRS-80, Tandy PC clones, etc). Then someone had the bright idea to completely divest themselves of their computer lineup[0] and just sell mobile phone service plans and satellite TV subscriptions... which nobody bothered with, resulting in the company becoming a zombie. Had RadioShack stayed with the original hobbyist user base they courted (and somehow remained profitable) they'd absolutely be selling microcontrollers, 3D printers, and PC parts. Actually, that's just a Micro Center. The only thing is that Micro Center doesn't fit in the tiny store footprints that most RadioShack locations had. So... I mean, Micro Center isn't in a lot of states, so if they wanted to literally just clone Micro Center but with the Radio Shack branding I feel like there's places they could do that. [0] Tandy was sold to AST who was then bought up by Samsung and then shuttered when Asian stock markets collapsed in the mid-90s. 8-Bit Guy talks about it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2hdazA-VUf0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2hdazA-VUf0

hakfoo 3y ago
For a while in my town, circa 2000, they had an experimental-format store. The signage said 'Radioshack.com' on the front and it was the size of a small grocery store and went to all those places-- they had a build-your-own-PC department, I want to say ham radio stuff, non-trivial electronics kits, and a large counter for components. I still have a long string of 470 ohm resistors because the guy at the components counter noted there was a price break and I was better off buying 100 than the 15 I needed then and there. I wonder if their franchise model stymied the format-- they could hardly tell the franchisee who had rented out a standard mall location that he needed to quadruple his footprint. What's funny is that they were like 1km from a more conventional electronics-parts shop, a little run-down outfit with no marketing budget or retail presence, buried behind a rail yard, and that company's still in business today (albeit at a slightly nicer location).

hakfoo 3y ago

For a while in my town, circa 2000, they had an experimental-format store. The signage said 'Radioshack.com' on the front and it was the size of a small grocery store and went to all those places-- they had a build-your-own-PC department, I want to say ham radio stuff, non-trivial electronics kits, and a large counter for components. I still have a long string of 470 ohm resistors because the guy at the components counter noted there was a price break and I was better off buying 100 than the 15 I needed then and there. I wonder if their franchise model stymied the format-- they could hardly tell the franchisee who had rented out a standard mall location that he needed to quadruple his footprint. What's funny is that they were like 1km from a more conventional electronics-parts shop, a little run-down outfit with no marketing budget or retail presence, buried behind a rail yard, and that company's still in business today (albeit at a slightly nicer location).