7 ms·

A lot of people think RadioShack should have made the transition to internet sales, but I think that they actually started failing earlier, when they expanded i

A lot of people think RadioShack should have made the transition to internet sales, but I think that they actually started failing earlier, when they expanded into a non-technical market. In the 80s and 90s I could go into a Radio Shack and buy resistors, fuses, soldering equipment, breadboards, various controllers and sensors, hard drives, processors: everything I needed to assemble an electronics project, fix a computer, make something. But in the mid-late 90s they started switching over to a more general consumer model. Bins of parts were replaced by shiny cell-phone display cases. Knowledgeable fat bearded nerds were replaced by skinny college students working a retail job until they got their degree. The last time I went into a RadioShack I just wanted a potentiometer and they literally didn't have any electronics parts. The tragedy here is that this transition completed at about the same time the maker movement started to emerge a little after the turn of the millennium.

mc32 12y ago
The only thing I can think of that could have helped them prolong their agony is to join with the iFixits or iCrackeds of the world --back in the early 2000s maybe had they been the 'geeksquad' then again, maybe not. But they didn't even try...
mhb 12y ago
A lot of people think RadioShack should have made the transition to internet sales Huh? Like http://www.radioshack.com/ http://www.radioshack.com/
- omni 12y ago
  Pretty sure parent was implying they should close down their massive brick-and-mortar retail presence.
  - copsarebastards 12y ago
    Yes.
bunderbunder 12y ago
What's even more tragic is that Radio Shack realized they needed to get makers back, and when they started expressing a desire to do so a lot of makers were initially enthusiastic. But I don't think they ever really grokked what makers would want out of a local brick-and-mortar. They never did fix the sorry state of their loose component selection. The parts drawers are still stocked with 50% stereo equipment parts they haven't been able to sell since 1992, 20% automotive fuses they haven't been able to sell since 1995, 15% standard capacitor sizes for ancient stereo equipment, and 15% components a modern maker might actually need. They should have written all that stuff down and then taken a look at adafruit.com to see what components a 21st century maker wants to buy. Yes, they did expand their selection of microcontrollers and kit projects, but that's all stuff we've long since gotten used to ordering online. It won't drive feet through the door. They needed to be backing that up with the kinds of stuff a DIYer might want to buy on short notice. A 2015 DIYer, not a 1985 one.
- untog 12y ago
  They'd still go out of business. Not only is that market for components like that small, the profit margins are too. You'd have to stock a very wide selection of items.
  - acveilleux 12y ago
    And there's established mail order dealers with cheap overnight shipping and cavernous warehouses (i.e.: Digikey) that have the volume to keep those margin very thin.
- copsarebastards 12y ago
  Adafruit is awesome, but it's not remotely a replacement for a brick and mortar store. When I went to RadioShack in the early 90s I would pick the core part of what I wanted and then walk around the store visually matching parts to make sure things fit. This is somewhat less necessary now that there are more standardized connections between things, but it's still nice and it's something Adafruit can't possibly replicate.
- TheOtherHobbes 12y ago
cypher543 12y ago
The last time I went to a RadioShack, I was looking for a resistor. I checked their website, which said my local store had it in stock. When I got there, I found the electronic components stuffed in a dark corner and the smaller components were all mixed up in the wrong drawers. After a few minutes of searching, I didn't find the resistor I needed, so I asked the only employee in the store where it might be. She told me that if it wasn't in the drawer, they don't have it. I said "But your website says it's in stock," to which she replied "Oh we never update that."
- aceperry 12y ago
  I always call the store to confirm if the website is correct. And half the time, they don't have in stock what the website claims. That may be why the employees are so eager and helpful in looking for the part.
j_baker 12y ago
I think their expansion was actually quite brilliant. The store ended up selling just the high-margin items (cords, accessories, etc) that stores like Best Buy and Circuit City would upsell to offset the cost of low-margin, big-ticket items.
3pt14159 12y ago
Actually, even though many people think like this I don't think Radio Shack made the wrong move. Before the internet you needed a place like Radio Shack for all the electronics and super early computer guys. But nerds (like me) moved to software and the few remaining people still building physical stuff could generally get the parts they needed online. Radio Shack actually tried to move back into resistors and Raspberry PIs, but nobody goes to a physical store to buy that stuff anymore. Radio Shack wasn't large enough in most malls to offer a variety of home electronics like Best Buy, but cell phones were high margin and viewed as a commodity by consumers, which is why they moved into them. It isn't simple saving Radio Shack. They probably would have been better off splitting the brand into a small store (Radio Shack) and a larger box store where they could have competed more effectively.
rgbrenner 12y ago
started failing earlier, when they expanded into a non-technical market. Radio Shack was dead when the 80s ended. Look around, where are the small computer stores that used to be all over the place? They went the same way the record store did... Radio Shack works in an era where computers are $10000, and people build and solder their own computers. That era is gone. And that's why Radio Shack will die. Pretending that the 80s market still exists is delusional... and completely ignores all of the companies that clung to that business model that died 10-20 years ago.
- rayiner 12y ago
  I missed the heyday of computing, but I was a kid in the 1990's and still remember going to radio shack to get resistors. I think as we grew out of it, that enthusiast market never really got replenished. My wife has two much younger siblings (13-14) and it's actually kind of surprising how they're less computer literate than we are (30-31). They use Snapchat and whatnot, but don't even know how to make more complicated search queries in Google. Little bit nostalgic about the BK though. My first real computer was a Tandy we bought at RadioShack: https://parasomia.wordpress.com/2010/03/14/the-tandy-sensation-a-look-back https://parasomia.wordpress.com/2010/03/14/the-tandy-sensati.... I'm pretty much the guy in the article. Eventually maxed it out with 16MB of RAM, a 1.2GB HDD, and Win95.
  - underwater 12y ago
    I don't think you can draw too many conclusions based on those observations. The fact you're posting on Hacker News makes you atypical for your generation. Look at people like Palmer Luckey. He revived VR and kick started an entire industry from his parents garage when he was 18. I think we're in living in a pretty amazing time for computing. We're still figuring out what the next wave of computing will look like. Programmers can bootstrap apps and games that reach millions of people without breaking a sweat. Programming is more accessible than ever. I'd chose today over the 80's in a heartbeat.
    - deleted 12y ago
      [deleted]
a3n 12y ago
> The tragedy here is that this transition completed at about the same time the maker movement started to emerge a little after the turn of the millennium. Maybe it's simpler than that. For makers, maybe Radio Shack succeeded because there was no internet yet. Once the internet really took hold, there was absolutely no need for a Radio Shack (at least no what Radio Shack traditionally was). If that's the case, then RS was doomed no matter what they did. Maybe they even saw that coming, and tried to survive (although fail they did) by shifting away from that disappearing business.
- neovive 12y ago
  It's ironic that on a nearby block there was once a Radio Shack next door to Blockbuster. Both of them could not overcome the competition brought upon by the Internet.
rhino369 12y ago
You got the cause and effect backwards. They expanded into non-technical markets because the technical market was failing. >resistors, fuses, soldering equipment, breadboards, various controllers and sensors, hard drives, processors: everything I needed to assemble an electronics project, fix a computer, make something. Almost nobody uses any of these. Those who do it as a hobby and don't wanna pay corner store retail for products. Microcenter is essentially the only one selling half that stuff and they can support like 1 store per major metro area. And they don't even really sell resistors and sensors. Nobody repairs electronics anymore. The tiny niche maker movement could support a radioshack like store. But radioshack is a corner store. More like 7-11 than a microcenter. They have to tell resister for 400 bucks to keep 5 thousand stores open.
- ChickeNES 12y ago
  Actually the Microcenter near me (Chicago), has expanded their selection of electronic components significantly in the past couple of years. What once was one rack is now an entire wall, with Sparkfun, Adafruit, Parallax, and Seeedstudio stuff, Arduinos, Beaglebones, and Raspberry Pis, and plenty of resistors, transistors, and other individual parts.
  - ansible 12y ago
    Now we just need same day drone delivery for them and Fry's. That would be so handy.
  - deleted 12y ago
    [deleted]
  - rhino369 12y ago
    I have fun memories of the one on the Northside. My harddrive failed during finals and I had to go out that night and get one. I actually paid for Xubuntu there hilariously enough. Paid like 2 bucks for a CD with it, so I could go online and download windows.
api 12y ago
Yeah, it's a classic case of a company not believing in itself. Had Radio Shack owned its identity as a maker shop, it would be thriving today. I'm sure somewhere in all this there's a group of MBA consultants. I can smell it.

mc32 12y ago

The only thing I can think of that could have helped them prolong their agony is to join with the iFixits or iCrackeds of the world --back in the early 2000s maybe had they been the 'geeksquad' then again, maybe not. But they didn't even try...

mhb 12y ago

A lot of people think RadioShack should have made the transition to internet sales Huh? Like http://www.radioshack.com/ http://www.radioshack.com/

omni 12y ago
Pretty sure parent was implying they should close down their massive brick-and-mortar retail presence.
- copsarebastards 12y ago
  Yes.

bunderbunder 12y ago

What's even more tragic is that Radio Shack realized they needed to get makers back, and when they started expressing a desire to do so a lot of makers were initially enthusiastic. But I don't think they ever really grokked what makers would want out of a local brick-and-mortar. They never did fix the sorry state of their loose component selection. The parts drawers are still stocked with 50% stereo equipment parts they haven't been able to sell since 1992, 20% automotive fuses they haven't been able to sell since 1995, 15% standard capacitor sizes for ancient stereo equipment, and 15% components a modern maker might actually need. They should have written all that stuff down and then taken a look at adafruit.com to see what components a 21st century maker wants to buy. Yes, they did expand their selection of microcontrollers and kit projects, but that's all stuff we've long since gotten used to ordering online. It won't drive feet through the door. They needed to be backing that up with the kinds of stuff a DIYer might want to buy on short notice. A 2015 DIYer, not a 1985 one.

untog 12y ago
They'd still go out of business. Not only is that market for components like that small, the profit margins are too. You'd have to stock a very wide selection of items.
- acveilleux 12y ago
  And there's established mail order dealers with cheap overnight shipping and cavernous warehouses (i.e.: Digikey) that have the volume to keep those margin very thin.
copsarebastards 12y ago
Adafruit is awesome, but it's not remotely a replacement for a brick and mortar store. When I went to RadioShack in the early 90s I would pick the core part of what I wanted and then walk around the store visually matching parts to make sure things fit. This is somewhat less necessary now that there are more standardized connections between things, but it's still nice and it's something Adafruit can't possibly replicate.
TheOtherHobbes 12y ago

cypher543 12y ago

The last time I went to a RadioShack, I was looking for a resistor. I checked their website, which said my local store had it in stock. When I got there, I found the electronic components stuffed in a dark corner and the smaller components were all mixed up in the wrong drawers. After a few minutes of searching, I didn't find the resistor I needed, so I asked the only employee in the store where it might be. She told me that if it wasn't in the drawer, they don't have it. I said "But your website says it's in stock," to which she replied "Oh we never update that."

aceperry 12y ago
I always call the store to confirm if the website is correct. And half the time, they don't have in stock what the website claims. That may be why the employees are so eager and helpful in looking for the part.

j_baker 12y ago

I think their expansion was actually quite brilliant. The store ended up selling just the high-margin items (cords, accessories, etc) that stores like Best Buy and Circuit City would upsell to offset the cost of low-margin, big-ticket items.

3pt14159 12y ago

Actually, even though many people think like this I don't think Radio Shack made the wrong move. Before the internet you needed a place like Radio Shack for all the electronics and super early computer guys. But nerds (like me) moved to software and the few remaining people still building physical stuff could generally get the parts they needed online. Radio Shack actually tried to move back into resistors and Raspberry PIs, but nobody goes to a physical store to buy that stuff anymore. Radio Shack wasn't large enough in most malls to offer a variety of home electronics like Best Buy, but cell phones were high margin and viewed as a commodity by consumers, which is why they moved into them. It isn't simple saving Radio Shack. They probably would have been better off splitting the brand into a small store (Radio Shack) and a larger box store where they could have competed more effectively.

rgbrenner 12y ago

started failing earlier, when they expanded into a non-technical market. Radio Shack was dead when the 80s ended. Look around, where are the small computer stores that used to be all over the place? They went the same way the record store did... Radio Shack works in an era where computers are $10000, and people build and solder their own computers. That era is gone. And that's why Radio Shack will die. Pretending that the 80s market still exists is delusional... and completely ignores all of the companies that clung to that business model that died 10-20 years ago.

rayiner 12y ago
I missed the heyday of computing, but I was a kid in the 1990's and still remember going to radio shack to get resistors. I think as we grew out of it, that enthusiast market never really got replenished. My wife has two much younger siblings (13-14) and it's actually kind of surprising how they're less computer literate than we are (30-31). They use Snapchat and whatnot, but don't even know how to make more complicated search queries in Google. Little bit nostalgic about the BK though. My first real computer was a Tandy we bought at RadioShack: https://parasomia.wordpress.com/2010/03/14/the-tandy-sensation-a-look-back https://parasomia.wordpress.com/2010/03/14/the-tandy-sensati.... I'm pretty much the guy in the article. Eventually maxed it out with 16MB of RAM, a 1.2GB HDD, and Win95.
- underwater 12y ago
  I don't think you can draw too many conclusions based on those observations. The fact you're posting on Hacker News makes you atypical for your generation. Look at people like Palmer Luckey. He revived VR and kick started an entire industry from his parents garage when he was 18. I think we're in living in a pretty amazing time for computing. We're still figuring out what the next wave of computing will look like. Programmers can bootstrap apps and games that reach millions of people without breaking a sweat. Programming is more accessible than ever. I'd chose today over the 80's in a heartbeat.
  - deleted 12y ago
    [deleted]

a3n 12y ago

> The tragedy here is that this transition completed at about the same time the maker movement started to emerge a little after the turn of the millennium. Maybe it's simpler than that. For makers, maybe Radio Shack succeeded because there was no internet yet. Once the internet really took hold, there was absolutely no need for a Radio Shack (at least no what Radio Shack traditionally was). If that's the case, then RS was doomed no matter what they did. Maybe they even saw that coming, and tried to survive (although fail they did) by shifting away from that disappearing business.

neovive 12y ago
It's ironic that on a nearby block there was once a Radio Shack next door to Blockbuster. Both of them could not overcome the competition brought upon by the Internet.

rhino369 12y ago

You got the cause and effect backwards. They expanded into non-technical markets because the technical market was failing. >resistors, fuses, soldering equipment, breadboards, various controllers and sensors, hard drives, processors: everything I needed to assemble an electronics project, fix a computer, make something. Almost nobody uses any of these. Those who do it as a hobby and don't wanna pay corner store retail for products. Microcenter is essentially the only one selling half that stuff and they can support like 1 store per major metro area. And they don't even really sell resistors and sensors. Nobody repairs electronics anymore. The tiny niche maker movement could support a radioshack like store. But radioshack is a corner store. More like 7-11 than a microcenter. They have to tell resister for 400 bucks to keep 5 thousand stores open.

ChickeNES 12y ago
Actually the Microcenter near me (Chicago), has expanded their selection of electronic components significantly in the past couple of years. What once was one rack is now an entire wall, with Sparkfun, Adafruit, Parallax, and Seeedstudio stuff, Arduinos, Beaglebones, and Raspberry Pis, and plenty of resistors, transistors, and other individual parts.
- ansible 12y ago
  Now we just need same day drone delivery for them and Fry's. That would be so handy.
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]
- rhino369 12y ago
  I have fun memories of the one on the Northside. My harddrive failed during finals and I had to go out that night and get one. I actually paid for Xubuntu there hilariously enough. Paid like 2 bucks for a CD with it, so I could go online and download windows.

api 12y ago

Yeah, it's a classic case of a company not believing in itself. Had Radio Shack owned its identity as a maker shop, it would be thriving today. I'm sure somewhere in all this there's a group of MBA consultants. I can smell it.