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It doesn't matter that they are successful though, they operate on a much, much smaller scale than Radioshack. The maker market isn't nearly large enough to sus

It doesn't matter that they are successful though, they operate on a much, much smaller scale than Radioshack. The maker market isn't nearly large enough to sustain a company of that size... that is to say, if Radioshack shrank to the size of one of Adafruit, it be a colossal failure as a corporation. The only chance they had to stay relevant was to challenge the Best Buy's of the world, but they failed to do that.

fnordfnordfnord 12y ago
Right I posted a conjecture that RS might be able to grow the maker market. >The maker market isn't nearly large enough to sustain a company of that size. Well, neither are any of the other markets RS targeted, obviously. I wasn't proposing that RS go all-in on Raspberry pis. >The only chance they had to stay relevant was to challenge the Best Buy's of the world, but they failed to do that. Best Buy is not exactly killing it, but RS could have probably done something interesting there, I agree.
dragonwriter 12y ago
> The only chance they had to stay relevant was to challenge the Best Buy's of the world, but they failed to do that. They tried -- back when what is now RadioShack was Tandy Corp. and Radio Shack was one of its units, it tried with the Incredible Universe stores -- but gave up because at the time their boutique Radio Shack stores were more profitable than their big-box Incredible Universe stores. Of course, for widely-held, publicly traded corporations, there's a strong and often hard to resist incentive to do what maximizes results for the next earnings report rather than long-term resilience (if nothing else, because what will do the former is often much more clear than what will do the latter.)
- lanaius 12y ago
  Boy did I ever love Incredible Universe. Must've gone there 20 times as a kid, don't think we ever bought a single item.
  - bnolsen 12y ago
    i bought some kitchen gadget at one. An interesting store, purple inside with just lots of strange things. Not surprised they didn't last.
- whistlerbrk 12y ago
  The long term resilience is key here -- but I think an education model helps. If you have knowledgeable employees who can help you, you turn a person who has no idea where to get started and won't into a consumer. We still go to brick and mortar places for help and advice, so provide it.
  - dragonwriter 12y ago
    I think you are right, but I think RS has been focused on low-knowledge sales focused on training staff on narrow canned feature/function/benefit of particular products on the shelves and redirecting consumers in line with centrally-set incentives, with line management largely themselves developed through the same process, for so long -- decades -- that its been a long time since RadioShack could be practically turned around in that way, short of selling the name (presuming there is goodwill attached to be worth even that) to a different company with a completely different top-to-bottom culture. I think a brick-and-mortar boutique electronics retail chain could work on that model, but I think it'd be easier at this point (or any time in the last decade or longer) to grow it from scratch than to turn RadioShack into it.

fnordfnordfnord 12y ago

Right I posted a conjecture that RS might be able to grow the maker market. >The maker market isn't nearly large enough to sustain a company of that size. Well, neither are any of the other markets RS targeted, obviously. I wasn't proposing that RS go all-in on Raspberry pis. >The only chance they had to stay relevant was to challenge the Best Buy's of the world, but they failed to do that. Best Buy is not exactly killing it, but RS could have probably done something interesting there, I agree.

dragonwriter 12y ago

> The only chance they had to stay relevant was to challenge the Best Buy's of the world, but they failed to do that. They tried -- back when what is now RadioShack was Tandy Corp. and Radio Shack was one of its units, it tried with the Incredible Universe stores -- but gave up because at the time their boutique Radio Shack stores were more profitable than their big-box Incredible Universe stores. Of course, for widely-held, publicly traded corporations, there's a strong and often hard to resist incentive to do what maximizes results for the next earnings report rather than long-term resilience (if nothing else, because what will do the former is often much more clear than what will do the latter.)

lanaius 12y ago
Boy did I ever love Incredible Universe. Must've gone there 20 times as a kid, don't think we ever bought a single item.
- bnolsen 12y ago
  i bought some kitchen gadget at one. An interesting store, purple inside with just lots of strange things. Not surprised they didn't last.
whistlerbrk 12y ago
The long term resilience is key here -- but I think an education model helps. If you have knowledgeable employees who can help you, you turn a person who has no idea where to get started and won't into a consumer. We still go to brick and mortar places for help and advice, so provide it.
- dragonwriter 12y ago
  I think you are right, but I think RS has been focused on low-knowledge sales focused on training staff on narrow canned feature/function/benefit of particular products on the shelves and redirecting consumers in line with centrally-set incentives, with line management largely themselves developed through the same process, for so long -- decades -- that its been a long time since RadioShack could be practically turned around in that way, short of selling the name (presuming there is goodwill attached to be worth even that) to a different company with a completely different top-to-bottom culture. I think a brick-and-mortar boutique electronics retail chain could work on that model, but I think it'd be easier at this point (or any time in the last decade or longer) to grow it from scratch than to turn RadioShack into it.