3 ms·

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 ini

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
The 2015 maker market is tiny compared to the 1985 one. In the the UK the 1985 market was big enough to keep a handful of magazines in comfortable five digit sales, and an area of London - Edgware Road - had a component store ghetto where you could almost any part you wanted. (The tiny selection of components sold by RadioShack at ludicrous prices compared, to the epic lists offered by the ghetto shops, made RS a bit of a bad joke in the UK, even back then.) There was almost no difference between 1985 product tech and 1985 hobby tech. In theory you could build almost any product you could buy out of standard parts, so there was always the incentive - or at least an excuse - that DIY would save you money. (Some people built amazing things to save money.) In 2015, there's no way you can build an iPhone, a laptop, a games console or an MP3 player from scratch with a soldering iron and a bag of parts. (If you look at Elektor, one of the surviving hobby mags, you'll see it's full of complicated, difficult hobby projects by full-time engineers. You need a lot more than a soldering iron and a cheap meter to build them.) Bottom line is that the Arduino/Pi/Beagle/etc microcontroller market is nowhere near the size needed to keep a huge chain like RadioShack profitable. And there's enough competition in consumer electronic sales to make it almost impossible to offer any other USP. Add toxic management to the mix, and I'm amazed the company lasted as long as it did. I won't miss RadioShack. I hope some smaller mom&pop enthusiast stores take over some of the same space - and that they treat customers and staff with much more respect and affection than RS ever did.

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

The 2015 maker market is tiny compared to the 1985 one. In the the UK the 1985 market was big enough to keep a handful of magazines in comfortable five digit sales, and an area of London - Edgware Road - had a component store ghetto where you could almost any part you wanted. (The tiny selection of components sold by RadioShack at ludicrous prices compared, to the epic lists offered by the ghetto shops, made RS a bit of a bad joke in the UK, even back then.) There was almost no difference between 1985 product tech and 1985 hobby tech. In theory you could build almost any product you could buy out of standard parts, so there was always the incentive - or at least an excuse - that DIY would save you money. (Some people built amazing things to save money.) In 2015, there's no way you can build an iPhone, a laptop, a games console or an MP3 player from scratch with a soldering iron and a bag of parts. (If you look at Elektor, one of the surviving hobby mags, you'll see it's full of complicated, difficult hobby projects by full-time engineers. You need a lot more than a soldering iron and a cheap meter to build them.) Bottom line is that the Arduino/Pi/Beagle/etc microcontroller market is nowhere near the size needed to keep a huge chain like RadioShack profitable. And there's enough competition in consumer electronic sales to make it almost impossible to offer any other USP. Add toxic management to the mix, and I'm amazed the company lasted as long as it did. I won't miss RadioShack. I hope some smaller mom&pop enthusiast stores take over some of the same space - and that they treat customers and staff with much more respect and affection than RS ever did.