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There tends to be a lot of history rewriting in these kind of stories. Check out http://www.radioshackcatalogs.com/ http://www.radioshackcatalogs.com/ for a

by VLM 12y ago

There tends to be a lot of history rewriting in these kind of stories. Check out http://www.radioshackcatalogs.com/ http://www.radioshackcatalogs.com/ for a somewhat more realistic and balanced view of their business model. They always owned the niche of small electronics parts, but what paid the store rental bill and the salaries was CB radios, car stereos, TVs, vcrs, dvd players, hi fi, 80s computers... all that stuff was gone by the mid 90s replaced by numerous big box stores. Nobody has taken over retail parts. (Part of the history rewriting is I don't think "kids these days" understand life before big box stores. In 1989 you want a VCR you don't drive to the local walmart or best buy because there wasn't a single one of them in the state. You could drive into the city and shop at Sears, or the local Radio Shack sold VCRs, or there were audiophool stores that charged $500 per cable. Thats about it. Then the big boxes arrived in the 90s and annihilated RS's primary revenue stream, so history is rewritten that RS was in business in 1985 by selling 79 cent resistors to proto-makers and nothing else, LOL. Maybe its fear of offending currently existing big box advertisers.) Selling one clock radio for $49.95 per week was always more important to the bottom line than selling five 79 cent resistors. Turning themselves into the worlds largest, most expensive, and highest overhead mall cell phone kiosk in the world was at best a temporary delaying tactic. Historically RS stepped into big markets accidentally, look at CB radios in the 70s, early computers in the 80s, and they did pretty well with the first cellphones in the 90s. But they never got lucky in the 00s and 10s so away they go.

ghaff 12y ago
Bingo. Their strategy, from a revenue/profit perspective, in the 1970s and 80s was mostly to sell high-margin, low to middling quality consumer electronics to often unsophisticated buyers for whom the corner or mall Radio Shack store was a convenient and non-intimidating shopping environment.
- VLM 12y ago
  The quality really wasn't all that bad. Much as today the only difference between brands is the label slapped on the box by the ONE factory in China that makes them all, in the 80s it was the ONE factory in Mexico or ONE factory in Taiwan or whatever slapping different stickers and shipping to different stores. There obviously was no difference between VCRs stickered as RS or Sears brands, for example. Some of the toys were junk, but there were no higher quality options. You could pay more money at Sears, but its not like it would be any better quality for the same product from the same factory. One source of the reputation was ironically parts. The markup being about 1000% customers would expect aerospace grade parts for aerospace prices but what they were actually paying for was the cash and carry convenience of 4000 local stores, and they got all wound up about the quality only being commercial/industrial grade. They made huge money off what amounts to fads. They cleaned up during the CB fad, early home computers...

by VLM 12y ago

ghaff 12y ago

Bingo. Their strategy, from a revenue/profit perspective, in the 1970s and 80s was mostly to sell high-margin, low to middling quality consumer electronics to often unsophisticated buyers for whom the corner or mall Radio Shack store was a convenient and non-intimidating shopping environment.

VLM 12y ago
The quality really wasn't all that bad. Much as today the only difference between brands is the label slapped on the box by the ONE factory in China that makes them all, in the 80s it was the ONE factory in Mexico or ONE factory in Taiwan or whatever slapping different stickers and shipping to different stores. There obviously was no difference between VCRs stickered as RS or Sears brands, for example. Some of the toys were junk, but there were no higher quality options. You could pay more money at Sears, but its not like it would be any better quality for the same product from the same factory. One source of the reputation was ironically parts. The markup being about 1000% customers would expect aerospace grade parts for aerospace prices but what they were actually paying for was the cash and carry convenience of 4000 local stores, and they got all wound up about the quality only being commercial/industrial grade. They made huge money off what amounts to fads. They cleaned up during the CB fad, early home computers...