We can all agree that RadioShack isn’t exactly the DIY mecca it once was.
What used to be a haven for amateur radio operators, tinkerers, and builders alike has devolved into a stripmall mainstay full of cell phones and overpriced junk. RadioShack knows that they have fallen out of your good graces, and since you are the demographic that put them on the map, they are appealing to the DIY community for input.
They want to know what is important to you – what you would like to see at your local RadioShack, and what would bring you back through their doors. Obviously price is a huge concern, especially with online outlets like Digikey and Mouser just a few clicks away. At the end of the day however, if you require a component RIGHT NOW, it would be nice to have the ability to grab some parts locally.
We’re well aware of the fact that this is all part of a marketing scheme, but if it helps stock your local store with a few odds and ends that are actually helpful, it won’t hurt to let your voice be heard.
Stick around to watch the video appeal from RadioShack’s brand manager, [Amy Shineman].
[Thanks komradebob]
[via ARRL.org]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JxyDab_s_lY&w=470]
You have to decide first, are you a consumer goods retailer, in which case your going to die in the market when everyone undersells you by magnitudes of order and its not working out so well so far is it?, or are you a niche electronics retailer whos miserably failing to engage/has alienated over the years their target market?
My suggestions, do ALL the suggestions, but personally:-
Do things to build a hobbyist community around each shop, have little local build compo’s, sponsor hackerspaces, have a saturday am thing where you can get someone to teach basic soldering etc who knows electronics for questions from more advanced people and maybe help in little ways. What happens is the hobbyists come in, but they buy things for people they know, they recommend stuff to people they know and that recommendation is taken seriously as they “know stuff”.
Keep some of the ham gear, its not a great deal of floorspace to stock some pl259’s and a 12v regulated psu (I still have my UK micronta branded rs 12v PSU with crowbar etc) and they have a good crossover with the hobbyists. The average ham isnt expecting the counter staff to know how to calculate stuff in his head, but knowing the name of the pieces would go a long way.
Put some hacker make toys in the windows, have a 3d printer instore and rent out time on it to print peoples stuff (this would be AWESOME and would be a major draw for me and others Im sure to watch our stuff growing), offer the pcb proto service (but 3day turnaround, and make the pcb’s in a central facility and mail them the stores for collection to reduce costs), maybe extend it to cnc laser cutting templates for enclosures or robotics with a lead time to make it pay.
stock little project kits, starting with the discreet electronic dice etc, then arduino etc based stuff.
DO THE VENDING MACHINE IDEA FOR OUT OF HOURS! I think that alone would put you on every hobbyist’s map, and they’d return in the daytime for other stuff.
Your all talking like the hobbiest market wont sustain RS, but it will as witnessed by all the other stores now surviving quite happily in the void left by RS changing tack years back, as long as RS get their niche right instead of trying to be yet another crappy plastic retailer.
The last time I stepped foot in a RS (or tandy as they were called in the uk) was for its clearance sale when it sold off all of its electronics parts and interesting stuff (and I spent $300+ on clearance stuff, happy days). Once that had all gone, I never set foot in there again and within 5 years the branch had gone. It lost its niche, and the niche it re-targeted at was full of better competition.
Also the comment about the managers and staff, they have to have the right attitude to make this work, and that goes WAY up the chain to the head honcho’s. You have to get people either with a passion for it, or at least who are prepared to grow into the passion. That means setting attitudes during hires, education of staff, doing stuff to hire the right kind of people in etc. Thats a huge amount of work and skill and I wish you luck.
Whats certain if this is a marketing ploy just to get more community people in. RS will be dead within a decade.
Enter a marketing deal with US F.I.R.S.T. robotics and start carrying parts for the competition in November, perhaps holding seminars during the summer for robotic-specific subsystems (vision, sensors, etc). This would be a great opportunity to get thousands of young people (there are >2000 teams across the country) in the habit of visiting RS again.
I think Maplin is OK here in the Uk.
I will always use their website to see if they carry a part before checking anywhere else. The site allows me to see which local stores have the part in stock so I can go with a printed out parts list and pick the BoM up in person.
They also have some nice tools and stuff to drool over.
The price and range is not as good as online only stores, but the Maplin model is a step in the right direction.
Regarding the model cars, flashing PC peripherals etc. They need to sell this kind of “crap” to keep the stores afloat.
Do you seriously think you could run a chain of high street stores selling resistors and capacitors? Further more, do you expect putting £0.01 mark-up on these components will pay for the staff wages, ground rent, lighting etc etc.
Get real!
Vending machine… good idea.
Also a second business model that could be looked at is that os RS components in the UK – http://www.rswww.com
This company is one of the mainstays of every engineering business in the UK. For tools, consumables, components.
They have “collection counters” throughout the country, where you can pick up the stuff you ordered online. This would probably be a cheaper alternative to high street stores, what with the cost insurance, prime location land. You could put the counters on industrial estates…
The last time I went to a Radio Shack, I looked up the part I needed online and it said the local store had it in stock. I went there to buy it, and the clerk didn’t have a clue when I asked him where the I.C.’s could be found. Integrated Circuit? Chip? No clue. I gave him the Radio Shack part number. Still no clue.
This is a worst-case example of what I’ve always hated about Radio Shack – their employees have no idea what they’re selling. They need to fix that. Good luck – it’s been that way since I got into electronics in the early ’70’s.
I applied for a job there once in my youth and was turned down flat because they required a college degree to work there, and I didn’t have one. It could be a degree in basket-weaving for all they cared, but you had to have it. Don’t know if that’s still the case or not, but it never helped – the clerks all seemed too dumb for the job because I knew a lot more about the products they sold than any of the clerks I encountered there.
Engage three established sources and offer quick access to a good sampling of their catalog: Parallax, SparkFun, Adafruit. Do it in a big way, especially in markets far from these companies. I would buy lots more if the stuff were right in front of me, without the delay of shipping.
Philcap Electronics in Akron just put out a rack of 1980s Radio Shack parts they had in storage. 7400 parts, line drivers, 6A Mosfets, some CA3080 transconductance opamps. It was like traveling back in time, and I had a blast. Radio Shack helped get us into this; it would be great if they took some steps to help us get more out of it.
I can not say this any other way so here goes …. Radio shack Sucks
I also remember Tandy (in France). Thankfully, they aren’t here anymore since around the beginning of the 90’s.
Now, I just wish the same to Electronique Diffusion. They were great some years ago, now they try to sell cheap crap at horrible prices :-/ And their sellers don’t know a thing :(
radio shack you poor deluded fool. now that everyone who knows what a transistor is has gone elsewhere for parts,you want the sales back you lost not caring about anything but cellphones.you don’t deserve the diy community. it seems we have moved on to better and less overpriced things.too little, too late radio shack.
There are a lot of great business ideas here for RS. Unfortunately, the way most company CxO’s work is that “they know best” and aren’t interested in building a long term customer base. They only “look out” maybe 6-9 months for an ROI.
Radio Shack is on its deathbed and the ideas presented here would take 2 years, maybe more, before an ROI was realized. I doubt the CxO’s or the shareholders will have the stomach to wait that long.
I wish them luck, and who knows maybe the current management has the balls to see this through, but somehow, I doubt it.
RIP RS.
My love of electronics and science was developed by a family friend who was an electrical engineer and the local RadioShack. He also got me my first job at a local electronics company. Of course, this is also back in the era of Heath Kits and CB radio. Today, I won’t set foot in a RS unless it’s an emergency. I don’t want batteries with my burger, thank you! That’s what you get now.
Not too far from here is a store that sells just telescopes and is doing well. Secret? They know their stuff and are avid enthusiasts themselves.
If they are serious, dump the crappy toys. Hire college EE students and grads (great PT work). Most importantly, cater to hackers again as well as the innocent.
Sell high quality parts, have an online ordering service forvthe specialties. Sell the beginner to advanced electronic kits. Support clubs. Don’t overcharge.
Separate the store into two sections – consumer and geek.
Create tools that allowing budding engineers as well as pros design and test their designs-create a parts list and even do pcb layout (automatic and manual)-then let them order the “kit” – sorta like Lego Designer. This could be done online and with in-store workstations.
Work with the open source community to create the software. Support Linux and Arduino boards and Vexx Robotic kits. Hold classes – teach and mentor.
We have become a country that consumes and builds nothing – we don’t know how any more. Let’s keep the smarts in this country and offshore the parts only and build here.
But, that spirit needs to be awakened – RS has an opportunity here to help restore the USA if they are serious about this and not feeding us a line of crap.
DIY Alternative Energy Projects
Hi,
I used to shop at RS all the time.
But now you’ve lost your focus and will eventually go under.
Plus your pushy salespeople are a real turnoff!
I started and ran my own computer store for 6 years in the 80’s, so I know a lot about retailing tech goods.
Please see the excellent discussion at Slashdot:
http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/11/05/28/0245215/RadioShack-Trying-To-Return-To-Its-DIY-Roots?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Slashdot%2Fslashdot+%28Slashdot%29&utm_content=Google+Feedfetcher
Everything you need to fix yourself is there.
First I’d hire a CEO the exact opposite of Day!
Sincerely,
Jack Yedvobnick
I’ll second the RScomponents comment by @alan. Combined with a PCB service that would be excellent and well worth a bit of extra markup that would run. I really like this model albeit the markup is often still high for low count orders and availability of DIY components could be better.
Additionally there is one thing no one seems to have mentioned. A stock of parts, resistors, transistors etc does not get outdated and loose value as a store of ipods and cellphones does. So in this regard perhaps there is a benefit to selling parts than cellphones?
Sell some kit projects with explanation books. Some of the most fun I had was building some build it yourself kits.
I used to love radio shack and still have my model I at home. Dennis Kitscz worked in a local radio shack store and wrote about the machine extensively. Enthusiastic employees who had some knowledge of the products would be great.
I huess we shall see.
My local RS is helpful for small things that I need NOW, and for PCBs and etchant etc. It’s sad when the staff has to ask me what Ferric Chloride and basic components like capacitors are for O_o
Favorite line:
“out projects don’t often include a LED,CAPACITOR or DIP SWITCH”.
What sort of electronic project can you built without those???
A streamlined check-out process would be nice. RadioShack’s computer system must be hugely byzantine. It shouldn’t take 5 whole minutes to checkout with cash.
I hate it because everytime I “pop” in, it takes 15-30 minutes to get back out. That’s not shopping-that’s grabbing what I need, waiting for the poor sob(s) ahead of to check-out, then my round of torture.
My three things?
More power and darlington transistors(Lots of signal transistors, but only 1 NPN TO3 and not many to220)
Matched transistors(why a tip120 or tip31 but not 125/32? etc)
Fets(You only have IRF510. On the plus side, you only charge 100% more than online)
Physical stores are a joke these days, especially in Australia.
You can buy the same DVI adapter from eBay and have it arrive at your door for AU$2.39, its not even at for sale at Dick Smiths (they brought out Tandy(AUS version of Radio Shack)) and Jay Car has it for AU$23.95.
An extra $20 just to have it now, no thanks…
I think there is definitely a way to make this chain work. Some thoughts.
– bring it way forward and make it modern and in touch with what DIY is today.
– Take open source hardware like Arduino to the streets.
– Incorporate a little education so people can pick up some basic knowledge needed to buy kits and build things.
– Get involved with schools for that matter.
– Get a credible spokesperson.
– look at the camera when you speak.
– don’t refer to your customers and consumers. Get in touch with what they are and what they want. They are not consumers. They are people. People who want value for their DIY dollar. Can Radio Shack figure out what value is from the perspective of the people likely to shop there? There is your challenge. Otherwise….bye, bye.
Went into a Radio Shack about a year ago to get some parts to build a custom circuit that I had found plans for on the net. I’d never built one before did a ton of research and decided to try it vs buying one from an online vendor. I went to my local shack expecting them to have all I needed. I knew they would as a kid my father worked at one and they always had stuff like that, little did I realize those were the glory days. I had to go to three different stores to buy what I needed. 1 for the blank, 1 for the acid, 1 for the components. The kicker, not a one had tinning wash. Needless to say no amount of “what can we do” will get me in there for anything other than batteries, and I can get those from Batteries Plus which is closer.
An interesting if lofty goal. My only comment: RS – it took you guys YEARS to totally decimate your standing in the DIY community worldwide. Do NOT expect to rebuild that standing in a couple of quarters! I would expect that the numbers from this “project” will be soft for a couple of years – you have to rebuild your reputation after working so hard to destroy it. Yes, it will be YEARS!
Like many others said in here, you need to hire people who know this stuff. If they don’t know the significance of E=IR as well as it’s application, they have no business in the store as a salesperson. If they can’t calculate power (wattage) in a simple DC circuit, they have no business in your store as a salesperson. And here is the kicker: pay these people a wage instead of being commission only.
Holding my breath now…
I think they should start carrying software hacking “kits”. To me, it’s the obvious evolution of tech that would cater to many of their core customers.
It would hardly take up any shelf space and pricing could/should be reasonable while still profitable.
“How to hack a kernal”
“How to hack a network”
“How to hack an OS”
Another idea could be to sell hackable RC cars. Instructions could be provided to show how to access the control channels for other than the original purposes.
For example a channel that was used to beep the horn could be used to control something like a robot claw like Sparkfun’s. They could sell the claw and servo and another kit using a 555 to control the servo with simple on/off inputs Documentation could be included explaining how servos and 555s work. Good input for future projects.
Some nicer tools would be good.
Notes to fellow posters:
1. They can’t have cheap parts _and_ knowledgeable staff. Knowledgeable workers cost $$, $$ is made via markup.
2. Maintaining a retail storefront costs $$. Buying a part that sits on the shelf for years until someone happens to buy it means that they need to mark that up a bit to make up for the time.
I’m really annoyed with Radio Shack. The prices are simply impossible to stand! Only in RS can you pay 3 dollars for an LED, or 7 dollars for an Ethernet coupler!
But you have to realize something. It’s easy to say the websites tell a lot about what the company is trying to sell the most. And what does the website description say? “Mobile phones, MP3 player, Laptops, and More.” But seriously, who thinks, “Hey, I want a new phone. Let’s go to Radio Shack!” Exactly
And I laugh at the descriptions of their products and how they’re so always wrong, as per the comments, and how badly made some of their products are.
And in an actual store, where are all the kits to get people started with electronics? IN THE BACK ROOM. What ever happened to in-store advertisement! How do you expect people to buy your DIY parts if they have absolutely no incentive? As other people have said, consumers consume, and nothing else. SO why not get then interested in your products?
I was 9 – I’m 13 now – when I was looking through their website for no reason; I was just bored. And what did I find? This great kit by Forest M Mimms:
http://www.radioshack.com/produc/index.jsp?productId=3814337
And boy did I love it! I still use it today, actually.
So, Radioshack, I’ve got some things to work on. Do this gradually, and see if this works. First off, cheaper prices. Just make them a bit pricier than your competitor, (if you can call them that,) and more customers will come. Having bulk products would also work nicely. Second, better build quality. Just read the reviews online and fix your products! Next, stock more items. If you don’t have all the parts for a certain project, I know that *I* would rather just get all the parts online instead. Fourth, advertise. Just get people interested. I haven’t seen a *single* advertisement for hobby electronics by RS in my whole life! Do this, and I’m sure it’ll be a win-win for you and your customers.
Gotta love the marketing department! Why do sales people rarely actually know anything about the products they sell? This lady is in the wrong line of work! Several years ago we had a Radio Shack dot com store around here and that store was more DIY oriented than any Radio Shack I’ve ever seen. That would be the direction I would go. Don’t know why it closed, always seemed pretty busy and the rent had to be pretty cheap considering the area it was in. Radio Shack played a role in my getting interested in electronics, but their component prices were always prohibitive to my 7 yr old allowance, and even today they never come to mind when I’m building a project. DIY isn’t supposed to be expensive! My advice: carry more, charge less. And oh, my 3 items? (are you serious?) Maybe Duck tape, hammers, and vinegar.
Oh, and stop asking for my phone number!
I suspect that project-level stock of electronic components at Radio Shack is a ship that has sailed. However, there is another part of their roots that they can return to that would bring more income, and could lead to making the electronics business more possible.
Aside from components, Radio Shack used to be the place you could go to find the oddball connector or cable you needed for ANYTHING… Or, at least, the parts and documentation you’d need to BUILD that cable. Radio Shack is where you went when you needed the accessories that the big boxes didn’t sell. Now, it’s the place you avoid because they have a vastly overpriced subset of what the big boxes sell, with an oddly passive-aggressive high-pressure, low-attention sales pitch.
Last week, I was looking for a DisplayPort-to-DVI adaptor. If you work for a company that issues you a laptop, your next model probably won’t have DVI but will likely have DisplayPort. If you want to connect a spare monitor at home, you might want this cable. I wasn’t surprised that Best Buy doesn’t stock it. Of course Radio Shack doesn’t… but fifteen years ago, they would have.
I live in a city that is very, very distant from any television stations. Radio Shack -used- to carry a full range of antennas and accessories that could be used to put up a big antenna on a tall pole with an amplifier and rotator. Now? Right.
I’d love to connect the internal speakers on my treadmill to my stereo using the tape output. I need a small amplifier and some sort of volume pad. I’m just not the sort of nuts-and-bolts guy to build my own. Radio Shack used to carry a range of unusual radio parts like these. If I could order out of a twenty-year-old catalog, I could get this done in short order. Now? I’d be lucky if I could even find a 30-foot headphone cable with the right ends to connect the two things.
So, aside from all the parts comments—and I would love to see Radio Shack return to stocking a wide selection of electronics parts at a reasonable, competitive markup—I’d like to see
1. A wide range of cables, adapters, and installation accessories that are -not- commonly stocked at the big box stores but essential when you need them; good quality at a reasonable price (a small premium for instant satisfation, yes, but not a 1000% markup on crap Monoprice wouldn’t touch).
2. Fewer electronics items that you can buy at Best Buy (or Target, no less), and more items that solve problems that Best Buy can’t help you with.
3. Ditch the actual cellphone sales; start carrying a full range of essential accessories like chargers, data cables, spare batteries, standalone battery chargers, cases, etc. And carry these things not just for current models, but for stuff several years back: anything someone might still be using, even the unusual brands.
In other words: Stop trying to be the place where people go to buy a TV or a cellphone. Return to being the no-brainer go-to place where you go -after- you buy the TV or cellphone to get the bits to improve, connect, and maintain them.
From there, the way to grow is into returning to providing the components to repair or build what you can’t profitably stock…
To any Radio Shack execs/marketing people reading this thread, you’ll want to check out the comments on Slashdot:
http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/11/05/28/0245215/RadioShack-Trying-To-Return-To-Its-DIY-Roots
Note, too, that this marketing campaign (let’s just call it what it is) is in stark contrast to direction RS was headed last year, as per this article:
http://www.wired.com/magazine/2010/04/ff_radioshack/all/1
I guess the management at RS finally woke up realized they were going to be extinguished if all they offered was incompetent sales people pushing the same stuff as bigger, better-funded competitors.
People have given a lot of good ideas above. I will second kits and parts from places like Sparkfun and Adafruit.
The biggest advantage that RS has over competitors is location – they are all over the place. They should offer things that people can’t easily get locally. I would be interested in seeing:
– An decent parts selection. The parts don’t have to all be bubble-packaged on pegboard. They could have high density storage bins in back, so you can get a lot of parts in a relatively small space, and have a person (or robot mechanism) pull the parts. I wouldn’t mind, and might even prefer, placing order online and then driving over to pick it up. Develop an online system where I can keep, or share, projects. Imagine if people started including links to shared BOMs at RS in their projects because it is the simplest way for people to get stuff quickly at and reasonable cost.
– Provide data sheets. It may just be a monitor and keyboard so you can look at pdfs, but let people look at details, email the data sheets to themselves, or perhaps print them out.
– Provide services. 3-d printing, laser-cutting, laser etching, pcb fabrication. You don’t have to have huge industrial-size machines, and you don’t need them in every store. The first 3 of those could also expand the customer base beyond the hackers you find here to artists and others. It might be useful to have local store-to-store delivery, so I could order, say, a 3-d project and pick it up at a local store without a 3-d printer 24 hours later.
– Work with/sponsor a local hacker space.
– Sponsor classes to teach people the basics
Price is important. I wouldn’t have a problem paying a little bit more to get what I need now – it saves me burning $5 in gas to get to the nearest Frys – but there is an upper bound on it. After all, the cheapest Mouser shipping takes only 2 days to reach me. However, their shipping does cost $5 or $7 for small orders, so there’s some room there.
If the local RS has a $4 picking charge on a $50 order, to pull my order out of the aforesaid bins and have it ready from me, and I can have it in 20 minutes, I would do that rather than pay for shipping from Mouser and get it 2 days later, or 4 days if the delivery period crosses a weekend.
In the early 80’s Radio Shack (Tandy) was different. I purchased my first computer from them. The TRS-80 PC-2 pocket computer with printer and cassette interface as well as a Radio Shack cassette recorder to save programs on.
Not only was the sales man helpful he was enthusiastic, this is after the sale. I remember visiting him at his home and sitting at his coffee table writing programs for the PC-2. Every time I visited the store the staff remembers what I had bought before and asked if I was happy with the product. This was not seen as extraordinary service, it was just how the people were. This was not anything good from Radio Shack per se but the employees.
One thing back then really pissed me off big time and cost the store sales from me, the stupid retarded insane idiotic requirement of giving my name and address every bloody time I bought something even though I was on first name basis with the store staff and had given this information many times before.
For this alone Radio Shack you deserve to dry up and blow away.
We have maplin in the UK, its the same sort of crap instore that you get in RS but they do have a web presence and anything not in stock in store they can have delivered, either to your door or to the store for pickup.
One issue is that it is over priced but in a pinch for a handful of resistors/caps/transistors/diodes you don’t mind paying $3 if it’s the difference between the project progressing or stalling.
The other issue is they have an incredibly poor stock level indicator for stores, train your staff to get off their arse and physically eyeball the part to confirm its existence if a customer phones, don’t rely on a crappy database or write a decent database and train your staff to update properly or do all 3.
You don’t necessarily need uber-geeks to run stuff but knowing the basics about basic parts should be a minimum. If you want to be the people that ‘have answers’ you’d better have answers when people ask!!
Engage with your target community on a regular basis not just to save your ass (provide information on how basic parts work, create a forum, staff it with uber-geeks that know their kit etc.).
Stop over-pricing your retail goods, people like us will shout loud and proud over this as we’re sharp on retail pricing. I have no problem being in maplin and advising fellow customers that they can buy a product way cheaper and supply a web address where they can find it.
Oh and do it quickly, as I guess all your competitors will be looking at your feedback like this too and if you don’t implement the best ideas, someone else will (although to be fair a lot of the best ideas on here are in common use amongst your competitors already).
I was a huge Radio Shack geek back in the late 80’s to early 90’s. (I was such a junkie that I became a store manager for a brief time.) Radio Shack’s primary appeal for me was the line of unique computer technology. (I learned the fundamentals of my future profession (I’m now a software architect) on my “Trash-80” CoCo 2 & 3.) Radio Shack was ahead of its time. It was the only place you could get software / accessories / peripherals for computers, too. As society caught up with Radio Shack, the Radio Shack niche ceased to be a niche. You can go into any department store and get most of what you used to only be able to get at Radio Shack. If it’s gonna survive, it has to get ahead of society again, not roll back to “stone knives & bear skins” (LEDs, pots, caps, and resistors).
Hi Rat Shack,
You should have listened 9 years ago when I told you that you were taking the company in the wrong direction. I told you to keep your parts, to treat your employees well, and not to force your profit-bursting crap down both customers’ and employees’ throats. Did you listen then? No. Why would you listen now? I put a decade into trying to make your company work from sales to management, and was crapped on for it. Your “brilliant” corporate team even sent cold, rude replies back to the suggestions made when you claimed to support your employees’ opinions. Now, it’s too little, too late. You’ve alienated your customers, and that is never good. You’ve treated your employees like dirt, so there’s no team spirit. In short, you are now harvesting the bitter results of the seeds you’ve been sowing for the last decade. You are getting what you have earned, and I have no pity for you.
KITS KITS KITS
Kits with a working demo so when my daughter comes in with me she can ask “What’s that? Can we make that?” and I can say “Yes. Let’s do it this weekend.”
I don’t care why they’re doing it, and I’m not overly sensitive to the prices. If I’m doing a project I’ll order online but for the quick convenient buy I don’t mind paying a little more.
Here’s a new niche you can create and conquer: local PCB fab. It would be nice if I had a schematic and you would have the equipment and software to translate that into a board I can use for my finished project. You don’t have to support multilayer boards or anything, just the small stuff. You could even use jumpers instead of vias and mill only the top face.
Also, stop treating incoming customers like they dont know what they are doing.. I have your staff in the class I teach at the university, and when I walk into radio shack, I’m treated like I don’t know what I’m talking about.
A final thought would be to sell kits that have a practical purpose. Like instead of buying a garage opener from a retailer, a hobbiest can buy your kit for cheaper and build it himself – and have the sense of accomplishment. There are tons of ideas out there.. you can look in hackaday for inspiration.
I’m not holding my breath, but we’ll see. I’m giving you the benefit of the doubt.
To little too late, the MBA’s have already destroyed this company. Of the two remaining stores in my city (used to be five), neither one carry electronic parts anymore.
A follow up thought to my previous comment… Something that would draw me back to Radio Shack would be robotics kits… Think Lego Mindstorm, except on expensive steroids. Kinect-like (or better) sensors, programmable modules (with workable software development environments), computer interfaces, and other devices that would allow you to make all sorts of home robotics. Radio Shack didn’t just sell parts, they sold dreams. Think Dean Kamen’s US FIRST program, for example.
To Quote MRC
the problem is that the Niche market Radio Shack once occupied is no longer present. they had three things going for them at the time:
1: the popularity of HAM and CB radio as a hobby
2: no internet to cut into their business share for parts, devices, and supplies
3: knowledgeable staff (for the most part) that could help customers, and sell them stuff they needed. not push crap they didn’t.
#1 is no longer large enough to support a nationwide chain business.
2&3 can be found on the net, and shipping is cheap enough to be competitive.
unless modern consumer devices take a turn for the self-repairable, I wish Radio Shack luck in its continued survival.
Digi took up the torch when RadioShack dropped out. I just do not see them trying to play catch up
I ducked into a Radio Shack yesterday to buy a set of RCA stereo cables because I wanted to connect my new turntable to my home theater receiver’s aux jacks. The clerk looked at me like I had three heads and my fly was unzipped. Why should I patronize a company that employs clerks with such attitudes?
Provide FPGA programming hardware and 3D printers at the store; VHDL/Verilog and CAD/CAM applications on the web. Provide Engineers to quickly review the designs for GLARING errors [direct shorts to ground, structures which will collapse immediately]; and then provide summary suggestions to the builder but ALLOW them to fail. Provide discounts for repeat runs with minor changes.
The proper electronics parts and misc mechanical parts to stock will quickly identify themselves. And don’t forget the super-sized 24/7 vending machine stocked with emergency spares.
As everyone else here has posted, stock the stores with the types of people who immediately annoy corporate suits; but engage the builder (not DIY customer you marketing ignoramus) down the bizarre unique paths projects follow.
DONT INFLATE PRICES…DONE
$4 FOR A 0.50 CHINESE COMPONENT LOSES YOU SALES..
STOCK A MICROCONTROLLER WITH SOCKET..THE RISC ONES WERE AWESOME
Basically, become a serious electronics hobby / computer shop that a field service guy from Lockheed can walk into and get something he needs (with in reason).
Resistors, transistors, bread boards, ect. Soldering supplies. Cable fabrication equipment.
Fill the CompUSA void: computer mother boards, power supplies, CPU’s, RAM. In addition to the various commodity cards, stock some DIO boards, stuff like that.
Software – maybe a couple of racks of cheap CD’s full of essential tools. Some Linux distros. Developer tools.
Analytical stuff, o-scopes, pulse generators, DC power supplies, inverters.
Stop drastically inflating cable prices. Yes I need that 6 foot Firewire cable right now, no I will not pay $60 for it.
Still sell the phones and stuff… online. Speaking of which, compete with Newegg would be a cool thing too.
Note that almost every single response from former or even current Radio Shack employees are telling you that this is a ploy to get you into the store to sell you a cell phone or a warranty.
As a former employee of Radio Shack, I’ll say that they are completely right. I just quit within the past few weeks because of the same reasons everyone else did. The company employs high-pressure tactics on its own employees and it’s all about pushing extended warranties, cell phones or cheap batteries onto the customer, even if they only come in to buy a single transistor.
Don’t be fooled by this “appeal” from RS. I implore you NOT to give any of your money to this company! It’s cheaper to buy your parts online anyway…
PS – a few public terminals that folks can download manuals from and double check part numbers specs would be sweet!
This can’t be half hearted. By only looking for short term gains you have milked the Radio Shack name till it is now worthless. Reputation must be re-built.
Micro processor stuff (STM PIC Atmel ARM)
Everything needed from perfboard to photo etching to components to debugging and programming cables.
Individual electronic components at REASONABLE prices.
Electronics kits and learning labs for beginners to learn with. I don’t need them, but I once was a kid that did, and I give gifts…
More advanced kits AND COMPONENTS ala Sparkfun, Maker Shed etc.
A whole table devoted to each of several mainstay types/IC’s and the many projects for each one – OpAmps, 555, FlipFlops, photocell/solarcell/detector, audio. gyros and accelerometers, temperature sensing…
Geeky items (< $300) like autonomous helicopters with remote video, microwave data/video links, metal detectors, long range microphones, self balancing robots, etc.
Staffed with old retirees who KNOW electronics and enjoy teaching it, not with commission powered zombies that are required to contact everyone that walks through the door and use a particular greeting.