The news for RadioShack is not good. The retail chain that we hackers hold near and dear to our hearts is in financial trouble, and could go under next year. With just 64 million in cash on hand, it literally does not have enough capital to close the 1,100 stores it planned to in March of this year.
On May 27th, 2011, we asked you what RadioShack could do to cater to our community. They listened. Most of their retail stores now carry an assortment of Arduino shields, the under appreciated Parallax (why?), and even El Wire. Thanks to you. You made this happen.
Today, we are asking you again. But not for what RadioShack can do better. We’re asking what they can do to survive. To live. It makes no sense for RadioShack to compete in the brutal cell phone/tablet market, and makes every bit of sense for them take advantage of the rapidly growing hacker/builder/maker what-ever-you-want-to-call-us community. Let’s face it. We’re everywhere and our numbers are growing. From 3D printers to drones, the evidence is undeniable.
With 5,000 retail stores across the USA, they are in a perfect position to change their business model to a hacker friendly one. Imagine a RadioShack down the road that stocked PICs, ARMs, Atmels, stepper motors, drivers, sensors, filament….like a Sparkfun retail store. Imagine the ability to just drive a few miles and buy whatever you needed. Would you pay a premium? Would you pay a little extra to have it now? I bet you would.
Now it’s time to speak up. Let your voices be heard. Let’s get the attention of the RadioShack board. You’ve done it before. It’s time to do it again. Hackers unite!
It seems to me that there are two RS stores in one. Hackers are only interested in the electronics and not the phones. If RS were to open an electronics parts only store then it could be much smaller and possibly be just a very large vending machine. I know this isn’t going to popular because of the reduction in labor but my point is this: the typical RS employee can’t answer questions about caps or resistors. They are pretty limited to doing cashier work for the parts so why not make a big vending machine and use that instead. Like a Red Box only fully of electronics parts. The parts are small so I’m guessing it wouldn’t take a lot of real estate. Just like Red Box the online supply would accurately reflect what is available in each RS vending machine.
I have 2 cents…
Whenever I go to the website, everything I need is listed as web only, well if I am going to order it why would I pay the premium for something not quite what I was looking for, if I am going to order it, I am going to get exactly what I want for a lower price from 1,000 other places. The shack is great for need it today stuff, if its in the store, which is rare.
Next up is the nerd factor, yes we would like better sales people at the store, but that door swings both ways, recently there was a dude at our local (heh I say local its 40 min away and in a pain in the ass congested wanna be mall area) that was so eager to jibber jabber about linux and arduino and quadcopters it made it a chore to go in and grab a pair of banna jacks and a toggle switch.
If RS does not have the cash in hand to close ~1100 stores, they certainly do not have the cash to change their business model, re-brand and stock enough stores to recoup their investment. They are a business, and have to make a profit greater than the cash in had or the IRS is likely to call them a hobby.
If they are in financial difficulty they will have problems ordering new inventory on credit. If they do not advertise, only the hardcore will visit their stores through word-of-mouth and quite frankly there are not enough of us buying enough ‘stuff’ often enough to sustain more than a few stores. If they can stock only a few stores, they need money to close the remainder which they already do not have: catch-22.
They have the same problem the old Montgomery Ward department stores had: buyers out of touch with the customer base, unappealing stores, bloated unwanted inventory and a management culture that has proven they could not adapt. When they tried to change, the customers ran away. I believe they filed for bankruptcy at least twice.
The employee base is predominantly (not all but most) what management wanted: cheap cash register jockeys.
Montgomery Ward is now Foot Locker
The Canadian division of Radio Shack was sold to Circuit City and renamed “The Source”. When that went bankrupt, Bell Canada, Canada’s largest wireline and cellphone carrier bought them. They have about 700 stores nationally. You can read the details of this history in a Wikipedia page by searching: Radio Shack Canada.
Bell tossed out other cell phone carriers and sold exclusively their own cellular, landline, internet, Fiber or FTTN TV and satellite TV offerings, among the usual Radio Shack like product lines of gadgets, RC toys, TV’s radios, Beats headsets, accessories, laptops and so on. This sort of town/mall/street presence funnels new customers towards the carrier’s subscription based services, even though Bell corporate stores are usually very close by in the same mall. The lower margins for TV sets and other home entertainment devices seem to put the smaller store format at an advantage over the big box stores like Best Buy.
For RS to survive, they need to fire all their current employees, hire new ones who are knowledgeable when it comes to electronics/parts/projects (AKA: Makers/Hackers/EE), they need to stock all the parts people would need for their projects (carry parts from ADAFruit, Sparkfun and others), offer services such as laser cutting, 3D printing, PCB making, SMD soldering ovens, soldering stations, actual repair services and so on… Maybe create a makerspace out of or within flagship stores, host workshops or even night classes to teach kids, teens and adults about electronics and making in general, host maker contests with prizes a few times a year, and just become a place where makers and hackers are able to get what they need (including parts, knowledge, physical help, services such as those stated earlier etc…) and do what they need to do in order to finish / start their new projects, not to mention create a community where those who are interested (or who aren’t sure) in electronics can go and learn, or seek out help if they need it…
They could offer 3d printing/scanning/duplicating/design/alteration/CNC milling services.
3d printers and supplies (and 3rd party/custom supplies).
Linux computers (not a lot of profit margin, but hey).
Hackerspaces.
More parts and reasonbly priced parts. I can’t count how many project I had to give up on as a teen because I couldn’t order online, and sourcing the parts from radio shack would have cost at least 10-50 times more.
http://www.lewrockwell.com/2014/07/eric-englund/radioshack-is-going-bankrupt/
Radio Shack was fine, except they had only 2.7 billion in profits and bought back 3 billion in their stock (at a higher price).
Nothing we can do can help if their management insists on burning cash.
All fond feelings for radio shack came from the movie Short Circuit. Later when I’d go there it was just a cell phone outlet that wanted to gouge me on the price of a 3.55mm aux cable for my car stereo. The staff knows nothing about electronics now, they’re just kids who pushing cell phone cases and random garbage accessories. They need to completely change their model to survive.
We NEED Radio Shack.
Look at Microcenter, Best Buy, Fry’s.
Radio Shack MUST have competitive prices.
Radio Shack needs to have SMART employees at stores. Test employees on their general knowledge and tech knowledge in particular.
Today’s economy means that Price is King.
RS can no longer base their business model on the ignorance of customers as to what things cost at other stores.
I have only one issue with the call to hire knowledgeable employees… how would they possibly pay them enough? You either need to find hobbyists that never got a degree or degreed engineer/technicians. I doubt they could afford to pay me $80K a year to even try to compete with my salary. And I am one of the cheaper engineers at my work.
Let them go away.
or re name them phone shove down your throat.
I seen this discussion over and over again for over 10 years now and every time it comes down to the consensus that they need to get rid of phones. People have been telling them this for over a decade! And they still sell and try to focus on phones.
Here’s what I remember about Radioshack (and I was in there every week spending my measly allowance):
Electronics kits, books, tools, and parts enough to make me dream up new ideas right there in the store.
Radioshack specific brands (ok, most of the stuff was a POS) like Archer, Realistic, Tandy, etc…
And some of the coolest toys (who here didn’t want at least one of the toys from RS every Christmas?)
Now, I don’t even go there. Why? Because I know they are not going to have the part I need, even if they carry it – it won’t be in stock. Or they will have qty 1.
I also wouldn’t mind paying a little more to be able to run to a store and pick it up. But that is within limits. $100 for an ethernet shield I could buy online and get in 2 days for $40 is a bit ridiculous. I think they jacked those prices up because they HATED carrying parts all along and it was a “fuck you” to those calling for it.
No, Radioshack has spit in the faces of their potential saviors for well over a decade now. I will likely not even notice when they are gone.
By fuck you, I mean that it felt like they were trying to say “See, we listened, but we proved it doesn’t work.” Either way, the whole campaign of carrying parts again never felt “friendly” and always felt like they really really didn’t want to do it.
I actually went there again after 12 years when I found out they carried parts again. I walked out empty handed and have never returned.
They should get stocked like mini-marts get stocked with soda products, etc. Have sections in the store like Coke and Pepsi do in those places, but have say Sony and Phillips, a section for Mouser, Digikey or Newark that they stock. (The companies would send out product biweekly with a pull/add list to keep the section active and changing). Make an ‘As seen on Kickstarter’ section and sell Kickstarter products, I have a 3Doodler to get you started.
The employee turnover rate at Radio Shack is incredible, I never see the same people in there twice. When I was a kid, I saw the same people every weekend when I went in to buy bits and pieces for electronics projects. The employees are miserable, obviously you don’t stand right by your employees and it shows.
Internet of Things seem to be picking up, maybe they could become an IoT resource for product purchaser and developers both! Go down to the shack and by some smart light bulbs or some IoT widgets.
Or maybe they should just put themselves out of our misery and close up shop once and for all, instead of giving false hope to anyone who wants anything technological, be it parts, headphones, cables, etc.
You just said it, a Sparkfun Retail store. Simple have that!
I went into a radio shack to buy a HDMI to DVI cable last week and the store associate pointed me to a USB cable. When I pointed out her mistake she said they probably don’t have any left. Luckily I continued through the store and found what I was looking for. I paid 80% more than I needed to but I needed the cable. They need to hire people who know the product they sell.
they need to stray away from what they do now, which is, umm.. what, selling sell phones, batteries, and overpriced headphone jacks? to becoming an all out electronics hobbyist shop. they need to be a brick and mortar version or sparkfun or addonics, with comparable prices to both, as well as selling other hobby gear like 3d printer parts (filament, nozzles, motors, etc) and quadcopter propellers. basically, they need to scour instructibles, hackaday, and youtube to see what people are making, and which parts they’re forced to buy on ebay. if they can get parts to makers the same day they need it AND not charge you your first born, then they’ll survive. that is, if they can find a way to tell people.. who ever even goes in those stores anymore..
Seems like what *used* to be Radio Shack’s core business was eaten up by Best Buy and Fry’s (and once upon a time, Circuit City). Rather than competing in their core space, which was hobbyist computers, radio equipment, electronics components, A/V (home and car stereos, TV cables and converters, etc), they mostly let those go and tried to switch into more “popular” sales where there was already too much competition (cell phones and accessories, a few R/C toys).
If I want a new cell phone, I’m probably going to hit up a provider directly, unless Radio Shack is offering some great bargain. And if they’re offering a great bargain, they probably aren’t making much money on that sale, but hoping I’ll buy other stuff from them as a side-effect. If I want an R/C toy, I’m probably going to look at Toys R Us, Hobby Lobby, Hobbytown USA, or even Walmart.
Radio Shack needs to put more effort into what made Radio Shack special. The recent Maker Movement surge might just make that a viable business option once again. If I could go into one of their stores and find a reasonably assortment of common servos, brushless motors, MEMS and other sensors, microcontroller boards, and not-too-unreasonably priced common components (passives and ICs like 555, op-amps, transistors, relays, etc), I’d probably visit more often. But their selection these days is so anemic and overpriced, I hardly ever bother looking, except out of nostalgia.
I think they’d do good to come out with their own line of modular hobby electronics kits similar to Littlebits. Something where it’s at least fairly simple to connect different pieces together, and which let you build things like robots, home automation/security, light/appliance control, etc. Then give hobbyists some sort of incentive to use and promote their products. A little kickback (sales affiliate program? free goodies to STEM programs and hackerspaces that bulk order stuff?) is often a great motivator.
I’m old enough to remember when RS actually carried useful stuff. (In fact, I’m old enough to remember when they were a mailorder operation.) I used to go there for all sorts of stuff, telephone parts, etc.
Then things got weird, and after some years, they ended up eventually with mostly cellphone cases and the like. I have noticed in recent years there seem to be a few more tools, and of course there are those parts cabinets (not as handy for scanning as the old bubblepack racks), and finally, quite recently, some halfway decent project stuff, occasionally, at some locations.
Mainly I just wait for clearance events and load up on possibly useful doodads – some of which turn out to be quite useful. Though I did buy a TV and a DVD player there a couple of years ago.
The answer can be summed up in one word…
Nothing.
We now have Digikey, Arrow, Mouser, Avnet, Newark and (gasp!) Allied Electronics. They staff the stores with non-technical people. Need something 3D printed? Use Shapeways if you don’t want to build your own printer.
They are the T-Rex of “hacking’.
Radioshack is at the mercy of people who can wait a few days for their single tacticle button to get shipped.
Radio Shack has to get involved with the creative end of the business.
They have to get involved to stay relevant. Sponsor creative undertakings,
provide some knowledge, support, guidance materials etc. to be successful.
If not as a direct sponsor make these things available at cost.
1. Stop with the primary focus on throw away consumer electronics, they can’t compete.
Still offer consumer electronics but don’t count on it.
2. Start reselling bleeding edge products from asia, lots of winners and losers
just make them available in the united states where regulations permit.
Bleeding edge phones, tv, moble electronics,virtual reality, toys, embedded
laptops, tablets wearable electronics, entertainment, LEDS, robotics, home
automation.
3. Team up with “Make” magazine – think they are doing it.
4. Hire some college interns or co-ops to create projects for indestructible.
5. Sponsor hack a day projects or submissions.
6. Can you say “Burning Man” ? Sponsor or assist some of the artists.
7. Sponsor or get involved in college “green” competitions, transportation, robotics
green energy wind, solar, super capacitor solar lights, storage transportation etc.
8. Get involved with online technical competitions and challenges.
9. Make parts kits for school science classes, sponsor some science fairs.
10. Provide E-waste recycling at each of the radio shack stores. Do it better
than the big box stores. Provide it as a free service or give purchase discounts
for recycling. Get people in the door, lead by example.
11. Team up with some small town or city museums or zoos or something as
a sponsor or a problem solver.
There is lots they can do if they have the will to survive.
We were out of luck here in Canada a bunch of years ago when they closed up shop and transformed into “The Source” (which I think is owned by Circuit City?). Will be sad if they all close stateside as when ours started going down the tubes (owned by a different company in Canada at the time), I was always making sure I made a pit stop at a Radio Shack when I was south of the border. Like others have suggested above, maybe incorporate hacker spaces? Put in a hands-on component where people can play, kind of like those LEGO Discovery Centers?
I agree with most of the ideas above. I think that RS needs to get involved with schools. Starting with sponsoring clubs at schools. Information for teachers on forming a hacking/electronics club. Ideas around activities that are both age appropriate and standards aligned. Schools still have science fairs. RS could have suggested projects for students that are looking for a project. Kits to help them get started etc. Knowledgable staff that can talk with parents about the projects. The current view is that we don’t have enough kids interested in STEM, I see RS as the local retailer supporting STEM in the community.
definitely stop with phones and tablets, no way you can win that, but start selling raspberry pi and other micro controllers, basically start selling more hacking supplies
“What can save Radio Shack?” Probably nothing. I’m not exactly sure it should be saved, or what would be saved, or what being “saved” means.
AFAIK, the “RadioShack” brand has little value. AFAIK, RS no longer produces anything. And there’s no intellectual capital.
A number of posts suggest going back to their roots. I’m not sure they ever left their roots. I was a frequent visitor of RS in the late ’70s to early ’80s as a child. They sold some components, some kits, and a lot of consumer electronics. Today it’s the same. Same components, different kits, different consumer electronics. What’s changed is the competition for consumer electronics. I’ll concede that their knowledgeable staff exited long ago–low pay would be my guess. However, they have always been a retail chain and thanks to online shopping, retail chains die.
While I agree that there is a market for hacker space facilities and suppliers, I do not believe at this time, that it is large enough to sustain 5000 stores.
IMHO, if the RadioShack brand wants to survive, then it needs to abandon retail and target services with retail drag. RadioShack could specialize in 3D services (designers, etc…) tuned for the electronic indie scene. Someone needs to guide the indie hackers about material strength, expelling heat, safety, taste, etc… But then, so could anyone else. Again, is there value in saving the brand “RadioShack”?
I’d say the low pay was 50% of the reason I left, the rest of it was unrealistic (pun intended) sales expectations imposed upon the employees. I could work all day on a $500 sale that had a profit margin of 50%, and a coworker could stumble into a sale of the same dollar amount but have only 2%, and we’d get the same commission. Now granted as a manager, I’d rather make the higher margin sale, but as a floor grunt, there was no motivation to put the extra work into a sale that took longer and had a lower margin. Dispite it he fact that it was those low-dollar-high-margin customers that were the backbone of our clientele.
So, I don’t know of they’re still on commission, but if they are, drop it. Close the stores that are off in the woods, under 2000 square feet, keep the most knowledgeable staff. (They use to have “certification courses”) and minimize the lower margin stuff that big box stores can sell for less.
Radio Shack could also reinvent itself as an affordable electronics store.
Ala Harbor Freight or the dollar stores.
Noisy Bovine sells all sorts of used, scratched up and incomplete junk and they survive.
Just have an honest disclosure of the condition of the used items.
1. Sell decent no name products at a reasonable price – infinite supply from China.
2. Sell discontinued or last years models.
3. Sell open box and re certified warranty returns.
3. Sell refurbished – works for Micro center.
4. Sell the lower end generic type products.
5. Make the products available and have a reasonable no hassle warranty return policy.
6. Have a website with current inventory and locations of materials, offer free ship to
store.
We will always hack. We will always need parts and supplies. Count your shelf space and fill it with what you think are the top 10% or 30% of parts and supplies we need. We’ll come get them from you cause WE CAN HAVE IT INSTANTLY. Instantly is the key. Instantly is the ONLY reason for a store anymore. I can mail-order anything and wait 10 days. It used to be routine to drive to all 5 Radio Shack stores in range, if needed, till I found one that had my ONE part in stock. When I found it, then I also took the time to buy my next month’s supplies. Last 10 yrs, I instead went home and placed that mailorder.
I like Radio Shack, but I cringe at the thought of going to one. That’s not a good image to have.
Many Radio Shacks are franchises, and many do as they please and have destroyed Radio Shack’s brand/image. While I agree with many here, mini hackerspaces, prints, cuts, etc.. are a good idea, Radio Shack needs MUCH more than that, they need a complete image makeover, and ditch the franchises that are killing them.
You can make every change people here have stated, but until they deal with the franchises and people problems, they will continue the downward slide.
Get out of shopping malls, stop the cell phone hawking and high pressure sales. I have been in stores where they were almost hostile towards customers. Stores where they would insist you activate your pre-paid cell phone through them (you don’t) and places where the push to sell you satellite TV was bordering on assault. Who wants to go to a store like that?
Heh. Your corporate managers likely are not, and never have been, hackers.
When I was a kid radio shack carried a giant variety of components but very very few trinket items like toys. They carried science kits and radio kits and many other assortment of things you had to put together. Todays shack carries very little of the DIY and Maker / Hacker grub while carrying a huge amount of cell phones and related accessories, headphones, toys, entertainment electronics and the like which makes the shack more like best buy and nothing like what it used to be which brought in customers back in the 70’s and 80’s. For shack to survive it needs to return to its roots where you could find everything you needed to build a radio, where you could find what you needed to fix your tv, where the clerk knew the difference between a lantern battery and a 9 volt battery.
Start hosting build events at local grade schools for kids, work with the school to set up the event and set a price point for simple kits such as a blinky badge or line following robot kit. This gets kids involved, builds a relationship with the school system and gets the parents in to the store and may even bring in their grandparents who used to shop there. Have basic, intermediate and advanced build events at the store for teenagers and adults, it can also be done at community centers, in the central area’s of the malls so many shacks are in or at a local high school gym or college conference room.
Be more realistic on the price points, you’re competing with walmart price wise on many of the same tools and batteries and other related items and with Fry’s as well and they carry far more of a selection than the shack does.
Carry a larger selection of items for repair of game consoles and smart phones.
Merge with Fry’s.
Close half the 1100 stores, get out of the overpriced rentals in the malls.
Carry the build yourself R/C vehicles including kits for building your own quad and octo rotors.
Closest thing they’ve had to DIY/mod/hacking in recent years is the X-Mods line of small radio controlled cars, with a selection of motors, gears and other parts to alter the performance.
What’s amazing is the company has lasted this long. Originally it was an offshoot of the Tandy Leather Company, which sold leather and tools for working with it, patterns and kits to make your own leather purses, moccasins and other items. There’s still some Tandy Leather stores.
During the height of the 1980’s video game surge, Radio Shack sold a rebadged Intellivision as the Tandyvision. They also got into a whole line of microcomputers of their own design, and when it was clear that IBM compatibles were going to crush everything else but Apple, they produced a line of IBM compatibles, with a few extra features to differentiate them from IBM and al the other clones. That was such a success that much of the software industry added special support for those Tandy only features.
But while getting into all those ready to use computers and audio equipment (the Realistic and Optimus lines, some of which was quite good for the price) and toys they began to neglect what their core business had been, a ready source of parts and knowledge for electronics students, hobbyists, experiments and even professionals and repair shops who would once in a while need to get a certain component *right now* instead of waiting for it to be shipped.
Another problem they’ve had is with not keeping their selection fresh and up to date. In many Radio Shack stores that have been in the same location for a long time you can find old, yellowed, sometimes disintegrating packages from the 60’s and 70’s hanging on the pegs. That’s great if you happen to have some 35+ year old thing you need a part for or are doing a new project with vintage, round metal can ICs, but it doesn’t keep the doors of the store open.
Radio Shack needs to have knowledgeable employees again. No more “You’ve got questions. We’ve got blank stares.”
They could raise some cash right now by doing a winnowing of their inventory through eBay auctions or even setup their own online auction. With 100% end to end control of an auction system they could make more money by not paying all the fees to eBay.
ALL the crap toys OUT! If the toy doesn’t teach something, especially about electronics, it has to go. All the older stuff that hasn’t sold a one in years, auction it, in large lots if they have to.
The company cannot compete on computers or phones of any kind, so dump all that too.
It will take some drastic measures (that should have happened years ago) and re-embracing the modern version of what Radio Shack was founded for, but if they are willing to do it, they might survive.
“During the height of the 1980’s video game surge, Radio Shack sold a rebadged Intellivision as the Tandyvision”
I remember carrying in my RadioShack flyer with the closeout price of the Tandyvision featured. The store refused to sell me the one they had in stock at that price.
Did they ever fix their project boxes to be physically compatible with the old project boards, or update the old project board designs to fit the new boxes?
Remember the old blue boxes, which had mounting slots and studs designed to hold various types of ready made PCBs? About 4 years ago I went to a RS to get a box and board to build a cooling fan controller. RS had recently changed project box suppliers *without making sure* the new boxes would be compatible with their 1960~1970’s vintage ready made circuit boards. The mounting hole positions and slots didn’t match up at all!
I had to resort to using a piece of plain perfboard for the relays and mounting the RS board for the IC and other electronics to the perfboard on standoffs. If the box had been the old style I could have done it on a single board.
And has been mentioned before… Sell Project Boxes that fit Arduino, Pi, and Propeller…
This is one of the most commented posts I’ve seen on HaD in a long time. It seems there are a lot of people passionate about returning RS to it’s roots while embracing the new school maker movement at the same time.
I have to agree that the cut tape component vending machine might just save their business in a lot of ways. It would almost certainly need to be backed up by a complete about face of their business model as well.
There is no way that selling phones and tablets is making them any kind of reasonable profit considering all the other retail options customers have. Within the last few years I was picking up some parts and the cashier was talking to a customer who wanted to by an iPad for his wife. While he never let the customer try the iPad he instead demonstrated an android tablet for half the price. In the end the customer walked away with neither; deciding that he needed to talk to his wife further about the options. I’m pretty sure she didn’t want an android tablet and for all I know the sale might have ended up at the Apple store in the same mall at a later date…
While I’ve never had a problem with them trying to sell me phones or even batteries I make it very clear that I’m not interested by making a B-line to the back of the store without even making eye contact with the staff. I’ve bought a few wall wart power supplies there but only because it was a quick solution. They have a terrible selection and disturbing prices on almost everything they sell. I wish I could remember some of the components I needed recently that they didn’t even offer through their web store much less in brick and mortar locations. I have had pretty good luck finding a location that has the part I’m looking for (if they happen to carry it) through their website though occasionally it’s not there due to poor quality inventory records.
I think in conclusion the ideas of supporting makers, R/C hobbies, and educational programs are really their only hope. I think they could actually make due with existing staff if they had a really good knowledge base available to the employees. They certainly need to focus on component level R/C hobbies though as their toys are junk. The real learning (fun) comes from building it yourself and it’s certainly possible for them to stock that kind of hardware. I went looking for a crystal radio kit a few years back to relive my childhood and found nothing (with a name like Radio Shack that seems strange to me). They didn’t have anything like the 300 in 1 project board they used to sell (with the spring clips_ though I think they had some kind of breadboard kit for ~$100. There is just so little need for Radio Shack in it’s current form…
1) Hire knowledgeable staff. Find the local electrical engineering college kids and hire them. I can’t tell you how many times I go into a Radioshack, asked “what can I help you find?” and then have the associate tell me they have NO CLUE what it is I’m talking about.
2) Stop the overpricing LEDs, resistors, and other basic components. Makers would rather go to ebay to buy 500x as many components as they actually need for a couple bucks then spend $3 for 5 LEDs. Granted, a markup is expected, but it really adds up for large projects. If I’m going to spend $50 to build a circuit board, I’d rather have plenty of surplus left over for later projects than just enough for one. Perhaps, put basic components in bins with bulk discount. Example, if I’m going to buy one resistor, charge 25 cents; 100 resistors, charge me a total of $5.
3) Look at supplying more kits. The shields are a great start, but project-based kits would apply to new makers and parents looking to get their kids something of interest. A wide variety is needed – an LED cube, solar car, and potato clock don’t really cut it. The variety of these kits should range from the fun and whimsical to the actually useful. A great example of a useful project would be something like the minty-boost cellphone charger sold by Adafruit.
4) In addition to selling more kits, make project BOMs and instructions for A LOT of different projects. Yes, Radioshack has pamphlets with a few projects, but a few isn’t enough.There should be a 4×8 foot wall FILLED with pamphlets of neato projects.
5) Sell 3D printing supplies. The market is new and burgeoning – it is the PERFECT time to start selling these items and become the go-to place before companies like Staples complete stocking their stores.
6) Stop the junk sales and get back to roots. Radioshack started as the premiere provider for radio and electronics parts. The range of impulse-buyer-specific products at Radioshack is insane and useless. If someone wants to buy an RC car, they’ll go to Target or ToysRUs.
7) Look to cover other electronics-savvy hobbies. Provide high ticket items like brushless motors for RC cars, planes, and quad copters. Two other great high-ticket items would be lipoly batteries and quality servo motors. Hobby shops are great but have a bit of a monopoly in the market and mark up junk like mad.
8) Team up with Sparkfun and Adafruit for breakout boards. There are a lot of Seeed products, but they cover very little.
9) After the above changes are made, market Radioshack as fun and new. Market it as a place to learn and make fun things. Show folks making DIY toys with their kids, adults making something goofy for their entertainment room, teachers making educational materials for the classroom, and more. At the moment, the image of Radioshack is one of a cluttered store with lots of stuff folks have no use for or don’t know what to do with. Change that around and make the store about possibilities and learning.
Yes, Radioshack should sell phones, TV antennas, and few other of its core items. But, who Radioshack fails to serve are the endless guys and gals who make curmudgeoned inventions in their garage to serve some goofy need. Humans are inherently inventive but lack any good retail outlet to make anything of any quality. Everyone has that moment of “wouldn’t it be cool if…” but have no clue where to start in making their new idea. Give them a place to start and you’ll find folks will take off (and spend tons, and tons, and tons of money at Radioshack).
1) Reign prices back into reasonable. When I can buy components, get next day shipping, and still have a bill smaller than the brick-and-mortar locations they have no reason to exist.
2) Avoid the temptation to become a maker space. The initial investment is huge, and it won’t work for the majority of your stores. Converting closely located stores from competing entities into a store front, and a warehouse. Ordering a part, and having it available in store within two hours is the holy grail of hacker support. Dedicating two store fronts to the same limited inventory just makes people order their parts online.
3) Do offer custom services. A reasonably priced laser cutting service and a reasonably priced pcb fabrication service will do a lot to bring your reputation back to a hacker friendly store. If you invest into one or two facilities in each state you can get fast service, and charge a premium pricing without being out of hackers’ price range.
4) Jettison the cell phone sales completely. Nobody I know buys a cell phone at Radio Shack. They don’t because they perceive an inflated pricing, whereas they can get a decent plan at Walmart basically 24 hours a day.
5) Fire 90% of your staff. They barely understand what a resistor is,and anything as complex as a photo-resistor makes their eyes glaze. If I have a question about parts I cannot ask a sales associate, because they know nothing.
6) Sell yourself to the public. One or two demonstrations of the facilities suggested in 3 would make you a recognizable force with school children. Right now your only chance to move product is to get parents to pay the premium pricing on discovery kits/projects, in order to silence children.
7) Don’t compete with hobby stores. People have suggested the RC models might be a reasonable target. Absolutely not. You don’t have the knowledge base to support the enthusiast, and you don’t have the reputation to bring in new customers. This has the potential to drain cash, without paying dividends.
8) Stop selling toys and AV equipment. You can’t compete with the selection of toys at Walmart, Target, or any dedicated toy store. You don’t have the selection of AV equipment that any big box home improvement store offers, completely glossing over the insane difference in pricing for no real reason. This stuff leeches valuable shelf space, and needs to be rectified immediately.
I can commend the people that wish Radio Shack became a local hacker space, but they are insane. The community really cannot fiscally support that many maker spaces. By changing up their infrastructure, altering their in-store selection, and re-educating their employees they can ride the wave of new makers. The local hacker space movement is growing, but they really have no way of stopping by a store on the way to their space and picking up the parts they need at a reasonable price. Assuming that Radio Shack can synergize with the rise of hacker spaces, they’ll survive. If they continue to act as a discount market with premium pricing they’re going to die. Can’t say I’m too disheartened, given that I haven’t had a reason to pay their premium pricing in years.
3-minute business plan.
Really guys. Try harder. You are an army of small brick and mortar locations trying to compete in an online world. Do some research, think about some things, emulate your competition.
Your markup. How much more is the public willing to pay for purchasing same day? You are way off. Lose the expensive carded packaging.
Your inventory – is it complete? Shop your online competition. If you only have half of the parts I need to complete even a simple project I might as well purchase everything online cheaper. When this becomes the norm I just quit coming in at all.
Your employees. Quit hiring job-hopping sales staff and seek out enthusiasts. If your employees don’t give a sh!t, neither will the public.
Your leadership. Trim some dead wood. Try recruiting from the competition.
Your website. Search is weak even with a clear description or product name. Categories don’t drill down to items I want. Online pricing is way out of line with your competition. There is no reason to shop electronics at RS online.
Maximize your brick and mortar advantage. Helpful sales staff, fully stocked stores, maker-space, classes and clubs. Actively seek out alliances within your communities – scouts, schools, robotics clubs, community education. If these don’t exist, then help create them. Look at hobby shops and comic book / gamer shops for inspiration. Become to hackers what bars are to drinkers. Hire a public relations liaison for each metropolitan area or region to handle this task and they better be good.
Fewer but better locations with electronics inventory. Nobody pays their mobile bill in person nowadays yet you still have a dinky box in every other strip mall. Consolidate your locations – make them bigger and better with classroom / maker space.
Retreat from metropolitan areas where your brick and mortar competition is solid. Let’s face it, you can’t go toe to toe with Fry’s.
Lose the mobile phone crap. That’s not going anywhere long-term even if it is paying the bills today.
“Your website. Search is weak even with a clear description or product name.”
That’s a big problem with search on many sites. What’s on the item or packaging must be in the database EXACTLY as it is on the item or packaging so that when a person types in EXACTLY what they read, they will find the information.
BUT the search also needs to be able to “think” in order to accommodate people typing from memory or those who are just incapable of typing *exactly* what they read.
Years ago Seagate’s website search was terrible. If you entered the EXACT drive model as it was printed on the hard drive, chances are you wouldn’t find a thing – because whomever had entered the data for that drive had substituted a – for a / or used a space or had left a letter off the end of the model number. After I wrote them a long e-mail detailing what an effective and useful search database had to have, I got a nice reply back thanking me for it, and within a month their site search was a useful feature because users could enter EXACTLY what was on their drives and get a result, or if they entered something *close* to it they’d still get results.
If they sold PIC micro controllers the same way that they sell Op-Amps and 555 timers they would have too much of my money.
like most others have said, back to the roots, but with updated catalog.
more components for through hole/breadboard prototyping, broader selection!
supplies for etching your own boards, maybe not the chemicals (bins/tubs/measuring tools, safety gear, folding fume hood kits ??
more RF gear for current RF tech (802.11 2.4/5ghz, bt, ham, etc), rfid gear?
better multimeters and soldering stations
more arduino/pi gear, maybe more partnerships with companies like adafruit ?
As some have mentioned, maybe have a selection of stores in a city that have 3d printing in store
How about they just actually sell any useful electronic parts? I always go to the local radio shack before I have to go online. Even finding capacitors is nearly impossible there now. Need an adaptor? Even for an antenna? Well you’re pretty much out of luck. I mean come on no adaptors for antennas? This is *radio* shack right?
To show my support with the Radio Shack (just 0.2 miles away from where I live), I make a purchase every weekend. Be it batteries (which they have the best in my book), an Arduino shield, or even a thumbdrive (32GB for $20 is not bad at all for a need-it-now). I have always spent my allowances, growing up in West Virginia, to buy the grab bags that the managers used to put out in the 70’s and 80’s. My mother used to roll her eyes a LOT…but now, she understands why I did what I did. I had a belief in “The Shack.” I played with Tandy, Micronta, Realistic, and many more. Radio Shack has been my go-to-store when I needed what I needed for a weekend project. What Radio Shack “could do” is close the stores not making much income…(wait for it)…and re-open the standalone stores as a hackerspace. They can take dues from members, and help keep the “Hacker Shacks” open;..AND help the other stores out. Maybe…if an idea is worthwhile, the shack could “re-distribute” the ideas to the other hacker shacks, and get the projects sold at “Radio Shack”s. It’s kind of sad when you do not have a Fry’s, All Electronics or Gadgeteer Goldmine in your backyard. Hrrrm…maybe I should get a hackerspace open down here in the capitol city of West Virginia. Any helpers, hackers, handymen to help out? :) Keep Radio Shack alive…please.
I had a very similar early experience with The Shack, parts, parents etc. Take it a step further, use crowd source models to offer a place to make items, and give back to the creators and provide new ideas to other makers/markets (same thing when your talking business). Compensate the idea/item provider. Rinse repeat. Basically be a physical place for “social” networking. That thing people used to to before the internet and still went to church. But spending my money on a lost business no thank you. Provide something people need. etc. Hackers are a resourceful bunch, even after The Shack is closed something else will come about.
Rat Shack is out, years ago I would look over the parts and see if I could figure out a neat project etc. Now I just despise going in. Old stock, crap people, mall outlets? really? They used to have computers, education kits etc. Nope they are gone and good riddance something else will fill the void. I don’t think hackspaces at malls are going to work sorry not yet. 3D printing nice idea, that would be a small source of revenue and a service that will grow. I remember when I could get things fixed at my radioshack many moons ago. VCR, TV, Radios, have new crystals etc. Now they lost all of that, tried to compete with Walmart for shit sales and lost. Cell phones, no, cell repair yes, sometimes people will pay A LOT of money to fix something they could buy cheaper or close to the repair cost, sometimes people want something now. That’s what they used to offer. Its hard to do bulk sales on transistors, not many people want that these days. The internet provides selection so they can’t compete with that.
If they want to stay in business, then almost all of the mall outlets need to go. Each remaining location would need to stock convenience parts and keep the stock rotating, many times they would have the same part in two boxes, one new and one old and with two different prices. That doesn’t do well for trust in a company. Most of the assembled item they sell are crap, don’t work etc, ditch the cheep crap and focus on customers. Offer education options of some sort, offer services. Anyone can get a cheep part and wait a week shipping it. RadioShack would need to standout and not compete but create a market that’s where they went wrong. They tried to compete in a flooded market of cheep junk and cell phones and mall shoppers. That’s not generally the kind of person that wants to tinker. Two different markets.
Didn’t Tandy buy out RadioShack years ago, wasn’t that because they were on the way out of the computer business then, lost to Apple and Commodore? So really this problem dates back some time, they have been on a slow death spiral.
If they had offered things like LittleBits, Heath type kits, a selection of microcontrollers, sensors, robotics, 3d printing, laser cutting/engraving, radio, multi rotors, critical computer bits that don’t tend to be age sensitive IE no ram, no vid cards, but power supply,cables of types (copper with ends should not cost $20). Rotate out stock so that they don’t have 70x ps2 to 5pin din. They could have been decent and if they offered things like classes or education outreach to schools, maker spaces etc. Brought in popular makers and community member’s to increase peoples desire to spend more then 2 seconds in the store. As others have said the staff at most locations makes you want to flee with all haste. The less time you spend the less money you spend. That’s economics 101 shit. When Walmart puts the electronics at the BACK of the store, take note. Its to get you to walk past 50 isles of junk you MIGHT impulse buy on your way through. Every Shack I have seen has all the interesting stock in one corner of an open space filled with displays of toys and “discount” junk (old model cell cases etc).
They are dead, nothing is going to save them, someone could buy the brand and try to revitalize it but competing with box stores and the internet are two VERY bad options that RadioShack tired to do at the same time.
The first RADIO I ever bought was from radio shack. The first KIT I ever bought was from radio shack.The first project I built from components, I bought all the fab materials and components from radioshack. The first SOLDERING IRON I ever bought was from radio shack. I really appreciate the attempt to bring kits back in the door but it seems that the RADIO in radio shack has been forgotten. I am 24 years old, and when I started getting interested in electronics, my uncle built a phenomenal kit from parts he bought radio shack for me to tinker with. That was in 1995. As I wanted to do more impressive stuff, I looked in the radio shack catalog, and bought kits from radio shack. Slowly (over a month or two) all of the kits I wanted were pulled from their stocks, and even one I had ordered (an aviation radio) was backordered, and I never received my kit. Now I lived walking distance from a Fry s and see no reason to go to CELLPHONE shack, even though they don’t have close to what radio shack used to have available. I want the kits, components, experts, computers… but not the battery salesman. Go find a copy of a catalog from the 80’s or 90’s and you will find radios, kits, irons… everything that I used to buy there. I also failed to mention, the first computer I learned to program on was a TRS-80. I owe radio shack for bringing me into the 21st century, but that store is too far gone to fight the 21st century.If it were to be revived as some sort of hackerspace would I go? maybe. If they were to stock RADIOS would I go? More likely. I just think that the shack that raised this generation of hackers is gone.
That being said… I would definitely shop at a RS component vending machine, or a harbor shack (cheap electrical components, kits, parts…), but only once the batteries and cellphones are gone.
Radio Shack Technical University!
RS should develop a relevent curriculum; and, should diversify their retail units for a given area, say SW Houston, into modular maker units which specialize in individual processes, like: 3D printing, PCB production, Education, etc.
If they did, they could receive grants/funding for being an educational institution; essentially cementing their future foothold on makerdom.
Have them bring back the free battery card! When I was a kid, I could not wait until the next month to ride my bike to RadioShack, get my free battery and check out what new electronics gizmo they might have. I too still have my blue mini-engineering books. They will only survive if they go back to their original roots of electronic parts and kits. A hackerspace would be a good fit too.
I worked for RadioShack, they’re dead. Their death throws sound like this: “ring, ring (click) HOW MANY CELLPHONE PLANS U SELL TODAY?”
Going back to their roots will not do jack for them, that market is too small to support a retail business with small profit margins on that scale, period. Little bit of mild narcissism from the maker community here.
Lose the mobile phone crap. That’s not going anywhere long-term even if it is paying the bills today.
PS it’s the only thing paying their bills today and I was literally fired for not selling enough cell phone contracts even though our store-front directly faced a Verizon Wireless.
They’re a zombie, move on.
You’re probably right. Radio Shack is just too far gone to save. Too many stores to close and too much corporate culture momentum to turn around. RIPRS
I still think there is room for a brick and mortar store to serve hack / make community but that model would have to offer some over the top added value to justify the higher retails.
Maybe retail that offers maker space is backwards. Possibly subscription maker spaces that house rudimentary retail outlets is the way to go. (Hacker pro shops off in the corner?) I can imagine turnkey opportunity for one crafty supplier.
I always thought Radio Shack would make a great Electronics Surplus store, with lots of goodies that we rip apart and “re-purpose”.
Along with all the things mentioned above….but also an actual retail, bricks and mortar, surplus store.
They already got a thing going with Make Magazine. Why not turn them into full Maker Sheds?
Radio Shack needs to stop harping on “coverage plans” and hassling us when we just came to purchase a resistor. I would pop by there more often if I wasn’t hassled every time I stopped by.
The bottom line is Radio Shack from a hobbyist perspective doesn’t carry a large enough variety of components. Sure you can find a few common cap, transister resistor values you need or the odd over priced single board microcontroller kit, but if you want anything else you have to order it then wait and then pay Radio Shacks over the top prices. As a maker I don’t buy a brand name I buy functionality and for all of the fuss and moaning about “made in China” parts I’ve found reputable dealers (mostly on a certain auction website) that provide units just as good as what you would get from Radio Shack at a fraction of the price. So if I’m willing to buy online and I’m willing to wait what could possibly compell me to buy from a company that offers me nothing more than a mark up? I don’t have brand loyalty I just want convience and competative pricing. That’s why the only thing I really do buy at Radio Shack is lead solder since it’s there right now, and offered at a decent price.
Start selling more things like that. Also do what drugs dealers do, hook kids and hook them early. Why not start sponsering local Jr High and Highschools and providing project ideas and materials. Host local maker fairs and actually hire people that know something about the tech yhour selling.
Yup, I’d remodel them into a technical version of Woodcraft. Only stocks exclusive items, and the “common” items it carries are top notch. 1/3 of the floor space is a workshop where they teach you how to use your table saw, router, or joiner. They have a rack of books in the back to inspire your next lathe project, or to learn how to chip carve.
I’d make it more of a maker mentor shop for the “next” generation. And just like days of old, inspire their next set of customers to explore their world, expand their knowledge and make things themselves.
As such i’d have a pile of Velleman style kits of varying difficulty, and make kits so you could roll your own diagnostic tools or buy them. Kits that would teach as well as the old learning labs books by Forrest Mims. And of course, an extensive discreet component inventory with more of an autoparts setup to maximize their floor space.
They should hold “how to” classes that border on infotainment. Can you imagine sending a 12 year old kid in with $150 bucks on Saturday morning and getting them back that afternoon with an assembled robot? (Steep discount if you take the class with them )
More than likely, you’d have a customer for life, or at least a life long memory.
To assuage the high cost of trained personnel, I’d give customers the option to build an account, and then implement more of a help desk style mentor program that would work very much like http://www.pyroelectro.com/edu/. in addition, I’d have gatherings on weekends or weeknights like the old usergroups used be before the internet, Where the interested can ask or share.
I’d also just resell items like 3D print services and printers by having the manufacturing reps work like a grocery store. Coke stocks the shelves, you just give them the shelf space..
Sadly, though the only thing I see is this model happening after their demise unless they become the exclusive dealer of the next pet rock.
Since my longer suggestion seems to have been deleted, Make it suck less.
RadioShack has a chance but due to their investors and in-store “I don’t know-it-alls”, it’s a long shot, but I think it’s doable.
The following is spoken directly to RadioShack’s top decision makers:
RatShack (My affectionate half loving name for you) – Listen up and learn (I’m serious when I say that you do have a chance). Big companies always die in two ways at the same time, gradually and suddenly. You’ve been gradually dying for at least a 15 years but you haven’t totally bled out yet, the sudden part is still at bay for now.
First the problems, then the solutions:
P1. Pushing batteries and phones is literally pushing people out of your customer base, and those people are hesitant or even loathe to return, this is evident by the commenters preceeding me. I don’t like to pay the premium, but when my work needs it now, sometimes you are the solution, but asking for my email and phone number for microphone jack parts is not necessary, since you’ll never put those parts on sale anyway.
P2. Cell phones and over-priced house brand electronics & TVs – Please stop trying to be “Best Buy-lite” RatShack, you stock what is perceived as lesser quality stuff at a higher price with the the same level of employees as “Best Buy”. I call BB employees “box readers” since they just grab the box out of your hand and read it to you. Current RatShack employees are just “I don’t know-it-alls” who are often just clock punchers waiting for the end of their shift so they can dash out of there like Robin Williams in the beginning of “Mrs. Doubtfire”. They don’t care, it’s obvious to everyone and that’s the 800lb gorilla in the room that no one seems to talk about. In all honesty, the store managers are often worse. Closing some locations will be part of the solution, but keep any knowledgeable employees you have, if you don’t keep them, you have no chance.
Solutions:
S1. Get on the trends again. I really want a 3D printer, but can’t afford one now. Jump into this with both feet, and recruit a local hackerspace enthusiast to run it. If you become known for it now, people will think of you first, just as they do now for over priced individual electronic components. You also have an employee in every location who is enthusiastic about what he’s getting paid to do, something not seen in a RatShack for over a decade. Passion ignites passion. You want spontaneous add-on sales, bring passionate people into your stores, have them talk about their passion without asking if I need more batteries. I want to teach my kids about design, CNC, making their solutions etc. I honestly WILL pay $20-$30 per hour for what ever tiny little Lego Minifig accessories they dream up to make in a 3D printer, as long as it gets them excited about making and designing. That $20-$30 will be yours every time if you choose to take it. It’s much cheaper than the $1100 3D printer I was considering. Just like Walgreens photos, let me upload my part online, pay for it online and pick it up the following day when the store opens.
S1 side note – Have the 3D printer running at a minumum during all store hours and when you don’t have customer parts being made, print RaspberryPi cases or something similarly relevant, then sell those in the store.
S2. After you clear out the phones and cases, get some maker stuff that has some universal appeal. I’ve never used it, but Sugru is something a lot of people would buy, I don’t know if you could fill a wall with it.
S3. Classes that teach people, Lowe’s Hardware stores does this every month for kids for free. Lego stores do the same thing and the lines on those days clog up 1/4 of the mall. Some beginner classes, some advanced. Teach my kids how to do the blinky LED and move a servo using an Arduino. Teach me how to get better part quality from the 3D printer I finally bought from you after spending hundreds on individual prints. Let me spend time learning with my family or other enthusiasts and we’ll all think good thoughts about your store, and want to support you.
S4. have some open source based kits people can buy, here’s some stuff I’d buy:
A. a RasperryPi based wifi internet music streaming device, one wall powered and one portable.
B. XBMC media center in a box – a mini pc with it already loaded, a quality universal remote than I can also use to control my tv.
C. a Arduino module to check if I left my garage door open, and allow me to close it via a smartphone app.
S5. With all the TVs gone too, have one playing Defcon conference talks, Hope conference talks, Redbull hacking competition news footage or relevant Hacking videos. Show me something I may or may not see on Hackaday. Who cares if it’s something super advanced like an arduino that notifies me when one of my security camera’s feed goes down, just make it hacker relevant.
These solutions are not found in online retailers. Change your competition. By moving to a growing market that currently has no competition, you change the game. I don’t kow if you have the capital to change the game, but I hope you can.
Ratshack – you have a chance to go from “Remember that place near Walmart that we never really went to…” to “Yes, we can go to RadioShack tomorrow to pick up the 3d printed Lego compatible Arduino case you designed…”
If I have to tell my kids to stop nagging me to go to your store, then you’ve become the McDonalds of electronics (a place that kids beg their parents to go to), and that’s something no one else can say, because no one else is in that niche. My opinion is that route is your only hope.
Interesting side note: I’ve lived outside the USA for nearly two years now and the last time I was in a RatShack was to pickup my camera repaired by a SquareTrade type warranty I got when I bought the camera on super clearance. From the comments I can tell that little has changed from my earlier perceptions.