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RadioShack was founded by two brothers who wanted to provide equipment for the then-new field of ham radio. Over the next few decades, the company grew to become a large behemoth by appealing to the DIY community.
Then came rounds of scandals, getting their clocks cleaned by cheaper competitors, and The Shack rebranding (I mean, I understand, "radio" is something today's youth associate with their grandmothers).
Now, the company is trying to return to its DIY roots, as it explains in this blog post and video clip. Mike Nathan of Hackaday blog wrote:
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.
This satirical The Onion article summarizes the predicament of RadioShack quite well:
Despite having been on the job for nine months, RadioShack CEO Julian Day said Monday that he still has "no idea" how the home electronics store manages to stay open.
"There must be some sort of business model that enables this company to make money, but I'll be damned if I know what it is," Day said. "You wouldn't think that people still buy enough strobe lights and extension cords to support an entire nationwide chain, but I guess they must, or I wouldn't have this desk to sit behind all day."
The retail outlet boasts more than 6,000 locations in the United States, and is known best for its wall-sized displays of obscure-looking analog electronics components and its notoriously desperate, high-pressure sales staff. Nevertheless, it ranks as a Fortune 500 company, with gross revenues of over $4.5 billion and fiscal quarter earnings averaging tens of millions of dollars.
"Have you even been inside of a RadioShack recently?" Day asked. "Just walking into the place makes you feel vaguely depressed and alienated. Maybe our customers are at the mall anyway and don't feel like driving to Best Buy? I suppose that's possible, but still, it's just...weird."
What do you think? Can RadioShack survive and recapture its glory days? Heck, when was the last time you were in one? (via cool-o-rama)
If I want crappy quality without expert advice, I can shop on the Internet and save gas.
Think I actually got one of the AM radio projects to work.
RS's mistake was trying to be too big and too slick.
You cant make billions selling electronics parts, so the DIY part of the business is always the stepchild to mobile phones and bling toys.
They wasted billions in the early days of computers trying to compete with IBM with less-than-compatible computers.
....and they always treated their employees badly.
(In all, their management never really knew what they were doing.)
Management was generally nice people, though a bit thick. Would pass over any ideas generated by the in-house creative department, only to pay external agencies millions for the exact same concepts. Anything you've seen on paper or on TV is warmed over concepts from years gone by.
We tried for years to convince them to embrace their roots, only to have them snuggle up to cell-phones (a highly-saturated market) or the cue-cat (boodoggle! Execs lost their shirts by investing heavily in it!)
In the end, they're about as relevant as a company specializing in hoop skirts and petticoats. Sad for the good people (under C-, E- and V- level) still working there.
Yes.
Will it?
Oh hell no.
Radio Shack, like any other retailer, looking to lure in DIY guys would have to stop hiring clueless highschoolers for minimum wage. They might have to *SHOCK* actually hire people that know what they are talking about and have some clue about technology... most people that know anything about tech, wouldn't be working at a place like RS.
They would also have to, once again *SHOCK*, actually stock components that DIY-guys would want, and price them competitively with the internet. It still boggles the mind how clueless most retailers are when it comes to their store versus online pricing. Its the same damn company - learn to price the stuff at the same price or else people WILL go elsewhere.
I see a local non-chain store around here that sells pretty much nothing but DIY-type of stuff.... basically stuff you would never find at the typical big-box electronics store. These guys are always busy with people coming in, and the guys that run it seem to know their stuff.
RS, I'll miss you when you're gone, but with the way you are now, you pretty much deserve to go out of business for turning your back on the very customer base that made you a household name.
What they need to stock is cases, hookup wires, and popular parts.
I have had better luck finding DIY electrical components at my local Mom & Pop hardware store.
My father worked for Radio Shack Canada which now goes by "The Source" since it no longer has the rights to the Radio Shack name. And my father is back working for The Source after having quit several years ago. He didn't quit because it was a bad place to work. When he managed the store back in the 80s and 90s he had staff that were knowledgable. His resident computer tech was also the man who established much of our local community networks and was involved in Bulletin Board Systems (BBS). He had a very good handle on electronics and computer technology especially.
The Source today is nonsense, while my dad may work for them and know quite a lot about electronics and computers. My cousin is also a manager and he is young and knows very little about electronics in theory or in practice. He knows how to brown-nose and that's about it. In addition most of their minor parts are no longer stocked and quality brands have been replaced with Nextech which is crappy. Although their early computers e.g. TRS80 might not have been highly compatible, virtually no computers were at that time. As a child I enjoyed coding in BASIC on our TRS80 and Tandy 1000.
I don't go there much anymore because when I do go looking for a soldering gun or RJ-45 crimp tool they either don't have them or they are poor quality.