Radio Shack - buh-bye

[plano-doug]

I did notice, however, now that I'm looking for a better still & video camera for taking rocket launch photos, that the camera section in Fry's is dwindling compared to the past. I've bought my previous cameras and a camcorder from them, but it looks like I'll be going elsewhere now.

FWIW, the camera business is getting squeezed by the cell phone business. That is, the dwindling camera section is not due to poor marketing on the part of Fry's, but due to the trend of folks using their iPhones to take pics rather than using a Nikon or Canon. (That said, I'm a Nikon guy - you can't get a good liftoff shot using a cell phone.)

Doug

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[luke strawwalker]

FWIW, the camera business is getting squeezed by the cell phone business. That is, the dwindling camera section is not due to poor marketing on the part of Fry's, but due to the trend of folks using their iPhones to take pics rather than using a Nikon or Canon. (That said, I'm a Nikon guy - you can't get a good liftoff shot using a cell phone.)

Doug

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Much like the brick-n-mortar photography/camera shops... digital photography drove a stake through their heart, internet sales+ big box electronics stores were the last nail in the coffin.

Now their only real "market" is for professional photographers, and I wonder how much of a market that is... I bet many pros get their materials from online suppliers at lower prices than local shops can offer... maybe they can survive selling high end glass (lenses) and stuff like that... but those sales aren't "impulse buys" or high numbers, especially if you're just serving a limited number of "pros".

I think the nearest camera shop to us anymore is in Houston... so basically, like the hobby shops, it's being driven into large metropolitan areas where there's enough "enthusiasts" and "professionals" (at least in the case of photographers) to support a shop.

We used to have a really nice, big camera shop in Rosenberg about 15 miles from us, but they continuously dwindled over the last 10-15 years with the proliferation, first, of "instant development" services in every drugstore and big retailer, and second, the transition from film to digital photography. They folded a few years ago.

Sad, but we're in a major transition across the board... probably most similar to the transition from horses to automobiles at the beginning of the last century. Heck, when my wife can get toilet paper and various sundries shipped in from Amazon or wherever cheaper and easier than getting it from the local big retailer, makes me wonder how long they're going to remain in business... the pinch on the big retailers (like Walmart) who're seeing declining sales and profits, while their selection continues to dwindle and service is practically nonexistant, tells me they're starting to see the effects of a changing marketplace.

Later! OL JR

 

[cerving]

Once upon a time RS boasted that they had more stores than McDonald's. My local store is closing, I'm grabbing everything worthwhile at 50%-70% off...

They had a smart business model back in the day, everything they sold had their name on it and they controlled the production, their margins were ridiculous. Everything they sold they made 50% or more off of, the little stuff was more like 90%. When I worked there as a college student the receipting slips for their shipments had the costs on it... a $14.95 Radio Shack Color Computer Technical Manual (the "green book" if you were into the CoCo) cost the store 73 cents.

They had a pretty good reputation in the audio community, they were THE place to go for phone/TV doodads, and they had enough interesting bits and pieces to keep most hobbyists hooked. Sadly, that all changed when they started making so much money selling cell phones that their management decided to make them a brand-name electronics retailer and ditch the high-margin store brands. No way a little RS store can compete with a big-box retailer like Best Buy pricewise, and since they have nothing else to differentiate themselves in the market (the geeks like me that used to work for them bailed long ago) they were doomed to failure.

 

[Peartree]

There are four stores in our area (within 20 minutes from our house). Stopped by the closest one today and everything is 25% off. They said that two of the four local stores are closing and the other two will stay open. the one I stopped at is receiving stock from other stores for the clearance so they will have more (or at least different) stuff every few days. We bought a few things that we needed anyway but at 25% off the preices are just about what they should have been all along. I'll stop in every few days on the way home from work to see if the sales get any better.

 

[Entlza]

I went into the shack a few days before Xmas looking for wireless earbuds. $70.00, I went next door to a dollar store and found some foe $15.00 and better quality!
Buh-Bye RS! A Tandy company no more.

 

[Zonie]

Even though RS had become more than a little annoying to visit over recent years, I am still going to miss the place. I still went there for the occasional electronic part or if I needed solder on the way home from work.

No other retail option for these things on the way home from work.

I did stop by this week and pick over the place a little when things hit 50% off. Got a Canon EOS Rebel T3i for a lot less than anyplace on line, plus a few memory cards. Stocked up on solder....

Yep. me too.

Too bad RS began to catch on (slightly) to the fairly recent "Maker" movement too late. They were originally a source for "need it now" electronic hobbyist parts and stuff for ham radio, CB, and SWL hobbyists. Then, when those started to fade in popularity thanks to PCs and cell phones and the Internet came along making the ordering of electronic parts via mail much easier, they switched over to selling stuff that everyone else was selling - cell phones and batteries - relegating much of their e-hacker parts to their (poor) web site and not stocking them in stores. Why order from them when there are far superior sources online (Mouser, DigiKey, etc.) with vastly better web sites, parts selection, and parts search functions? I'm surprised they've lasted this long.

RS could have really been the place for the maker movement.

I'm less nostalgic and more about current needs. When I am working on a project and need some basic part... Radio Shack is usually the most practical place to get the part without stopping for days to get it in mail-order.

But on the flip side, they do not have the choice of parts that they used to. And I am not talking about outdated parts like vacuum tubes. Heck, they stopped carrying a little piezo beeper about 2 years ago that I have used for decades. Ended up getting a dozen from China on eBay for about $5-6, which was less than the cost of two from Radio Shack. So, more and more of my electronic parts money has gone to "not Radio Shack". Usually not because I'm trying to save $, but I'm stocking up on parts I expect I'll need later because I know I can't get them at RS anymore.

- George Gassaway

Yeah, I want my 80's RS back too.

With respect to alternatives like Fry's (which I frequent), I've started to see the same thing happening there. The "hard-core" electronics section is pretty spotty, and shrinking. Software, shrinking. Tools and PCs are pretty good still.

The cell-phone section has boomed.

Despite all the Maker hype, I don't think people are getting appreciably more "build it yourself," at least in terms of % of population. Witness the recent boom in Ready to Fly, and how less handy kids at Build and Fly events are.

It think despite the "Maker Movement," fewer and fewer people over all are "handy," and retail economics these days are tough. Rough mix.

But RS would have been a good source for all that.

Almost forgot; about this time last year we had a project in Vegas. One of our power supplies went out which put things at a stand still. I had two options; 1 have the manufacturer overnight me a new one, or 2; hope there was a Radio Shack nearby that had something that would work. Fortunately, there was a RS just a mile or so away and they had exactly what I needed. It was way over priced but I didn't care. I returned an hour later and we were back up and running. Doesn't look like I'll be able to count on that moving forward so now we'll just have to take back up stuff with us.

Amen.


Guess I need to get all the project boxes I need before they close. I still go to the same store I went to as a kid 35 years ago. It's still there.

 

[Peartree]

There are quite a few things that I buy at RS that aren't often sold elsewhere. I am uncertain where I will be able to find some of them.