Today, on several news outlets online, is a story that Radio Shack is planning to close 1100 stores nationally. The last redoubt of local parts access is soon to be reached. Notwithstanding that I order bulk LEDs and resistors online, but those projects that require “just one of…a capacitor or diode of a certain spec” will be harder to accomplish. I just can’t seem to figure out why I would bulk order (online) 100 bridge rectifier diodes or capacitors, without the requisite number of car lighting projects to do. After all, those tank cars, flat cars and box cars are rarely lit when running [:S]!
Anyway- it is sad news, but then- I was perhaps only one of every 1000 customers in their stores actually looking in the parts trays buried in the rear of each store, so I guess I won’t be missed! Most of their mall stores will probably close (high lease costs) and those metro areas of medium or larger size will probably have no more than one store remaining.
Radio Shack discontinued electronics components in their stores several years ago except for a few minor items such as resistors and capacitors, and became nothing more than a cell phone and video game store aimed at a teen audience, so they won’t be missed by me.
We used to have 3 Radio Shack stores here – only one remains in a mall, and it might be one of the ones that is going to be closed due to the high cost of rent and so many competing cell phone dealers within the mall.
On the few rare occasions I have been there, I was usually the only customer in the store, so they sure weren’t paying the rent on my purchases.
Check to see if there are any wholesale parts dealers in your area. Just because they are wholesale does not mean they won’t sell to you. I shop at Active electronics and allied radio and places like that.
Radio Shack has been getting smaller each year. They basically abandoned the kit builder and parts supply just like model railroad suppliers - Everyone want’s ‘RTR’ - Right.
Unfortunately for Radio Shack, they have based their business model on low end R/C stuff and cell phones - All basic consumer stuff that can be sold anywhere(and at better prices). They lost their unique sales/service status and had to compete with the likes of Walmart - And they will lose every time as Walmart & the Internet are the low price providers on this stuff.
We used to have two Radio Shacks here in Rochester, MN(100.000 population), and are down the base store in the local mall - It just keeps ‘shrinking’ in size and while they still have ‘parts’, it is mainly small pkg’s of an assortment of LED, or resistors and some wire - But the they have plenty of batteries, R/C stuff, and cell phones. It is really sad to hear their ‘experts’ walk folks through the operation of a cell phone…
Even more comical when you ask a “sales associate” (remember, they are no longer clerks!) where the parts drawers are- even though you know darn well exactly where they are located. Even funnier- ask them about wire in a specific gauge!
It is disheartning to go into the local “shack” and ask for something and have the Cells person…I mean sales person look at you like you are speaking a foreign language. But i guess to them you are.
I had that happen once when I asked about a 12 volt regulated power supply & they took me to where they had car chargers for cell phones
We have a place called You-Do-It Electronics nearby, but not as close as several Radio Shacks. I’ll go to RS for a resistor or a capacitor, but half the time I don’t find what I want. More than likely I’ll get that stuff online.
If I owned an LHS, on the other hand, I’d buy bulk orders of common resistors and sell them for a dime each.
I can’t say a whole lot positive about the Shack’s direction in recent years. Every time I go in, it seems they have discontinued something else I used to get there, which is rather discouraging.
On the other hand, I’m rather struck by the lack of appreciation of the impact on the hobby. If it was a LHS, there usually is a chorus of lament to go with the chorus of “they had it coming.” Sure, it was a pretty sparse buffet in recent years, but it was something close by in a lot of cases. Now that’s going away. And that’s not good. I wonder if mine (two blocks away) will survive? [8)][:(]
Just My [2c]. The area you live in has a direct roll in whether the RS is going to make it or not. It is not much different than a LHS closing in a area. There may be four people where you live, that has used the RS, in one day, compared, to fourty in another state. That is what they go by. It’s not really all that hard to figure out. I live in the Chgo area and one four miles from me still has all the Electronic, that were carried before. It really helps to know exactly what you want though. That is also easy, look it up in their free on-line catalog and it will also tell who has it in your area and what it costs. There are more Electronic Suppliers out there, than there ever was,LHS’s. Some people just have to be lead by the hand, to help them to find anything on their own, now-a-days, and they are usually sitting right in front of it and it’s free.
When I got my amateur radio license in 1963, Radio schlock was considered scraping the bottom of the barrel. I don’t have one here in town, the closest is a good twenty mile drive to find they have nothing anyhow. Maybe if they gave me a reason to have concern, and convice me I shouldn’t use Jameco or DigiKey, or Allied. If I need something in a hurry, then it’s a thirty mile drive to get there. Not radio shack, obviously. Not into gaming or cell phones.
Thing is…you walk into the mall and there are 3-4 kiosks located in the centerway throughout the mall- T Mobile, Metro PCS, etc. selling all kinds of cell phones, accessories and- their accompanying usage plans. Then you come to Radio Shack- as a mall lessee, they invested in their corporate retail interior, maintain an inventory of all sorts of ancillary retail stuff that no one buys, and then they hire know-nothings as sales associates, who try to sell you that Sponge-Bob desk phone for your kid and a 5G cell phone and plan for yourself at a price higher than those several kiosk “store-ettes”. How long do you think they will stay in business? My once-a-month small electronics parts purchases will certainly not help their overhead! They are trying to sell into a headwind of discounters!
On the other hand, the late, lamented LHS serves(d) a discrete clientele, and the employees- from merely breathing the air in that store- have some substantive knowledge of what they are selling/were selling- and to knowledgeable customers, at that!
Big difference, but in the end, the tyranny of the marketplace wins out over all. So, back to the online world for yet another facet of our hobby’s needs and wants…
Also factor in that while many MRR’s still purchase electronic parts most of the general public does not. I suspect that those of us who do need parts do a lot of our shopping online though All Electronics or Ebay.
No surprise, R.S. has been slipping for a long time. The local hobby shop is long gone and the local lumber yard and hardware store were big box steam rolled. Sad.