SparkFun Forums

[tweeks]

Guys..

We all make fun of Radio Shack (I myself often call it Rat Shack).. but we don't want to lose this valuable, mainstay of Maker/hacker/tinkerer electronics! Where else can you go on a weekend to snag some solder.. a copper board and an cadmium sulfide cell? I ask you! (now you can even get Arduinos!.. or.. could...)

When I heard that Sprint was going to buy 1/2 the stores and make Sprintstores.. that just added insult to injury!

How much is needed to rescue the remaining stores?

How much then would it be to do a massive restocking (existing electronics and radio gear) and add Sparkfun (bulk Chinese orders) to Make them into "Maker Shacks"?

For Branding.. I would keep the "Shack" part of the name... But Spark Fun could do an infinite better job of running a nation of Shacks than RS ever could...

What say you? I know that tens of thousands of geeks would get behind this type of effort..

Save the Shack! Save the World!
Save the Shack!
Save the Shack!


Tweeks

[Ross Robotics]

I agree that RS isn't what it was meant to be. They have completely destroyed the company. I used to work for RS and I will say that they do not want employees selling anything but cell phones. I was the only one in my county that knew anything about electronics. When a customer came in and went to the drawers, I went right to them asking if I could help. Most people were shocked to find out an RS employee actually knew circuitry and components and had several return customers to my store just for me.. Of course the district manager didn't like that and gave me a quota (all employees have this quota) that I had to sell 10 contract phones a month to keep my job. Needless to say, I lasted another month.. They don't care about anything except cellphones. When RS decided to survive just on cell phone sales, it was going to end badly.

I would like if a company would step up and open hacker, DIY, and component store. But it's likely not going to happen. There is so much on the internet that is cheaper to get it to your door within a couple of days. The other side is that I have found that I needed a simple part and needed it fast to complete a project or whatever and had to wait for it..

If I had some investment money, I would seriously consider opening such a store, but no such luck.

[skimask]

^^^ +1 ^^^
I think another option might be just to find more and more like minded people in a particular area.
I don't know about you folks, but in my area (Minot, ND), I don't think there's anybody else around here that even knows what an Arduino is...and if they do, that's all they know.
I could be wrong...
The days of the brick-and-mortar store are over. It's been over for years, if not decades.

[tweeks]

I don't know about you folks, but in my area (Minot, ND), I don't think there's anybody else around here that even knows what an Arduino is...and if they do, that's all they know.

That was the case in my town.. so we started teaching free/near-free ($5) "STEM" programming classes.. half of which are arduino based (soon adding Raspberry Pi classes too). See video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j50xlc8uf9o

If "Maker Shack" were to mov forward with current store maker inventory alone.. and find local champions willing to teach free classes like this (once/week or one/month).. the inventory would sell itself..

Makerspaces are looking for homes..
Radio Shacks are looking for being relevant in their communities (and making money).

Seems like they're made for eachother!

Tweeks
p.s. And while yes.. the base business model of the brick and morter has and is changing before our eyes.. I think the key to brick and mortar success IS becoming a relevant space in your community. Where people don't just come to buy (amazon does that).. but to learn.. and share... build and connect the community. Amazon can't touch that.
p.p.s. Since I'm already teaching this stuff in my own town.. I would totally be willing to do this under the Radioshack/Sparkfun/Makershack flag as a guinea pig.

[Mee_n_Mac]

Radio Shacks problems weren't just due to the usual B&M woes in the Internet age. They shrunk the number of stores and cut personnel, as I think they had to. Their devotion to sell cellphones, because it was 50% of their cash, was understandable and yet doomed IMO. I mean RS for a cell phone ?

Management then embarked on a massive stock buy back program, when they didn't have the cash flow to do that, presumably to "prop up" the stock price. Dumb, dumb, dumb.

I note Brookstone is still in the retail business. My guess is that if the Shack had any chance to stay in business, it was at a greatly reduced size and profit, and finding a way to establish them as the place for "geeks" and things "geeky". That means not going head to head w/Walmart and Bestbuy on commodity items. It should also have meant a place to go and order things, to pick up in store, w/o having to trust your CC# to some Chinese firm you've never heard of. And at some reasonable markup, not 300%.

Alas they didn't have a CEO w/a geek vision, despite their recent advertising.

[powercircuits]

What are you going to do with all those AA batteries and outdated cellphones?

[MarkHaysHarris777]

Digikey and Sparkfun are my 'new' RS...

... RS is dead; they killed their company (I don't fault them selling cell phones) but they shrugged their shoulders at their loyal electronics customers.

I can get the parts I need on-line faster and cheaper anyways... oh, well.

[BrianEvans]

My guess is that if the Shack had any chance to stay in business, it was at a greatly reduced size and profit, and finding a way to establish them as the place for "geeks" and things "geeky". That means not going head to head w/Walmart and Bestbuy on commodity items. It should also have meant a place to go and order things, to pick up in store, w/o having to trust your CC# to some Chinese firm you've never heard of.

[TimmyTopHat]

My town recently got a small store called "The Forge". They purport to be an public "hackerspace", but all they do is printing and serve coffee. Like, seriously. It wouldn't be such a problem if the local RadioShack wasn't the size of my work's storage closet. All the components are marginalized to a tiny corner which clearly isn't restocked (much less cleaned) very often. But the phones and headphones and audio equipment are all given their own displays, front and center.

[stevech]

Staying alive selling cell phones and contracts was an act of desperation by top management dolts.
Their uniqueness was their presence in every neighborhood.
Shouldn't try to compete with Best Buy or Target or Amazon/Newegg in consumer items. No-win.
Should have increased emphasis on electronic consumables.. batteries, cordless phones, high tech thermostats, home security and home automation, answering machines, wireless thermometers, carefully chosen stock of components. Get on the drone and battery skatebord boom while it lasts.
Electronics for ADA challenged people (aging baby boomers).

And take 1/2 the stores and convert them to massage and physical therapy franchises.