You’ve probably heard that RadioShack is rebranding itself to be The Shack. This has triggered another round of criticism of RadioShack stores, with the usual tired references to “Rat Shack”, “Radio Schlock”, or worse.
Apparently, RadioShack has failed to live up to the expectations of the technorati. Well, it is true: RadioShack is the worst chain of electronics store in the US. It is also the best chain of electronics store in the US. That is, it is the only one we have with any breadth of coverage. (The RS web site claims that 94 percent of America lives or works within 5 minutes of a RadioShack store or dealer.)
So what’s going on here? Electronics experimenters, computer geeks and ham radio enthusiasts all lust after having a local store that stocks all of the parts and trinkets that they’ll ever need, with knowledgeable staff and reasonable prices. We want RS to be the electronic equivalent of the local hardware store. In reality, RS is more like the local Walgreens store than a hardware store — offering up what sells quickly and not always what we want.
So now remove RS from the picture — imagine that all of their stores closed overnight. Would our access to electronic treasures improve? I don’t think so. In fact, we’d really be hosed in most parts of the US. (If you have a great electronics store nearby, count your blessings.)
There are some RadioShack stores that operate above the norm — they are usually the franchise stores that are not owned by the RS corporation. These stores augment the RS product offering with product that serves their local community. One example is my local RS: Tri-Lakes Electronics in Monument, Colorado. They do a pretty decent job serving their customers and I try to give them business whenever possible.
You might hypothesize that something better could evolve out of today’s RS (something more substantial than a “rebranding”). When I think of this possibility, I imagine larger stores and better product selection. I don’t think it is realistic to have a deep stock of every possible transistor, capacitor, resistor and integrated circuit… this might work in San Jose but not across the US. I do think RS could be a stronger supplier of computer networking gear, connectors, cables and adapters (the things that it takes to make all of the electronics stuff work). A bit more like Fry’s Electronics but without the appliances and Jolt cola. (Interestingly enough, Fry’s has plenty of detractors, so serving the ‘tronics market appears to be a tough gig.) I also think some (not all) of RS products need an upgrade in quality (e.g., their RG-8 cable is lean on shielding…and where is the 9913 Flex equivalent?). A thorough scrubbing and makeover of the product list could really help.
So if you were in charge of RadShack, how would you change it?
And would you make any money at it?
73, Bob K0NR
Geeks and nerds (and ham radio enthusiasts) are the most obstinate critics of all things, not just the things we love and so any criticism from this crowd should be completely ignored.
Many guys and gals will spend thousands of personal hours creating a wonderful software application, make it open source and offer it to the world free of charge and free to be modified by anyone only to receive harsh criticism because of the color used, or the way the buttons look, etc.
On the other hand, I never understood why Radio Shack needed my telephone number in order to sell me a battery…
73 de KE9V
Jeff,
There is a human trait that causes us to criticize people/organizations/behaviors that are relatively close to our own but not quite the same. (There must be a psychology term for this, but I don’t know what it is.) Simple example: the fighting inside a political party can be more brutal than the election between two opposing parties. In the RadioShack case, we don’t see electronics enthusiasts complaining that Wal-Mart doesn’t carry RG-8X coax.
73, Bob K0NR
I remember as a kid (not too long ago, a little over a decade) going into the local Radio Shack to buy crystals for my eight-channel crystal Bearcat and Regency scanners. At first they always had every crystal I needed in stock. Then as time went on they slowly ran out of crystals and I had to special-order them and wait a week for the crystals to come in a bubble-wrap mailer.
The same thing is happening to everything else in that store. The things we (hams/tinkerers/electonics enthusiasts) need are being taken off the shelves so they can build bigger display units for TV’s, satellite dishes, and cell phones. The store keeps getting smaller and smaller.
Of course they had to take the “Radio” out of “Radio Shack” — they no longer sell radios. Radios aren’t what’s cool and hip these days, so out it goes. They can’t be stuck with the stigma associated with radio technology, even if it is just a name.
More often than not, Radio Shack never has anything I need anymore. I have to order it off their website (or someone else’s) and wait for it to come in the mail. I went in the other day to grab some right-angle BNC connectors, they didn’t have any and neither did two other nearby stores.
I’ve also heard numerous stories of Radio Shack not hiring people because they are “overqualified” for the job. A lot of them probably don’t know the difference between different cables or how to even work a scanner.
I think Radio Shack’s days of brick-and-mortar stores are numbered. Maybe if they cut down their number of stores significantly and become a “hardware store for electronics enthusiasts” they could make it. There is a niche that needs to be filled. Iowa, like many other states, don’t have any ham radio stores. It’s a four-hour drive to the nearest shop for me.
I have been calling them Cellphone Shack for several years. It’s really to bad, there ham gear wasn’t to bad.