We have a Radio Shack store here in Newton and really don't know how they are surviving. I very seldom see any customers in it. I like it because you can get some odd ball electrical connectors or adapters. But otherwise, I doubt it would be missed.
The downfall of Radio Shack
- Thread starter ruxCYtable
- Start date
Best Buy is definitely the new Sears in that their stores are basically just showrooms for their catalog/website now.
Except the fat sweaty guy who can't find what I'm asking for in his 180 square foot store.
Even as a kid, I remember going into Radio Shack, seeing all of the capacitors and diodes and things like that, and thinking "who buys this stuff?" Is/was there some large group of DIY electronics hobbyists out there that I'm completely oblivious to?
At one point in time there were a number of DIY guys, including me. Electronics have gotten way too complicated to work on, and way too cheap to fix. Radio Shack was a great place to get a resistor or diode that burned out, or a switch, or a fuse panel or connectors. They are like a hardware store, there is not enough money in nuts and bolts, and no one wants to fix anything anymore.
Internet retailers sure have taken a toll on the "Big Box" type stores because they don't have as much overhead costs with labor and store costs so they can offer better pricing. From time to time I may find a better deal at a place like Best Buy but anymore Amazon and Newegg usually can beat most prices BB has. It's amazing just how many things even non-electronics you can find cheaper online and the best part is most of them offer free shipping so you save time and money of not having to go to the store by having it delivered to your doorstep.
One retailer that I think is finding a good way to keep people coming to the store is Target. Despite their security breach issue the 5% off your entire purchase at the cash register with their RedCard along with getting their cartwheel app on your smartphone can save you quite a bit. A few weeks ago they had a 2 day cartwheel offer for 15% off all electronics so combine that with the 5% if you have a RedCard and 20% off was a pretty good deal. We have a 3 1/2 month newborn so you can imagine just how much we pay attention to diaper and formula discounts too as a few bucks savings here and there add up pretty quickly.
One retailer that I think is finding a good way to keep people coming to the store is Target. Despite their security breach issue the 5% off your entire purchase at the cash register with their RedCard along with getting their cartwheel app on your smartphone can save you quite a bit. A few weeks ago they had a 2 day cartwheel offer for 15% off all electronics so combine that with the 5% if you have a RedCard and 20% off was a pretty good deal. We have a 3 1/2 month newborn so you can imagine just how much we pay attention to diaper and formula discounts too as a few bucks savings here and there add up pretty quickly.
No idea what it is like today, as it has been a couple years since I have been in one. The last time I was in, I was buying something pretty small and simple like a basic replacement TV remote or something. When I tried to check out the guy running the register wanted so much personal info I thought he was going to run a criminal background check and pull my credit. Then he starts in on whether or not I want to look at upgrading my cell phone. It was ridiculous.
How does that address the higher overhead expense issue, though? At the end of the day, it still costs Amazon less than Target to sell the same item.
Target's only niche for me is that it's where I go when I want something right now, but even that's being challenged by Amazon's same-day shipping and their drone delivery plans.
I definitely still go to Best Buy from time to time, but it's only when I need something right away and don't want to pay extra for same-day shipping. iPhone came in the mail, so I went to Best Buy that afternoon and bought a case for it. That sort of thing.
Probably. I do a lot of odd little things around the house that require some electronic components of some kind.
The problem with Radioshack, was that they didn't embrace the internet when it came along like they should have. Any brick and mortar based chain, that didn't have a website that told you weather or not you could just stop in and pick up an item, was way behind imo. It was just easier to order what I needed from a web entity that told me they had it in stock and how long it would take for me to get it. I haven't been to radioshack for years, but the last time I was there, I remember their website being much like their B&M stores, "Need a smart phone? Need Smart phone accessories? Oh, you want what? We might have that, go try to find it over there."
They are still slowly melting away. The aisles are getting bigger with less merchandise. DVDs/CDs/TVs/phones/ACER and other competitor computers/video games are not enough to survive.
Amazon Prime has hurt Best Buy, Gamestop, and Radioshack. Why get in a car when you can let your fingers do the walking?
Have you ever compare shopped items? Half the time I look at tools I need and Amazon costs either the same price as me going down the street to the mom and pop hardware store or it costs more on Amazon.
Just for example (I was just looking at this impact driver just this past week), this costs $50 less to run over to Lowe's than to order it through Amazon.
http://www.lowes.com/pd_246924-70-D...L=?Ns=p_product_qty_sales_dollar|1&facetInfo=
http://www.amazon.com/DEWALT-DCF895...-1&keywords=dewalt+dcf895c2+20v+impact+wrench
True. But other industries aren't dying.
I've always wondered why Home Improvement stores like Lowe's and Home Depot don't struggle like the Best Buy's of the world. Someone will spend $1,000 and buy a 60" TV online but they won't buy a rake or paintbrushes? Consumers are strange like that sometimes...
I still repair things, but RS' inventory for electronics parts and tools has been drastically reduced for a number years now, so I don't even bother to go to RS anymore for those things. There is a Fry's near by that carries this stuff, and if Fry's doesn't have it, Mouser and Allied Electronics are close enough by that I can get stuff the next day. The problem with Mouser and Allied is the paying-$5-shipping-for-a-$1-part scenario.
Certainly a major part of it. They could have avoided some of that if they'd continued selling their own line of stereo equipment, that you couldn't get anywhere else and had a loyal following.
Now you really can't get that stuff there either. I went in a few years ago looking for a replacement speaker for a TV. Used to be the kind of stuff you could find there and be on your way in about five minutes. "Nope, we stopped selling that stuff a few years ago." Well, I guess you should'a stopped callin' yourself Radio Shack, then.
Even after they stopped producing their own stereo equipment they still carried name brand stuff like Sony. But they never had any stock and always tried to sell you the floor model. I'm not paying retail for a floor model that's been used and abused.
Just every possible thing they could do to shoot themselves in the foot, they did. A model of mis-management.
