Flutterby™! : Radio Shack: DOA 2006-02-17 22:10:50.639872+00

Radio Shack: DOA

2006-02-17 22:10:50.639872+00 by Dan Lyke 9 comments

RadioShack CEO drives final nail in coffin:

"Our business model for many years has been based on high-margin, slow-moving products," Edmondson said during an investor presentation. "These products are taking up valuable space in the store that can be much more efficiently utilized."

"Because KB Toys has been so profitable that we believe there's more room to compete with cheap plastic commodity toys", he did not continue.

Sad. There is actually a really good 'Shack on Dayton Blvd, between it and the well stocked Ace Hardware Store, there is not much I can't get when I it.

Pretty soon there won't be anything to differentiate Radio Shack from all the other electronics retailers - except that Radio Shacks are a lot smaller. The interesting and uncommon electronics parts, the knowledgable sales reps - all gone. After that, you're right, Radio Shack will be quite moribund.

The knowledgeable sales reps have been gone for at least a decade - if not more. Sure, there were the occasional HAM enthusiast who actually knew the difference between a capacitor and a resistor. But with mail-order parts shops delivering so cheap and fast and from a larger variety of parts, I can't blame them.

On meuon's note, though, I sure hope the Ace on Dayton Blvd doesn't go away (or Ace in general). They stock more hard-to-find fasteners than anyone in town. the other day I was able to buy aluminum nuts and bolts as well as nylon. They actually stock metric bolts in various thread pitches and tensile strengths. And if you don't know what that means, just remember that if you ever find yourself in need of some screw or bolt that nothing quite seems to fit, take it down to Ace.

It made me sad to discover that I'm more likely to find the electronic component part I'm looking for at Fry's than at Radio Shack.

Larry, that was precisely the comment my off-at-college son made when I mentioned this to him. He claims they haven't been worth bothering with "since they went mainstream". I hadn't realized Fry's had usurped the component trade, but sure enough. The only thing we've bought at Radio Shack in the last year or so is a battery for my digital camera, and if I'd been closer to a Fry's at the time, I would have gotten it there instead for a better price. Buh-bye.

I hate to say it, but it strikes me that low-traffic electronics components are exactly the kind of thing which is ideal for an operation that has a website (and perhaps a paper catalog) but no physical stores, and thus as little bricks-and-mortar overhead as possible. And I can't shed any tears for Radio Shack, not since the day I had to help another customer in whispers because it was clear that what little information the salesbeing did provide was grossly incorrect. (And I am hardly a hardcore capacitorhead, I might add.)

I wonder if the problem is that, in retailing, you can either be Wal*Mart or Nordstrom when you grow up, and as a public company you always have to be trying to grow the operation towards one of those ends. RadioShack has chosen to go the Wal*Mart route.

I'll be really disappointed if Radio Shack gets out of the components business. Whatever their flaws - I never expect or ask for any help from the staff - they are vastly more convenient than any other source of parts. I didn't know that Fry's even stocked parts, but it doesn't really matter, because I'd spend more money on fuel getting there and back than I'd save from the lower prices. Mail-order isn't much help, either: I'd have to know exactly what I was trying to build before I started building it...