The future of 'Zombie' RadioShack

[ChrisSmolinski]

Unfortunately for everyone involved RadioShack has entered a sort of undead ‘zombie’ retailer state. The company is being run for cash flow and liquidity. Since the debt holders don’t want to close existing stores and pay out for lease obligations, you’ll still see RadioShacks on the corner but they’ll likely continue to deteriorate. The company hasn’t officially stopped remodelling stores but it’s only a matter of time.

It’s a sad ending for a once-proud chain.

Full article:  https://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/breakout/the-future-of--zombie--radioshack-144156779.html

[BDM]

Yep..... RS ended for me 20 years ago. We still have a local electronics store near me called ABel Electronics. They carry many electrical components (diodes, resistors, caps, etc. etc. etc.). The guys in the store actually know what they're dealing with to boot. Rare to have one around the corner. Plus has saved me some waiting time on small items when needed.

http://www.abelelectronics.com/

[jFarley]

Hadn't been to the local Shack for a couple of months, and I dropped in over the weekend, a combination of pity and curiosity.  I needed a common headphone splitter.  No gots.

At the Dollar Store next door I got the splitter, a Sunday Tribune, and got almost $3 back from my five.

That's it for me, then.

[Nella F.]

I walk about town for exercise about three times a week & the local R. S. is on my route. Rarely do I see even one customer. Of course that was true with my used-to-be pit stop K-Mart & it shut down last April. I'm surprised Rite Aide is still open (I check my blood pressure)...another ghost town of a variety store looking for a place to die.    

[atrainradio]

Farley you mean to tell me they didn't have a head phone splitter? And the dollar store did!? Screw calling it radio shack, just call it the shack. Where we sell cheap plastic things and not a single radio. Which is true for my local shack. I went in there and asked for a simple am fm radio (I wasn't gonna ask for a SW, cuz I know they stopped selling them years ago). They had no radios at all. And stopped selling radios 3 months ago.

RadioShack doesn't sell radios. That's like  Dunkin Donuts saying they for sell donuts, but they sell coffee.

[OMCS]

It seems that the days of the radio experimenter are on the wane. Rat Shack has been trying to compete with the big box stores in consumer electronics for years, failing miserably. Who thinks radio shack when they want a tv or computer? The few parts I find there anymore are over-priced and I'm not sure if they still want my name and email when I buy a five dollar package containing two three cent resistors, but that was a big turn off for me.  I'll stick to pulling parts off of old boards and ebay, farewell RS, you made some decent affordable SW receivers back in the day but your ship has sailed.

[jFarley]

Farley you mean to tell me they didn't have a head phone splitter? And the dollar store did!?

RS carries splitters, but out of stock.  Yep; the dollar store came through big time.  And they still sell the Sunday Trib for $1, as opposed to $2 or $3 elsewhere.

Having a local Fry's and Micro Center, there is no reason to go to RS any more.

[ka1iic]

"You have questions.... We have answers..."

Unfortunately they are the wrong answers to the right questions... or the other way around...

[BoomboxDX]

Farley you mean to tell me they didn't have a head phone splitter? And the dollar store did!? Screw calling it radio shack, just call it the shack. Where we sell cheap plastic things and not a single radio. Which is true for my local shack. I went in there and asked for a simple am fm radio (I wasn't gonna ask for a SW, cuz I know they stopped selling them years ago). They had no radios at all. And stopped selling radios 3 months ago.

RadioShack doesn't sell radios. That's like  Dunkin Donuts saying they for sell donuts, but they sell coffee.

Radio Shack DOES sell radios. At least where I live. I was in one last month and saw plenty of them.

They sell several Grundig / Eton's and their own branded version of the Sangean ATS-505, the Radio Shack "PLL Synthesised World Receiver", which is a good SW broadcast radio, good for MW (excellent selectivity, decent sensitivity -- here at my QTH I need to use a loop, though; in other areas of the country a couple guys say they get good performance w/o loops), and a probably a decent FM DXer. It's good for SSB except strong signals and noise can swamp the AGC, you have to kick in the attenuator to 'local').

It's probably the last Radio Shack branded SW radio they will end up selling.

[Fansome]

Actually, radio experimentation is alive and well, but it has been taken up by a new culture, very different from the ham/analog set. These people are young, and steeped in computer hacking. They view radio as one more way to hack into society's technology base.

I was at a B-Sides conference a few months ago; these are conferences held by the computer security subculture, and are related in spirit to DEFCON, Blackhat, the "Maker" movement, and the like. There were several lectures held on potential ways to use radio to both listen in on stuff you aren't supposed to hear, and also on ways that you might "theoretically" interfere with things like airport operations. Most of the talks focused on using SDRs for this purpose, but at least one lecturer mentioned a lot of ham gear that any pirate might be familiar with; he even encouraged people to get their ham licenses so that they could learn the technology legally.

At least part of this movement is known as "HackRF", and there are any number of people willing to sell you equipment to do this kind of hacking. I realize it isn't traditional pirating, but it is a kind of radio hobby work.

It seems that the days of the radio experimenter are on the wane. Rat Shack has been trying to compete with the big box stores in consumer electronics for years, failing miserably. Who thinks radio shack when they want a tv or computer? The few parts I find there anymore are over-priced and I'm not sure if they still want my name and email when I buy a five dollar package containing two three cent resistors, but that was a big turn off for me.  I'll stick to pulling parts off of old boards and ebay, farewell RS, you made some decent affordable SW receivers back in the day but your ship has sailed.

[Tom S]

I haven't been in a Radio Shack in years.  If I need electronic components I either scavenge them from old PC boards or get them from All Electronics or Mouser. 

One thing that turned me off years ago was the insistence on giving your address even if you were buying a $5 with cash.  That, and the fact they were more interested in selling cell phones rather than other electronics.

I guess if I were desperate for a particular part I might visit one again, but otherwise I can't think of any reason to darken their doorstep.

[BoomboxDX]

That's curious, as I never have been asked for a phone number. I've been asked for my zip code, which doesn't bother me at all -- they're just trying to figure out where their customer base is.

A long time ago (1980's probably) they'd ask me for my address, but that was when they still mailed out the catalogs. I had no problem with that.

[Tom S]

I think after people got fed up enough with them asking their address, they stopped doing that and then just started asking for zip codes.

[Nella F.]

A long time ago (1980's probably) they'd ask me for my address, but that was when they still mailed out the catalogs. I had no problem with that.

                                                     Ditto    

[Elephantcage]

I frankly am a little sad by RS's state of affairs. This downturn in their business really started around 2000 or so when they focused all of their attention on wireless phones. This is a service based industry where you ultimately have no control on profit/hardware subsidity, and revenue by giving most control to 3rd party business partners. (Verizon, ATT, Sprint, etc.) If you are not agile enough, it will put any large or small business into a downward spiral....

My son has a new and  huge interest in robotics and RS is really starting to be a cool place for him to look around and play with Audrino, breadboards, etc. So I honestly hope that it sticks around and goes on to go back to a specialty store more and more.

I did almost choke though, paying $9 for some magnet wire recently.