

RadioShack says it’s on brink of bankruptcy - ilamont
http://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2014/09/11/radioshack-seeking-financial-rescue-can-redesigned-stores-help-save/E0xKauLxXHGgcRgVJlSEEI/story.html

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jacquesm
It had to happen one day. My second (unpaid) saturday job was at a RS (called
Tandy here in Europe) in Amsterdam-North. The quality of the stuff was
appalling, the service worse. And every now and then they had some good stuff
too but the brands ('realistic', 'micronta' etc) were so tainted that you only
went to Tandy if everybody else sold you 'no'.

The mix of consumer electronics, toys, party gear and components and test
stuff (and later computers) didn't really help with focus and training sales
people either.

Their redeeming feature for me was the fact that at that time it was the only
place where I could access microcomputers and the traffic to the store was low
enough that I taught myself programming when there were no customers. For me
that was payment.

When they pulled out from Europe it was totally disgraceful. One day they had
a whole bunch of stores and people were still turning in equipment for
warranty or service, the next day all the stores were shuttered and the gear
had disappeared. Incredibly rude. They also left a ton of unpaid bills and
wages. Somewhere in Nanine in Belgium there was a warehouse full of inventory
and this got seized by the creditors.

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joshvm
Electronics is an online business these days, the equivalent in the UK
(Maplin) keeps up only because it sells lots of other random bits and pieces
like cables and consumer electronics that nobody really buys. Their actual
electronic component business is tiny and expensive. They occasionally have
great deals on tools though. I can't speak for Radioshack, but sadly the
technical expertise in Maplin is lacking. They know a hell of a lot more than
the guys in PC World, but about proper electronics design/components? Don't
bother.

To be fair Maplin are trying to move with the times, they've got a cheap 3D
printer, they sell Arduino bits and so on.

I can get next day shipping from Farnell (£20 min order) with all my bits at
industry prices. Farnell and Digikey cover components for most hobbyists (and
of course lots and lots of big businesses) nowadays. For those of us in Europe
options like Mouser and Digikey are normally secondary, simply because they
ding you with exorbitant delivery charges unless you make a big order and you
have import fees too; though I think Digi now includes everything.

Then came Sparkfun, Adafruit, Seeed and the glut of third party vendors
selling hobbyist things. Not to mention Tindie and of course eBay. There's
just no contest any more.

If you need parts fast, then Farnell is usually good (usually...). Digikey is
extremely reliable, but for international orders it's 2-3 days. Other
companies? It depends, but most of them have expedited options.

It's often said on the Amp Hour by Dave Jones that going into a parts business
is a mug's game. Your margins are razor, razor thin and going to brick and
mortar will kill you.

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snowwrestler
Every now and then, I need a little electronic part, or a particular bulb or
wire, or something like that. Right now I go to my local RadioShack to get it.
When they go out of business, where's the best place to order that stuff
online?

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spott
digikey, sparkfun, mouser.

~~~
snowwrestler
Thanks.

