
RadioShack Prepares Bankruptcy Filing - dewitt
http://www.wsj.com/articles/radioshack-prepares-bankruptcy-filing-1421279360
======
copsarebastards
A lot of people think RadioShack should have made the transition to internet
sales, but I think that they actually started failing earlier, when they
expanded into a non-technical market.

In the 80s and 90s I could go into a Radio Shack and buy resistors, fuses,
soldering equipment, breadboards, various controllers and sensors, hard
drives, processors: everything I needed to assemble an electronics project,
fix a computer, _make_ something.

But in the mid-late 90s they started switching over to a more general consumer
model. Bins of parts were replaced by shiny cell-phone display cases.
Knowledgeable fat bearded nerds were replaced by skinny college students
working a retail job until they got their degree. The last time I went into a
RadioShack I just wanted a potentiometer and they literally didn't have any
electronics parts.

The tragedy here is that this transition completed at about the same time the
maker movement started to emerge a little after the turn of the millennium.

~~~
bunderbunder
What's even more tragic is that Radio Shack realized they needed to get makers
back, and when they started expressing a desire to do so a lot of makers were
initially enthusiastic.

But I don't think they ever really grokked what makers would want out of a
local brick-and-mortar. They never did fix the sorry state of their loose
component selection. The parts drawers are still stocked with 50% stereo
equipment parts they haven't been able to sell since 1992, 20% automotive
fuses they haven't been able to sell since 1995, 15% standard capacitor sizes
for ancient stereo equipment, and 15% components a modern maker might actually
need. They should have written all that stuff down and then taken a look at
adafruit.com to see what components a 21st century maker wants to buy.

Yes, they did expand their selection of microcontrollers and kit projects, but
that's all stuff we've long since gotten used to ordering online. It won't
drive feet through the door. They needed to be backing that up with the kinds
of stuff a DIYer might want to buy on short notice. A 2015 DIYer, not a 1985
one.

~~~
untog
They'd still go out of business. Not only is that market for components like
that small, the profit margins are too. You'd have to stock a very wide
selection of items.

~~~
acveilleux
And there's established mail order dealers with cheap overnight shipping and
cavernous warehouses (i.e.: Digikey) that have the volume to keep those margin
_very_ thin.

------
DanBlake
Nobody seems to have a good answer for what RS should become to avoid shutting
down. The most common answer is to go back to its roots and embrace the maker
market and stock up on things like 3d printers, breadboards and arduinos. I
think this is the wrong idea, since the market is nowhere near large enough to
support the vast amounts of stores RS has.

I think if I was the CEO, I would focus on being a boutique shop for neat
stuff. Kind of like a brookstone for electronics. They would have google
glass, nest, wearables, smart home stuff. They would have things you cant buy
at best buy like high end headphones and microphones. Not only that, but it
would have knowledgeable staff who could tell me why I should go with the
Denon headphones and the Fiio amplifier and skip the sonys. Broadly, alot of
the type of stuff you see on kickstarter would feel like their inventory.

Yes, you would have 3d printers and filament in the store also, but the new RS
store would not revolve around that- It would be there because it was 'cool'.
I would much rather see way less capacitors and fuses and more fuut hammocks
and 4th design titanium iphone cases.

But you would also see high end stuff you normally cant buy in best buy
because its too expensive to have the inventory floated to all their stores.
There is a surprising amount of laptops that are 'too high end' to ever show
up in BB and only rarely appear in microsoft stores. That is also the case
with audio equipment in spades.

Thats a store I would go to.

I write a bit more about this here :
[http://harknesslabs.com/post/108193041064/how-to-save-
radio-...](http://harknesslabs.com/post/108193041064/how-to-save-radio-shack)

~~~
morcheeba
While this is a cool idea for a store, does it really fit with the assets that
Radio Shack has? Here's what I see they've got to work with:

\- lots of retail stores in crappy locations. There's no way I'll hear the
difference between a Grado and a Sony when the juicer at Orange Julius is
echoing down the hallway. It would be perfect for 3d printers, though.

\- Cheap, non-committed workers. I'm not sure it would be worth training
everyone there how to use a 3D printer if they only stay there a year. Also,
not everyone there would be able to sell hifi; definitely not better than the
blue-shirts can.

\- A good supply chain of custom-branded products. This used to be their
bread-and-butter, but no one wants Enercell batteries anymore.

\- A brand name that has been diluted. I know Brookstone is great for
craptastic stuff, but it would take a lot to re-educate people on the new RS.

~~~
DanBlake
I think the point is, there current business model of catering to low end
clientele is NOT working. They need to reinvent themselves and this is what I
feel has the most legs of keeping them alive. The margin for high end goods is
much more palatable than selling power strips.

The long and the short of it is, RS needs to radically change everything about
themselves and go for broke. Trying to do slow changes while holding onto a
legacy business will just leave them in a situation like compusa.

~~~
ghaff
Right. So close down the legacy business and start something new. Whether you
do so within the existing corporate structure is for the lawyers and
investment bankers to decide. Pop quiz: What's Woolworth's these days?

------
moron4hire
Last time I was at a Radio Shack, I was just starting to learn electronics. I
bought parts to build a battery-powered guitar amplifier: LM386 IC, a small
loud speaker, a handful of capacitors and resistors, a roll of wire, a project
enclosure, a couple of potentiometers, knobs for them, and a switch. Just the
sort of stuff one would _expect_ to find at a Radio Shack (though,
increasingly, cannot find). The store manager checked me out and made some
crack about, "what are you making? Some kind of bomb?"

This was around the time that the city of Boston decided to go completely
nutso and assume everything that had a wire sticking out of it was a bomb,
find the people who made it, and then destroy their lives for "making a bomb
hoax", regardless of what the item actually was. I had a flash of an image in
my head of some soccer mom walking by the store in the mall, hearing the
"bomb" quip, and calling the cops to send in the SWAT team.

I didn't expect the manager to know that speakers and amplifier chips don't go
in a bomb. I mean, he was a manager at a Radio Shack, we're not talking about
the cream of the crop here. But I did expect him to have a little tact and not
make the sort of stupid jokes that our trigger-happy, security-theater-
conscious society has demonstrated a gleeful willingness to destroy lives
over.

------
wycklendt14
I worked at RadioShack for 2 years in college in 2003 and I can say with out a
doubt that the upper management lead the downfall of that company. They
abandoned their core customers of electronics hobbyists and turned there
employees into salesmen. I got paid $5.50 an hour but was told that was OK
because I made commissions from cell phone sales which maybe upped my pay to
$6.00 on a good day. No wonder there constantly rated as one of the worst
companies to work for... If they would have paid employees better they may
have been able to get people that could actually help customers and they might
still be around today. Good bye RadioShack, I won't miss you.

~~~
wambotron
Funny, I applied to work there around the same time. I was working at a deli
at the time, making $7/hr, thinking "man there has to be something better." I
thought of how I liked going to Radio Shack when I was younger, and how it
might be a good experience to work there.

The day I went to apply, they asked if I'd be OK making commissions. I asked
what the base was, and they replied something similar to $5/hr. I asked what
commissions came from, the manager said "everything!"

On my way out, one of the employees stopped me and told me they collectively
barely made any commissions and to stay where I was. I went in there quite a
few times after that and never saw the same people working. I guess they had a
lot of turnover.

------
gtjay
Having moved to Australia in recent years, I was very happy to see that
JayCar, their equivalent to Radio Shack, seemed to be doing quite well. This
is judging by what I've seen of the stores in what is considered a fairly
backwards part of Australia (Queensland).

The difference seems to be two-fold. First, Jaycar didn't go through an insane
expansion (there are only 12 or so locations per state). Second, they've grown
"out" from their core market of electronics hobbyist instead of betraying it.
Just a few examples: custom car stereos, solar panel accessories, camping/RV
electronics, boating electronics, and DJ-stuff like laser projectors. This is
all in addition to the arduino and 3D printing stuff that you'd expect.
There's a huge amount of cross-over between these markets, which works out
great for Jaycar.

There is one additional factor keeping Jaycar healthy that probably shouldn't
be underplayed. Due to mining and a less crypto-facist view of unions,
Australia has not (yet) completely gutted it's blue-collar market and culture.
Jaycar advertises almost exclusively to this "tradie" (as the Australians call
it) demographic. Jaycar is marketed as a "manly" thing, not a "nerd" or "tech"
thing. In fact, it's even drummed up minor controversy from feminist as being
exclusionary with ads focusing on "leaving her to go to your man-cave" and
whatnot. This part of Jaycar's success probably can't be replicated stateside.
The market of people who have the skills to fix a small electric outboard
motor _and_ can still afford one died with the rest of blue-collar culture and
jobs.

~~~
endgame
Another thing that probably helped is that Dick Smith Electronics moved out of
that space and became Yet Another Consumer Electronics Store.

~~~
brotchie
It's almost as if Dick Smith made exactly the same mistake as RS.

------
sharkweek
One of my favorite writers covered his tenure at RadioShack back in the
early/mid augts

[http://www.sbnation.com/2014/11/26/7281129/radioshack-
eulogy...](http://www.sbnation.com/2014/11/26/7281129/radioshack-eulogy-
stories)

It's one of the funniest/most heartbreaking articles I have ever read, but
also explains a lot about RadioShack's slow spiraling collapse.

~~~
danielweber
This is a wonderful story. A management clusterfudge all the way.

I'm confused by him saying that you don't get commissions until hitting a
threshold that he "barely" hit once, and then a paragraph later he talks about
someone returning phones that got him a $40 commission (so he now loses that
commission).

~~~
HCIdivision17
It is actually likely as bad as you'd imagine. Think about how you could
rationalize paying minimum wage, but then docking the pay. Give up? Read the
comment by `pud in another thread a couple months back:

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8665082](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8665082)

The shorter seems to be that they were always on commision, with a default of
minimum wage. Should a return occur, the commision would be removed, _even if
that dropped them below minimum wage_.

EDIT: Note further in the thread that a Canadian worker always got minimum
wage. So it's possible the sleaze varied by region.

~~~
pjc50
In countries with working legal systems, minimum wage means what it says, so
removing the commission to drop pay below minimum wage levels would be
illegal, and likely to be enforced.

------
sizzzzlerz
Let's stop with all the nostalgia for the Radio Shack of old. They haven't
been that way for 20 years. Their management has completely misread the
market, they abuse their employees, they offer nothing you can't get
elsewhere, usually at better prices, and, frankly, they have become like your
crazy uncle: prone to doing something odd, smells bad, and is constantly
embarrassing the family.

Stick a fork in them, they're done. They won't be missed because there is
nothing there to miss.

~~~
jordanpg
Even at 35, I have a weird feeling like I'm walking into a religious cult or
being watched when I'm in these stores. I've avoided going into them since I
was young and this has persisted to this day. It has to do with the creepy,
overzealous way the employees interact with you and the panopticon-like layout
of the stores. I only go to Radio Shack as a last resort and won't miss them.

On the plus side, having lived in California and seen the magic fun that is
Fry's, the minor vacuum left behind by RS might leave door open for something
better. If not, I suppose I can wait a whole 48 hours for something from
Prime.

------
GCA10
I'm amazed they lasted this long. There's a Radio Shack two doors down from my
office. I go in about 5x/year to buy batteries, USB cables or such stuff. Each
time there's a new manager. Or a new clerk. Some are polite; some don't bother
-- but nobody has a clue.

The stores seem totally dependent on weird promotions (buy 16 batteries; get 8
free) or copycat cell-phone deals in an era where there's always a specialized
AT&T or Verizon store within a two minute walk. Meanwhile, they've deskilled
the places to the point that customers can get much better advice from the
reviews on Amazon than from a Radio Shack clerk.

~~~
damon_c
A new RadioShack store JUST opened around the corner from me a few weeks ago.
I assume it was a short term holiday season thing.

~~~
GCA10
Typical big-company clumsiness. The store-opening expert didn't get the memo
about a possible bankruptcy filing. Or if it did arrive, our go-getter decided
that the best way to avoid getting fired was to be right in the middle of a
project that couldn't be canceled.

~~~
pyre
I'm assuming that upper management wants things to be "business as usual"
until the filing, otherwise the news would leak.

------
specialp
Radio Shack cannot make money selling hobbyist things to support their
expensive retail locations. We all love that kind of stuff but admit it, that
business has gone online to places like Adafruit. Even hardcore electronic
component retailers that were in low rent industrial parks, or in my case a
guy that operated out of his basement when he could not afford the rent in his
industrial park have closed.

For years cell phones and people not smart enough to order cables from
Monoprice and the like had powered their business. People like me would go to
Radio Shack to buy emergency things like a common transistor, or solder, and
also to gobble up their ancient hobbyist stuff on clearance.

There is no model for small electronics stores anymore selling any type of
good. Hell even the big box places like Best Buy are under immense pressure
from online retailers.

~~~
hellgas00
I live in Toronto, Canada where there are a bunch of independent stores that
sell hobbyist electronics and seem to make a good profit doing so, so the
market isn't dead. I like to buy stuff online but there have been plenty of
times where I've been stuck needing a sensor, resistor, or things of that
sort, and don't want to wait for 2 weeks for it to ship from China. It's a
false premise to say that electronic component sales moved online when these
isn't much in the way of a flagship brick and mortar location to purchase
these goods. RS made a choice to move away from a potentially growing market,
a market that they owned and could have expanded, and inevitably pushed their
customers online.

Just my 2c, but I'm amazed that they thought they would move in on BestBuy
(and FutureShop in Canada) territory and be able to compete.

~~~
syntheticnature
I don't disagree, but there is a scale issue Radio Shack has. As a quick
example:

Population of Toronto, Canada: 2.5 million.

From [http://wheretobuy.klab.ca/](http://wheretobuy.klab.ca/) I see seven
stores mentioned for electronic components.

Population (not including the large college population which perhaps adds
another 33%) of the county where I live: 155,400.

Number of Radio Shack stores at present: 3. (There used to be two more.)

Even assuming the list for Toronto is only half of the relevant stores, Radio
Shack would have to close down a lot of stores to resize similarly for the
hobbyist market.

~~~
astrodust
There was, at their peak, around twenty Radio Shack stores in Toronto. They
were one of the few retailers in the 1980s and 1990s that would sell you one
of something. Larger distributors were harder to deal with, and were geared
towards thousands.

Now there's about a dozen stores that sell components to the hobbyist
community and university students that need parts for projects. They have a
selection way better than Radio Shack ever did.

It's not how many people live in a town that's the factor: It's how many
university students you have. The more universities, the more likely you are
to have an electronics savvy population. Perhaps the unusually high
concentration where you are is due to that factor.

~~~
syntheticnature
I'll note they're closing one, and of the three, it was the one that still had
electronic parts bins. (Admittedly, one of the two others stocks a number of
computer parts one might be desperate for, notably replacement power
supplies.)

------
gregd
I graduated from high school in the 80s. My first computer was a TRS-80 WITH a
cassette tape to save my programs to. How RS went from being ubiquitous to a
laughing stock is beyond me, but I remember seeing the downfall during the 90s
when they started offering really cheap toys (like remote controlled cars).

They almost became embarrassing.

~~~
subdane
While I share your sentiment, in actuality they were likely already a laughing
stock in 1985 when this Jobs interview ran, "Radio Shack is totally out of the
picture. They have missed the boat. Radio Shack tried to squeeze the computer
into their model of retailing, which in my opinion often meant selling second-
rate products or low-end products in a surplus-store environment."
[http://longform.org/stories/playboy-interview-steve-
jobs](http://longform.org/stories/playboy-interview-steve-jobs)

~~~
ghaff
I find there's a lot of romantic nostalgia. I accept that there are doubtless
examples where Radio Shack stores were hubs for ham radio or electronics
activity or whatever. And, certainly, the average skills of Radio Shack
employees are a lot lower than they were at one time. But Radio Shack always
sold huge quantities of crap (e.g. laughable stereo gear) to people who mostly
didn't know any better along with generally overpriced cables etc. at a time
when random components weren't necessarily all that easy to find elsewhere.

I remember Radio Shack being useful when I needed an adapter or a cable. But I
can't say that I ever particularly loved the place.

------
jhulla
Radio Shack has a warm place in my childhood: the Radio Shack Battery Club.

As a poor nerdlet in the early 80s, all my electronic projects were built with
scavenged parts. Even so, I needed batteries. Batteries were not cheap - say
compared to buying a gallon of milk for the family.

So, I had my parents and siblings sign up with me for the Radio Shack battery
club at the two Radio Shacks nearby. These battery cards entitled you to a
free battery once a month. My family supported my habit - and between the two
stores and our cards - I had a steady supply of batteries. Those batteries
powered my devices and my development as an engineer.

The first time I saw Fry's and WeirdStuff in the Bay Area in the early 90s, I
think my heart skipped multiple beats. Seeing a DigiKey catalog for the first
time had a similar effect.

I haven't stepped in a RS in more than a decade. I am sorry to see them go.

------
easytiger
Are paywalls ok on HN?

[http://uk.businessinsider.com/r-radioshack-prepares-to-
file-...](http://uk.businessinsider.com/r-radioshack-prepares-to-file-for-
bankruptcy-wsj-2015-1?r=US)

~~~
egeozcan
A tip: Try searching the title on Google. They seem to give you some free
articles per day when you come through a Google search.

~~~
ssewell
I've also had success searching for the exact URL in Google. It usually
appears as the first link and you can bypass the paywall.

------
quadstick
As a Geezer Geek, this breaks my heart. When I was eight years old, my mom
dragged me along to the Tandy Leather Company so my sister could buy some
leather for some stupid project. In the corner of that huge store was a
section with all kinds of electronic parts. I was fascinated. My mom bought me
a crystal radio kit, some books and a CK722 germanium transistor, and later,
an Ocean Hopper shortwave receiver (all of which I still have). For another
generation, it will be the TRS-80 that was their first love, electronically
speaking. Before they lost their way, Radio Shack started a lot of engineers
down their career path and it is very sad to see this outcome.

------
whistlerbrk
Why couldn't they just stay a hobbyist store instead of schlepping cell
phones? This stuff is cyclical and we're on the up-cycle now as they are going
bankrupt. Instead of having their employees push plans they could have had
them grow and share their knowledge of electronics. Sad, this place was near
and dear to me for a bit.

~~~
kabdib
A couple years ago I needed a capacitor _right now_ and bopped down to the
local RS. The components were located in a the back of the store, in a bin
they obviously were not proud of having. I found my part and went to the
register.

The clerk just waved me off and told me to take the capacitor and leave. He
wasn't interested in ringing it up.

Radio Shack is full of rot, from the top to the bottom, and I am surprised
they have lasted this long. They will only be missed when you need that twenty
cent part _now_ , for two bucks.

~~~
dragonwriter
I don't know how much this is true recently, but RS used to be full of
microoptimizing incentives which would encourage this kind of behavior, such
as incentives tied to average sales size or percent of sales that included
particular categories of items that the company wanted to move.

So, I can see why a small ticket sale that would bring down those kind of
metrics for an associate would be against that associate's rational self
interest, while letting someone walk out of the store with a capacitor -- even
though it might make _store_ metrics look worse after the next inventory, and
certainly isn't better for the corporation -- would be considered less
harmful.

------
joeyh
Good riddance. May whatever small void it leaves be filled by a diversity of
mom-and-pop electronics stores. There's one such store in my area that seems
to do well enough catering to the professional/hobby markets, with a couple
locations, and has been around for decades. (Oddly it also has free popcorn.)

~~~
orthecreedence
Agreed, in Santa Cruz there's Santa Cruz Electronics, which has tons of
microprocessors/microcontrollers, tons of bare components, higher-level
electronics, etc. It's what Radio Shack used to be before it turned into a
consumer electronics reseller with outrageous markups and one tiny section
tucked away in the back that has maybe 4 resistors and a couple of switches.

I haven't been in SC electonics for a few years, but last time I was there I
was like a kid in a candy store.

However, it always sucks to hear people will be losing their jobs. I feel for
the Radio Shack employees.

~~~
Florin_Andrei
I'll have to visit that store next time I'm in SC.

------
DigitalSea
I live in Australia, so when I was a kid it wasn't called Radioshack here, but
rather Tandy Electronics (same company though, different name). You could by
electronic components; resistors, LED's, hobbyist kits, breadboards and all
kinds of electric items. Then they started moving out of the space into more
consumer focused electronics, eventually you couldn't even buy a a packet of
LED's like you once could. Eventually forgoing non-consumer focused electronic
components altogether.

Such a shame that a company as iconic as Radioshack is filing for bankruptcy.
Would things have been different if they stayed in the electronic
component/hobbyist side of things? Who knows. They obviously got out of the
components game for a reason. Here in Australia we have Jaycar Electronics
which is exactly how I remember Tandy being when I was a kid. Electronic
components, educational breadboard/electronic kits, weird gadgets, DIY kits
and more. They seem to be doing fairly well and best of all: no televisions or
computers in sight.

------
tankenmate
Lack of vision; blinkers on and plow forward. Of all the customer bases out
there you would think that most Radio Shack customers would be far more
favourable to ordering via the Internet and preferring delivery. I'm a bit
surprised they didn't move more towards a RS / Farnell business with the
occasional small shop front combined with a warehouse model (a la Argos).

------
Animats
This bankruptcy has been long anticipated. It's time.

There was a time when it was hard for hobbyists to buy parts. Even in Silicon
Valley. I used to have a commercial account with Hamilton/Avnet just so I
could order and pick up at will-call. The alternative was ordering from Allied
Radio, with two week delivery and a 5% error rate. Now, anybody can order from
Digi-Key, and get delivery tomorrow if you pay for express shipping. There's
not even a minimum order.

If you're looking for a business model, consider a hobbyist front end to Digi-
Key and Mouser. Digi-Key has about 40 options for a 1/10 watt 100 ohm leaded
resistor. This overwhelms many hobbyists. (Do I need flame resistance?)
Octopart does some of this, but a social component is needed. Something like
Github for hardware, with design files, bills of materials, issue tracking,
etc.

~~~
sam
Sam from Octopart here. Our Common Parts Library is an effort to distill
commonly used components for connected device applications,
[https://octopart.com/common-parts-library](https://octopart.com/common-parts-
library) .

But the list doesn't have common prototyping components like radially leaded
resistors (it's almost all SMT parts). I could imagine a "Common Parts Library
for Prototyping". I'd love to hear feedback on something like this.

Also, check out our lightweight Bill of Materials Manager,
[https://octopart.com/bom-lookup/manage](https://octopart.com/bom-
lookup/manage) It has built in collaboration features - it can be
collaboratively edited much like Google Docs.

------
jack-r-abbit
The day before Christmas I found myself at a Radio Shack looking for jumper
wires to go with an Arduino/breadboard kit I bought my daughter for Christmas.
(A mix up with my wife's Amazon order left us suddenly without jumpers.
Desperate times, desperate measures.) What a sad place. I ended up with some
crappy jumpers that cost 2x more than the good ones we wanted from Amazon. The
component section of RS is a joke. They used to be my go to in college (early
90s) when I needed components for a project. Now they are just trash. I left
there Christmas Eve thankful I had some jumpers but they have now joined
Walmart on my list of places I will only go if I am truly desperate and have
exhausted all other options.

~~~
wozniacki
May I ask why is it that Walmart (for you) belongs in the same bin as
Radioshack, in terms of the variety of offerings and availability?

Do you prefer Target or some other store for a greater selection or does your
household mostly shop at Amazon?

I've heard Walmart was making a shift to smaller, approachable and more
centrally located stores and was curious to see if this was the reason why.

~~~
glesica
Walmart makes me feel depressed. Piles of awful, consumeristic shit
everywhere. This, plus the fact that it is owned and run by truly terrible (in
my opinion) people mean I go there only as an absolute last resort. I try to
buy most things at non-chain or smaller chain stores (especially those that
are known to treat their employees better) when I can.

~~~
Tloewald
I prefer not to shop at a place where the employees don't look like they can
make ends meet. I'm not sure that is helping or hurting people on the whole,
but it makes me feel better.

I wish places which underpaid their staff allowed you to pay a surcharge that
would be distributed to the staff (plenty of supermarkets, petsmart, etc. will
try to hit you up for small charitable donations -- I'd much rather add a few
dollars to my bill to pay the employees better).

------
ssharp
I was building an electronics project last year and found it to be very
helpful to go to my local RadioShack and just browse the components. Although
they didn't have a huge selection and the employees knew nothing about any of
it, any selection is greater than the selection anywhere else. For people who
don't live in a big city, many don't have access to electronic components
offline. You can get stuff on Amazon and SparkFun, with much more selection,
but sometimes it's nicer to just browse in person, even if it's tucked away in
the back corner.

------
zackmorris
I'm late to the game on this but Radio Shack has one thing the rest of us
don't, and that's access to capital. I think they should sell the company to
their employees and form a collective with borrowing power in order to fund
some of the more compelling technologies that are sorely needed today like
rooftop wifi meshnets or burner wimax cell phones that can be used to tether
laptops for free. There are so many crowdfunded projects that would benefit
from a technology co-op taking the place of institutional investors.

Then go back to their roots as a local store that keeps certain niche products
in stock. For example, when I need parts from microchip.com, I should be able
to have them sent to my local Radio Shack and pick them up the next day (if
they aren't already there). So basically their business model would be to be a
local subsidiary of amazon.com that specializes in up and coming technology.
The information about who’s buying what and what they are building could be
more valuable than sales.

I guess to summarize they would be a farmer’s market for technology, where
people could buy shelf space and showcase their creations, which as far as I
can tell doesn’t exist in most cities. We came close where I live during the
Great Recession when big box stores were closing like crazy and the space was
converted to bazaars. Unfortunately there were a lot more nicknacks than
crafts because nobody had any money to buy anything. It would have been so
awesome to be able to buy things like solar panels or hydroponics garden kits
but usually we’d spend our money on a chair or whatever.

------
bythe4mile
With the maker movement picking up, I almost feel that RadioShack could have
done so much more in the hobbyist electronics market. They could have had
Arduino kits and additions, 3D printers, drone parts etc, instead of just the
go to store for cables.

I can almost see the RadioShack of the bygone days that hosted electronic
clubs which could have had a comeback.

~~~
spiritplumber
They tried to do this, at least over here (North SF bay). The local RS has
(had?) Arduino and Propeller kits. At crazy prices, sure, but there have been
a couple of "Dammit, it's Sunday and I need to finish this thing by Monday
morning" saves for me.

------
funkdobiest
Last time I was in RadioShack was in the 90's in Washington DC, and I went
there for a connector, and there were literally 20 people in line all buying
minutes for cell phones, with only one person in the store. I thought this was
some sort of hidden camera reality/joke tv show. I just put the item down and
left.

~~~
mistermumble
I remember going to RS stores to buy a 99 cent part and the clerk having to
write, in long hand, on a triplicate form, my name and address and the item,
before entering the amount on a cash register. I refused to give my info, and
he said he could not sell me the part without it, so I said: "OK, my name is
John Doe at 123 Main Street". He looked at me quizically and then wrote it
down on the form without a word.

For a long time I avoided Radio Shack stores because I did not want to go
through this charade. Only when desperate ("I need this connector right now").
The desperate-user scenario is not one for business success, especially when
selling 99 cent parts.

~~~
danielweber
Radio Shack was infamous for collecting customer information. "No, we can't
sell you without this information."

RS will be beloved by business-school types for how many different big
mistakes it made.

------
tommccabe
How soon until Amazon buys the entire chain in order to get a distribution
presence across the country?

~~~
shiftpgdn
As far as I know Radioshack doesn't own any of their stores so they're just
leasing the retail space. Amazon would be better off opening new retail
fronts.

------
whoopdedo
Everyone is thinking about the consumer retail service of Radio Shack. But
there's a lot of small contractors who basically use them as an outsourced
inventory. Phone techs, alarm and AV installers, three out of five times I'm
going to see Radio Shack connectors and resistors in their tool kit. I imagine
the reason most stores keep those parts is not for amateurs but professionals
who don't want to have to wait for UPS and deal with an impatient client.

That must be a business opportunity. If a Radio Shack store near you closes,
stock up on F connectors, solder, and the most common resistor sizes then call
around to contractors letting them know you can supply parts on demand.

------
analog31
I wonder if the proliferation of component types, even for hobbyists, would
just be overwhelming for a brick and mortar store. As a kid, I shopped at
Radio Shack all the time. I designed things around the parts that I knew they
had, but it was still a pretty small selection.

When I got my first Digi-Key catalog (remember when it was about 1/4 inch
thick?) I was just astounded by the variety of parts that I had no idea even
existed, such as interesting IC's. Jameco and Mouser each had their own spin
on what goodies I might like to have.

So I wonder if brick-and-mortar hobbyist electronics parts really still makes
sense in this day and age.

------
joshstrange
I know a lot of people here will defend RS for selling phones/plans because
"They had to" but it marked the LAST time I set foot in a RS when I went to
buy some parts I needed and they tried to sell me a Voyager because "It was
better than an iPhone" (Verizon's "iPhone" they released soon after the iPhone
released). From that moment on I have just ordered what I wanted online.

That coupled with the fact that they stopped staffing with people who knew
anything at all and instead staffed them with people who could sell more
phones.

------
gregd
RadioShack _could_ make a comeback if the Heathkit resurgence ever comes to
fruition: [http://www.heathkit.com/](http://www.heathkit.com/)

They should partner with them!

~~~
fnordfnordfnord
Not going to happen. [https://www.adafruit.com/blog/2014/12/22/update-
heathkit-has...](https://www.adafruit.com/blog/2014/12/22/update-heathkit-has-
updated-their-facebook-page-heathkit-heathkit/)

------
pkaye
It was mentioned by someone here or on Reddit previously that there is a lot
of financial bets going on on whether RadioShack survives or not. In many
cases in the past those who are betting that they survive have given
RadioShack a lifeline in terms of loans and financing in order for them to
survive so that the investors win their bets. I'm sure this is still going on
still and it is no longer a question of fundamentals for RadioShack and rather
a high stakes power game in the financial markets.

------
anigbrowl
_Nearly three years of losses and sales at their lowest levels in decades had
forced the electronics chain to turn to debt investors for financial lifelines
to stay in business. Objections from some of those same lenders prevented the
company from closing hundreds of stores it felt it needed to shut down to stay
afloat._

Sounds like they want to asset-strip the business and only lent money in order
to have more leverage than they would get by purchasing equity on the open
market.

------
jakejake
This kinda sucks because, even though Radio Shack has always sold kinda cheap
quality components, there were always there when you needed an adapter or plug
or cable immediately.

It seems like there are a lot of good ideas here about what market radio shack
can go after, from the 3D maker crowd, to boutique electronics, etc. I think
it would take quite a visionary high up in the RS corporation to make that
happen, but it would be cool.

------
aceperry
It's a shame. RS doesn't really have much anymore in the way of electronics
components, but they have some parts which cater to the arduino/maker
community which helps when in a pinch. I really missed being able to get just
about any electronic component when I moved from the southbay to SF. RS is now
the only place where I could get the bare essentials in San Francisco.

------
brudgers
If I were CEO, I'd become the Linux Store to compete with the Apple Stores and
the Windows Stores -- there are some of those aren't there? There is a market
for main-stream Linux and there's no retail presence.

Going further Radio-Shack has a computer brand, "TRS". Get some low-end white-
box laptops, slap Ubuntu on them and hire a few one-eyed-man-in-the-land-of-
the-blind Linux "gurus" and have at it. It's the modern analogue of HeathKit
but with a more fundamentally useful demographic.

Their real-estate holdings are a match for computer shops - second and third
tier retail space with small footprints. Apple has validated the idea that
computer shops are viable...it's not just the Apple branding that makes them
work, it's also the fact that if you're looking for a computer, you're not in
a place with most of its floor space devoted to televisions.

The other big change is that smartphones and tablets have proved that
operating systems are not that important to users. A lot of people are fine
with an old version of Android rather than something more polished...never
mind the Kindle's success...or all the variation between website widgets and
app interfaces . People have been exposed to a lot of variation, and have
learned adaptation techniques. A computer doesn't need to look like Windows or
OSX to keep people from freaking out.

RadioShack has the experience in high-touch sales and the infrastructure to
pull it off. All that's needed is the will.

~~~
lisper
You should send the RS board a proposal. Maybe they'll hire you.

~~~
brudgers
Doubtful, undoubtedly.

I'm not cut out for schmoozing wealth.

Just for expressing the idea that there may be a space for computer stores.

------
claystu
The best part about this thread are all the recommendations for websites to
replace RadioShack.

------
drum
RadioShack sounds like an incredible opportunity for a blue chip software
company wanting to get into hardware with a brick and mortar presence.
Thousands of retail locations ready to go, all across the US has to be worth
something to somebody.

------
janesvilleseo
Late to the party, but it may be interesting if Best Buy buys them and turns
them all into their Best Buy Mobile stores.

RS already sells a ton of cell phones. Their locations are set up well for
this, and the staff already trained to sell them.

------
nickysielicki
I wanted to get a Beagle Bone Black over the holidays for some project. Didn't
want to wait the 2 days for amazon, I wanted it that same day.

They wanted $100... So I got mine off of amazon for $54. Nuff said.

------
api
This is very sad. Radio Shack was my toy store as a kid, and bears some of the
blame for making me who/what I am today.

------
harmonicon
Urh, anyone think Amazon might buy them? It would be nice for Amazon to have a
physical store to demo Fire products.

------
pnathan
If you live near Seattle, I recommend Vetco on the Eastside. It's what
RadioShack should be.

------
smackfu
What happens to the franchise stores when the parent company goes bankrupt?

~~~
bluedino
Not sure in their case. But the Sbarro's around here all turned into generic
pizza places, as far as I can tell everything tastes about the same.

~~~
boydjd
Huh? Sbarro's still exists...

~~~
plingamp
Yea man! It's my favorite pizza place in NYC :)

~~~
twangist
If THAT's your favorite pizza in _NYC_ , of all places, ... well, you need to
sample the local wares more. Or you have no idea what "pizza" means.

------
zwieback
It's about time - the RadioShack I grew up with died years ago.

------
kaa2102
It would be sad to see my go-to electronics DIY-spot go away.

------
ck2
I still miss Heathkit

Radio Shack not so much in the age of the internet.

------
aaronem
The clearance sales will be fun.

------
shams93
time to grab an arduino for like $10 just before the local one closes its
doors lmfao

------
dlss
farewell old friend

------
dewitt
Apologies about the link to a restricted site. I didn't notice it since I
landed on the article via a search.

Out of curiosity, since several comments here complained about the paywall
("paywalls are nsfl"), and an equal number or more on HN run adblockers and/or
openly dislike ads in general (the whole "you are the product" meme), how _do_
you think news sites should monetize?

Seems like newspapers still add value in our lives (I know the WSJ does for
me), but if they don't find a way to make money, either through paid
subscriptions or advertisements, they'll be out of business just as fast as
RadioShack.

~~~
debacle
People who use adblock are just entitled. They are manipulating the tragedy of
the commons and then absolving themselves of any responsibility.

They'll defend their right to use adblock militantly and then go pirate a game
using the same defense. It's a personal moral defense rather than a logical
justification.

~~~
angersock
Or, you know, we just don't want to have to deal with bad ads cluttering up
our content, or ads that spy on and track us, or ads that start playing sound
for no apparent reason, or ads that break our browsers.

Yeah, no, on second thought--it's probably that we're actually pirates. That's
a much more obvious answer.

~~~
hsod
This isn't a rebuttal against the tragedy of the commons argument. Commercial
fisherman "just don't want to have to deal with" catching less fish, but
overfishing is still a problem.

~~~
angersock
If I put a bowl of M&Ms out on my front lawn, and then complain that nobody
else refills it from time to time, is that the tragedy of the commons, or me
just being a fool?

~~~
elinchrome
I would gladly fill your bowl with m and ms.

------
ben174
Even CEO Can't Figure Out How RadioShack Still In Business

[http://www.theonion.com/articles/even-ceo-cant-figure-out-
ho...](http://www.theonion.com/articles/even-ceo-cant-figure-out-how-
radioshack-still-in-b,2190/)

------
debacle
Can we not link to stories behind the WSJ paywall?

~~~
matthewmcg
Agreed, but for this one you get free access if you are referred from Google:

[https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&c...](https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CCEQqQIwAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.wsj.com%2Farticles%2Fradioshack-
prepares-bankruptcy-
filing-1421279360&ei=nua3VM_kCZb_sATjoILoBA&usg=AFQjCNFopuCPFpIHxRkKjDhAPTnV5PqK1g&bvm=bv.83640239,d.cWc)

~~~
linker3000
Doesn't get me in. (UK)

