
The Lost Tribes of RadioShack: Tinkerers Search for New Spiritual Home - pg
http://www.wired.com/magazine/2010/04/ff_radioshack
======
sriram_sun
<http://www.sparkfun.com/> \- Best place on the web IMO. Great resources and
support. They are incredible. The founder started the company right out of
college (CU Boulder). He gave a talk in a kick-ass embedded design course I
was taking in CU. I think they've been around for 6-8 years and had been
growing at 100% every 6 months for a while. Don't know how it they are doing
right now (pretty well I'm sure). The web site is always chock full of nicely
organized articles and videos.

~~~
SpacemanSpiff
Agreed. Their CEO Nathan Seidle gave a talk in one of my classes at CU and
seems like a great guy. We also took a tour of Sparkfun and their facility is
really amazing. They have a great selection of parts/gadgets available for
"hardware hackers".

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joezydeco
The internet and Digi-Key replaced RadioShack for me a long time ago.

Digi-Key sells _everything_ , and will let you buy in onesies and twosies
without screwing you on the price. Maybe Monoprice for cables, but that's
rare.

The one time I needed a DB-9 gender changer in a hurry and paid freaking $20
for it was the day I decided I was done with RadioShack. You served a great
purpose, dear friend, but times have changed. I still have my Pocket PC-1 for
the memories.

~~~
rbanffy
It's not the same as walking into a physical store. You get an awful lot of
ideas by looking at what's available, kind of improvisation engineering.

I am very happy to live within walking distance from São Paulo's "electronics
district" (it's called Santa Efigênia, for the name of one of the streets
around which lots of electronics (some of very uncertain origin), component
and junkyards abound. Many items carry heavy import taxes and counterfeit
items are sold on the street. I tend to go to the adjacent streets where the
least mainstream stores are located. Those are far more interesting.

Walking there is always an expedition to a strange land. I usually get the
stuff I planned to get, but often with lots of stuff I didn't knew I needed
when I left home.

I know physical stores cannot compete with the internet and its zero-friction-
commerce, but those places will be missed when they go.

~~~
sekou
I think emerging economies in the world would take much stronger to the
original concept of Radio Shack. Since we've grown a "throw away instead of
fix" economy, the U.S. doesn't create nearly as much demand anymore... But
there are plenty of places that would.

~~~
rbanffy
Sadly, "trow away instead of fix" is becoming the norm for any electronic
device. Working with SMDs by hand is doeable, but whoever can do it should go
to med school and become a brain surgeon.

~~~
rbanffy
"throw" "doeable"... Sorry, folks. That's what I get from typing on an iPod
before I wake up.

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anigbrowl
_“You walk into a regular RadioShack and it’s become like a neurosis,” Cohen
says. “‘Sir, can I sell you a cell phone today? How old is your cell phone?
What about your family, do they have cell phones?’”_

Depressingly true. Of course they have to worry about the bottom line, but I
really doubt the long-term future viability of becoming a mini Best Buy - if
all they sell is mid-priced consumer goods, I have no incentive to buy there
rather than on eBay for.

Where they are really useful to me are for speedy supply of things like
batteries, media, and accessories (eg specialist cables) which I might need at
short notice and in unusual quantities or configurations (compared to
consumers). I have a feeling that that won't last, though.

~~~
docgnome
I was reminded of why I don't go into Radio Shack when I had to go get a watch
battery there the other day. They keep trying to foist a cell phone off on me.
If I had wanted a cell phone I would have said "Hi, I would like to buy a cell
phone." not, "Hi, I need a replacement for this battery." Do people actually
buy phones because of this tactic? It's just plain rude to try to sell me a
phone multiple times when I've already made it clear that all I want to do is
buy a battery.

Edit: After rereading this, I think I've turned into a crotchety old man at
23. I'm half surprised I didn't wave a cane at the whippersnappers and tell
them to get off my lawn.

~~~
billswift
I quit going to Radio Shack for batteries when I discovered they didn't have
anything any more exotic than what was at Wal-mart for a fraction of the cost.
And Wal-mart has better hours.

~~~
docgnome
Wal-mart is bad for my blood pressure. 15 checkout stands, only one of which
is ever open, with a mile and a half long line, employees that are no where to
be found, and when you can find one he/she doesn't know anything. I can't go
in there anymore.

------
sheldonwt
"But his shop is a lone outpost; in a single generation, the American who
built, repaired, and tinkered with technology has evolved into an entirely new
species: the American who prefers to slip that technology out of his pocket
and show off its killer apps. Once, we were makers. Now most of us are users."

So humbling and true. Most people will throw out any given piece of technology
rather than try and repair it. And speak of building something yourself,
that's practically unheard of. Maybe it's only people around me who think and
act this way, but I'm 22 and all these people aren't going anywhere.

~~~
yesimahuman
I really don't agree with this. Maybe we were able to fix simple electronics.
Now, you really have to know what you are doing to mess with an iPhone (and
willing to void the warranty). I don't see anything bad with the trend. Most
people wouldn't have "made" anything before, and they won't now. There are
just more users in general.

------
joeyh
Maybe the trick is to think outside the mass consumer box.

My small town (pop 30,000) has a electronics parts store (part of a regional
chain of 5 in Tennessee) that seems to do well catering to contracters in
electronic-related fields (security, A/V, electricians, medical, etc). So,
when I shop there, there's a different feel and more paperwork than a
consumer-level store like Rat Shack. (Also free popcorn.) But they still have
shelves and shelves, and bins and bins of board-level parts. Just look at
these pics. <http://shieldselectronics.com/bpics.htm>

------
sachinag
Really? There isn't a link to <http://www.octopart.com> here?

Goddammit folks! Go find your parts on Octopart and help a YC company out.

~~~
joezydeco
Why isn't Digi-Key in the vendor list? That would help. Otherwise, very very
nice site. Will use more often!

~~~
sam
We'd love to get Digi-Key on the vendor list but they've chosen not to list
with us yet. Please let them know you want to see them on Octopart: webmaster
-at- digikey.us

------
iamwil
oddly enough, there is a market for do-it-yourself still. I don't know how
big, but interest in sparkfun, make magazine, makerbot, and arduino signifies
it's anything but dead to me.

~~~
thunk
That's precisely where Radio Shack should be focusing its effort. They should
outfit their stores with high-end 3d printers and fabrication machines and
retool themselves as a sort of Hardware Kinko's. _Some_ one's going to fill
that niche Real Soon Now, regardless.

~~~
ebiester
It's still too soon.

That said, when it is time, Radio Shack can always move into that space too.
However, what's more likely is that fab machines will come down in price
quickly enough that people can have their own.

~~~
thunk
Sooner than you may think [1]. And we all have printers in our home, but even
now go to specialty shops for our more exotic or higher volume jobs. Why would
it be any different with 3D printing? And since, in this vision, they'll also
be stocking all the electronics prototyping hardware, they'll be a one-stop
shop for the emergent DIY robotics scene. Radio Shack should absolutely be
planning for this _now_ if they have aspirations in this direction.

[1]
[http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=3d+printer+cost+dro...](http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=3d+printer+cost+dropping&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=)

------
grinich
Here's a link to the non-paginated version:
<http://www.wired.com/magazine/2010/04/ff_radioshack/all/1>

------
Gormo
When I was in high school in the late '90s, I found an old discarded TRS-80
Model 4 that apparently still worked. I wanted to tinker with it, but it had
no hard drive, and I had no software, so I walked into the local Radio Shack
store, and asked the manager if they still supported the TRS-80.

The manager _special ordered a copy of TRS-DOS on 5.25" floppies from the
Tandy warehouse at no charge_ , gave me a catalog of the software and
peripherals still available, and told me to come back whenever I needed
support or information about the system.

It's a pity they're no longer like this. They can't really compete against
Best Buy, CompUSA, Circuit City, and all of the online consumer electronics
stores, and now they no longer really serve the niche that was the basis of
their original success. I'll miss Radio Shack.

------
rbanffy
It's a classic story of management by managers. You just can't hire any
generic executive and expect it to work. If all the manager knows is
management, all the manager will see are numbers. Some things are the soul of
the company.

We don't expect a psychiatrist to be able to run a restaurant.

------
slapshot
Fry's.

Period.

It's a west coast thing, but it should be a clue that the first one was in the
heart of Silicon Valley. Aisle after aisle of computer components, electrical
components, and truly random stuff (Mace next to hard drives, LED glowsticks
next to cases, etc).

An electrophile's dream.

~~~
naturalized
Fry's are not all the same. The only one that has a decent components section
is in Palo Alto. Other stores, in San Jose, Mountain View etc do not have
anything.

~~~
kijiki
There is no Fry's in Mountain View. You probably mean the one in Sunnyvale.
Which has a freaking original Varian Magnetron.

------
noonespecial
Here's some nostalgia for all. Its all the Radio Shack catalogs from the
wayback in a beautifully done from.

<http://www.radioshackcatalogs.com/index.html>

------
ck2
Anyone remember Heathkit? The real DIY shop?

------
jasonlbaptiste
There has to be room to fill this gap. Radioshack still has some cables I've
needed, but it's missed some as well: ie- mini sata cables for slim optical
drives.

------
mkramlich
I'll second the recommendation of SparkFun as heir apparent, and add Make
magazine.

~~~
yellowbkpk
SparkFun is awesome, but sometimes I need to have that electronic piece right
away so I can finish my project this weekend. It would be awesome if there was
enough of a market to have electronics parts stores in most cities.

~~~
alt219
I highly recommend You-Do-It Electronics Center in Needham, MA for those in
the Greater Boston metro area. It's better even than the golden years of Radio
Shack. If you need parts, this is your store.

<http://www.youdoitelectronics.com/>

Edit: added link

Edit: moved comment from top-level to this thread; seemed more apropos

~~~
ericb
Until I went in, I had imagined You-Do-It as like a make-your-own pottery type
of place, except with instructors and kits showing you how to make radios and
toasters instead of pottery. This idea was very exciting to me...

~~~
chronomex
I am currently employed at a retail startup in Seattle that could be described
this way!

<http://www.metrixcreatespace.com/>

~~~
ericb
Wow, this looks amazing. I wish there was a Boston branch!

