

RadioShack Quarter Was Bad, but ‘Problem Began 30 Years Ago’ - velodrome
http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/the-exchange/radioshack-quarter-bad-problem-began-30-years-ago-195048648.html?l=1

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mindcrime
To their credit, they've made a couple of interesting moves lately... Radio
Shack stores now stock Arduino kit, for example. And they seem to be giving at
least a _little_ bit of attention to re-embracing the DIY community.

I'm not sure that that's enough though. I do think that embracing electronics
hobbyists and makers/hackers, DIY'ers would be a good step. Yes, you're still
competing against Amazon.com and online retail in general, but my thesis is
that hobbyists, working on a project, who need a part "right now" would be
willing to drive to a nearby Radio Shack, and pay a few dollars extra, so they
can get their $GIZMO working.

More discrete components, more microcontrollers, more robotics parts, more
tools, etc., is my suggestion for RS. Yes, it's niche, but isn't most local
retail going to be forced to go niche?

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velodrome
The electronic section keeps getting smaller and their cell phone section
keeps on growing. They are kind of losing their differentiation from
competitors.

I personally think they got on the arduino a bit late. If they were smart they
should stock raspberry pis.

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mindcrime
_I personally think they got on the arduino a bit late. If they were smart
they should stock raspberry pis._

Could be. But Arduino is still pretty popular. Heck, RPi isn't even shipping
in mass consumption quantities yet. I definitely _would_ like to see RS carry
Raspberry Pi though, no disagreement there!

If they were smart and were to play their cards well, I think they could still
become a strong (if smaller) company by getting back to their roots and
embracing DIY / hackers / makers. Imagine if you could buy a Makerbot, or a
RepRap kit at Radio Shack... or even just all (or most) of the parts needed to
build something like that.

