Speaking of Radio Shack

[Ampera]

The last time I went into radio shack was to buy an HDMI cable for a new STB.

For a 3 or 5 foot cable (Can't remember)
with bog standard connectors (No gold plated)

They wanted fourty dollars.

US dollars.

Fourty for an HDMI cable.
 
I am looking at newegg now and I see they have longer ones for 10 bucks.
And with HDMI it either works or it doesn't.

Just looked on Amazon

http://www.amazon.com/AmazonBasics-High-Speed-Hdmi-Cable-6-5-Feet/dp/B003L1ZYYM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1423250374&sr=8-1&keywords=HDMI+Cable

Their own brand, 6.5 feet. 5 dollars.

Wow.

[Zero999]

Even Maplin are much cheaper than that!

I remember when RadioShack was here in the UK under the name Tandy and it was just as bad. £1 for a 555 timer and that was at 1994's prices.

[Tandy]

To be fair to RadioShack it isn't just them that look pricy. Retail space costs a fortune and this is why record shops, book stores and many other types of retailer have disappeared. The economics just don't add up, set-up a warehouse in some struggling neighbourhood where the government will give you all sorts of tax breaks and subsidies because you are bringing employment to the area. Sell on-line where your customers are equally likely to come from affluent areas where real estate costs 10x more than your warehouse and you can easily undercut everyone that has a presence in that area. Not only do you have high real estate overheads you have to have staff that are just there to assist customers, on-line is self service so you just have pickers that chuck stuff in boxes.

Basically the retail model is dead apart from things that have a large instant demand such as groceries. While people say they like the convenience of buying instant in store the reality is that for the majority the inconvenience of having to wait for delivery is offset by the significantly lower costs.

[nctnico]

Not only that. I'm also noticing a decline in the variety of products available in retail stores. Nowadays I even order building  materials online because visiting the regular home improvement stores has proved to be a waste of time on multiple occasions.

[cosmicray]

Basically the retail model is dead apart from things that have a large instant demand such as groceries. While people say they like the convenience of buying instant in store the reality is that for the majority the inconvenience of having to wait for delivery is offset by the significantly lower costs.

The problem with that, is that the package delivery folks understand it all too well, and they are trying to milk that segment to death. Package delivery prices have risen in sync with the rising cost of fuel. USPS is trying to squeeze every ounce of efficiency, but upwards they keep going.

[dannyf]

the reality is that for the majority the inconvenience of having to wait for delivery is offset by the significantly lower costs.

That's certainly true for some people - I don't have a sense as to how big that population is.

However, there are also a portion of the population - again, I don't have a sense as to how big that population is - that is not as price sensitive and they value "instant gratification' a lot more than others. Where I live it is not uncommon for stores to mail out "$50 welcome gift cards" to anyone for in-store purchases, where a basic tie starts at $100 each and a shirt $250 each, and in-store consultation and wine are "free".

On a side note, that example shows you how "free" can be very expensive very quickly, .

Unfortunately, I don't think the hobbyist market is one where such a business model can work -> thus Radioshack's certain demise.

[nctnico]

It's not about the hobbiest market but in general times are bad for most shops selling common household items and clothes. Over the last few years about a dozen large retail chains have dissapeared in the NL. Also the remaining department store chians in the NL are on the edge of bankruptcy or closing shops rapidly.

The higher end shops for luxury items keep doing good business but that is mostly because the Chinese buy whatever they can get their hands on.