Radio Shack Bankrupcy

[ishelly404]

Apparently, there are rumors that Radio Shack is going to file for bankruptcy as soon as February.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2015/01/15/radio-shack-bankruptcy-report/21799233/

It's a shame, but I guess they have had this coming for a while. 

[Corporate666]

It is a shame.  They are probably largely responsible for many of our interests' in electronics.  Unfortunately their business model - like that of buying music in stores - is just incompatible with how people consume in the modern world.  Their overhead costs for B&M stores are unsustainable given the thin margins of electronics and competition from places like Amazon and Walmart. 

Best Buy is up next. 

[dannyf]

The rumors have been around for quite sometime now. Inevitable and in my view necessary.

[cosmicray]

Once upon a time RS stocked a decent variety of parts, and replacement tubes ! The variety of possible semiconductors today dwarfs the ability of any but the largest suppliers to maintain stock.

My first RS product was a little red plastic box, with spring loaded clips that held resistors, caps, diodes, etc. Digging around on Goog, led me to this picture ...
http://my.core.com/~sparktron/KITS3.JPG

They sold untold thousands of those kits.

[pickle9000]

Yup, it's a sad one. On the other hand I'm pleased they where around when I needed them. It's another ball game now.

I wonder if the brand will be taken over by another company? Be kinda neat if a company already in the online market, (hobby electronics) picked it up.

[nixfu]

Sad if ask me.   

[Rory]

Once upon a time RS stocked a decent variety of parts, and replacement tubes ! The variety of possible semiconductors today dwarfs the ability of any but the largest suppliers to maintain stock.

My first RS product was a little red plastic box, with spring loaded clips that held resistors, caps, diodes, etc. Digging around on Goog, led me to this picture ...
http://my.core.com/~sparktron/KITS3.JPG

They sold untold thousands of those kits.

I built one of those Goofy-Lite kits. I loved it. I wish I kept it. Can't beat the flashing neon bulbs. Leds just aren't the same.

I built the wireless AM mike.  The plastic they made the box out of had a really low melting point. I remember when I asked them for a blue LED and they said they didn't make them... it was about 30 years too early!

[David_AVD]

My first RS product was a little red plastic box, with spring loaded clips that held resistors, caps, diodes, etc. Digging around on Goog, led me to this picture ...
http://my.core.com/~sparktron/KITS3.JPG

I had one of those as a kid.  You could wire it to flash the neons sequentially or randomly.   

[zapta]

Dive! Dive! Dive!

[free_electron]

Last chance to get a coup,e of spo256...

[dannyf]

Once upon a time RS stocked a decent variety of parts

They stop'd doing that because the market went away, the customers went away. The business model simply became out-dated -> selling parts / kits to hobbyist is no longer a valid business for a company as large as radioshack.

So today they are primarily a cell phone / service retailer.

[RedOctobyr]

I think it's unfortunate if they go away.

I'm not an electronics hobbyist, I don't have a collection of components already sitting around. So there have been a bunch of times that I needed some resistors, a switch, etc, and just stopped at RS.

They are the only easy source of components that I know of around me, we don't have Fry's or other chains that carry things like that.

I can mail order parts, but that doesn't help if I want to try something today/tomorrow.

Sent using Tapatalk.

[DIPLover]

How about building yourself a small stock of common components so you don't have to DRIVE anywhere for a resistor?

[RedOctobyr]

I didn't mean to make this veer off-topic. But yes, I recently started looking at component assortment kits on eBay, etc, after discovering those exist. For a moderate cost, I could have a whole bunch of stuff available (for the price of a handful of items from RS).

Of course, it's just about guaranteed that if I suddenly needed something, it wouldn't be in the stuff I'd already bought  But it's still a good idea.

[gregallenwarner]

How about building yourself a small stock of common components so you don't have to DRIVE anywhere for a resistor?

This. Don't get me wrong, the sentimentality of RS closing hits many close to the heart, but I find that since they've neglected to update their business model with the times, I'm not saddened by this news at all. I haven't been into a physical store for electronics since I was a kid. It's no longer needed when you buy all your stock ahead of time online.

[DIPLover]

I didn't mean to make this veer off-topic. But yes, I recently started looking at component assortment kits on eBay, etc, after discovering those exist. For a moderate cost, I could have a whole bunch of stuff available (for the price of a handful of items from RS).

Of course, it's just about guaranteed that if I suddenly needed something, it wouldn't be in the stuff I'd already bought  But it's still a good idea.

Well, I have no problem with veering this off-topic, as Radio-Shack has been utterly despisable (in Canada at least) for all my life and I'll be glad to see them go.

But I think it's important for hobbyist to slowly build a small stock of common components, so that you can start a project whenever you feel like it. Even lacking exact values or specific ICs, having say an E12 assortment of 1/4w resistors, common capacitor values, some inductors, basic opamps, 555s, diodes, transistors, voltage regulators and some microcontrollers in your drawers should allow you to at least get started while waiting for the specific stuff.

The problem is actually, WHAT to select for your "parts cache" and that is heavily dependent on what your general interests are.

I like building old-school computers and digital apparatus, so I stock CPUs, memories, GALs, CPLDs, and most 74S and LS devices on top of the very basic "universal" stock.

Someone deeply into RF or power projects would find my stash useless, even though my Excel inventory now list over 500 different parts!

I think we should start compiling lists of the very useful ICs and components by electronic "subfield" or "specialty" so that beginners interested in a certain aspect can get a rough idea what to choose?

Maybe this could be put in the wiki? What do you think?

[dannyf]

For a moderate cost, I could have a whole bunch of stuff available

and after a loooooooooong wait too.

Sure, you pay through your nose for limited inventory at Radioshack. But you get there in minutes for sure, not weeks maybe.

For that, I am willing to pay.

[Zero999]

Once upon a time RS stocked a decent variety of parts

They stop'd doing that because the market went away, the customers went away. The business model simply became out-dated -> selling parts / kits to hobbyist is no longer a valid business for a company as large as radioshack.

The market is still there, Digikey, Farnell, RS components etc. but they're not aimed at the hobbyist. RS did have two separate catalogues at one stage: one for consumer electronics and the other for parts. They could've kept the parts side of the business mail order and separate from the consumer electronics side.

[cosmicray]

Once upon a time RS stocked a decent variety of parts

They stop'd doing that because the market went away, the customers went away. The business model simply became out-dated -> selling parts / kits to hobbyist is no longer a valid business for a company as large as radioshack.

The market is still there, Digikey, Farnell, RS components etc. but they're not aimed at the hobbyist. RS did have two separate catalogues at one stage: one for consumer electronics and the other for parts. They could've kept the parts side of the business mail order and separate from the consumer electronics side.

Having certain small parts available locally is a differentiator. Drop that, and they end up looking like a smaller version of BestBuy. If the parts biz is what's dragging them down, they they are done for. The only positive thing about the consumer electronics side is that they are located in some smaller markets, where BestBuy (and the ilk) would never consider opening up.

[electronics-whiz]

What I saw was there filing for bankruptcy protection. I liked it when I was younger, but so many online sites like electronic goldmine, mouser, MPJA. Many times are cheaper, and better selection.

I think one thing killing radioshack is the people work most the stories they don't seem to tain them, if they do it's lousy. Went there  once for a PS/2 to USB adapter. Employee takes me to the playstation stuff. I said this is for a computer they just look at me confused. A few times I want there there was something on clearance sometimes for some reason was just purged from the register instead of putting it back in they were like here. Stuff was maybe $3 at most, but stuff like that will eat up your margins too. That was when my parents bought me stuff when I was young. I remember still, I don't think was ethical in a few ways, but some of the radioshack stuff is marked up so much from other places it's like even if you do this a few times you'll still make a decent profit on my business. It also shows a big flaw in their setup and should be changed.

They closed local store a few years back I was kind of disappointed, but now I hardly miss it.  I got a decent setup now I have almost all the parts I need just from taking apart junk. The online places have some stuff you'd never even find at a radioshack, a week later you have the stuff.

[dannyf]

Consumer electronics retailing, as an industry, is on the verge of disappearing.

[Fsck]

I agree with DIPLover, radioshack had been consumer junk in Canada for as long as I remember. the most electronicsesque items I've ever purchased were some instantaneous switches. they really never had anything more. the store has been pointless (for electronics) forever. I did come from a town (~20k people) so maybe big city stores might've had a slightly better selection?

[DIPLover]

I find that these days, it's either Shenzhen through eBay or Digikey.

Shenzhen is great once you have tested and bookmarked a couple of "stores", but it takes a month. I order stuff every couple of days, so after a while, I get stuff in the mail all the time and it feels like christmas every day ;-)

Digikey shipping in Canada is $8, $0 if you order over $200, so I usually keep an open order where I slowly add things and press submit once I reach $200 (I'm cheap like that...)

I'm curious about the comments that "Digikey and others don't cather to hobbyists". In what way? Surely they don't refuse your patronage? They ship to my home just fine...

We do still have a few brick-and-mortar electronics "surplus" type stores around here but they sell mostly DJ gear, alarms and PC clones these days. I only go there for transformers and project boxes, if I'm desperate.

There is ONE decent store though with knowledgeable staff (talk to the OLD guy, the young guy is useless...) and a good selection of parts and test equipment, but they have specialized in the "education" market (high-schools and technical colleges mostly) and so are rather expensive. It's a long ride, but if I want something TODAY, I got there.

So that's ONE store, in a metro area of 3 million people...

[Richard Crowley]

There is virtually no alternative if you need a generic electronic component NOW. 
Of course their selection of components gradually dwindled, but has improved somewhat in recent years.

But the one MOST IRREPLACEABLE product is their Enercell Adaptaplug range of power plugs.
They have a range of somewhere around 30~40 different power connectors (mostly those "inverted phone" plugs of endless different sizes)
And then they have a range of AC and DC "wall warts" of various voltage and current ratings.
You can go down to a storefront with your gadget and try all the different plugs to find the one that fits properly,
and then buy a wall-wart of appropriate rating, and typically the Adaptaplug for your gadget is bundled in the price.
I don't know of ANY online source for this WIDE VARIETY of power plugs ANYWHERE online (except Radio Shack, of course)
And even if they WERE available online, that would be of no help in identifying the ID and OD of the plug that you need.
So this is one service/product from Radio Shack that is unequaled anywhere else that I am aware of.

[Sigmoid]

They stop'd doing that because the market went away, the customers went away. The business model simply became out-dated -> selling parts / kits to hobbyist is no longer a valid business for a company as large as radioshack.

So today they are primarily a cell phone / service retailer.

That is simply not true. In Europe, the German chain Conrad is doing exactly what RS was doing back in the heyday, and is making a decent profit.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conrad_Electronic

RadioShack simply made a bad business decision dozens of bad business decisions, and as a result, went down. It has let down everyone, from its fans to its employees (see link below). It's sad, but the RadioShack most of you are sad to lose has been lost decades ago.
http://www.sbnation.com/2014/11/26/7281129/radioshack-eulogy-stories