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  #1  
Old 07-18-2018, 10:20 PM
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bgadow bgadow is offline
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Radio Shack Coming Back?

Spotted this which I found interesting: a deal to bring mini-Radio Shack stores into Hobby Town locations. Could be a good thing for the few electronics hobbyists who are left.

https://www.dealerscope.com/article/...obbytown-deal/
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Old 07-18-2018, 11:38 PM
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Radio Shack has no chance in hell unless they look at their roots, realize what people liked them for (not TV's, cheap drug dealer phones and headphones) and secure really nice supply channels for electrical components that let them not be immediately be snuffed out again by the likes of Mouser, Digikey or Farnell.
Also an excellent online store and/or catalog.
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Old 07-19-2018, 12:04 AM
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It would be nice to go to a brick and mortar and get 5 resistors or capacitors for much LESS than what 20-400 would cost me from an online vendor...Or order something not in the store and get it in store in a day with no shipping charges (like auto parts stores do).

There are plenty of times in a resto or setup of equipment that I discover I need something not on hand and feel like "I want this now", but usually end up waiting (sometimes months) till I have a $100 order to justify* $6 ~3day economy shipping of the online vendors...I can't picture spending $1K on parts to justify the price of overnight shipping.

*There is no way in hell I'm paying $3-6 to ship under $50 of parts (unless it is a VERY big emergency). If I did that once a week to once a month I'd waste a ton of $ on shipping charges.

What radio shack needs to come back is a new renaissance in Ham radio membership/home brewing. So much of modern electronics is turning/has turned into disposable software based crap that society has lost interest in understanding the hardware. In another 30 years if a once a century or two solar EMP hits and enough of our electronics are not shielded, I can see the world returning to the stone age as the computerized equipment that makes everything dies and no one can fix the tools of the electronics industry without those tools.
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Last edited by Electronic M; 07-19-2018 at 12:11 AM.
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Old 07-19-2018, 05:33 AM
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Ok , so , let me see if I've got this right ;

Radio Shack , all but dead , is gonna be paired up with HobbyTown , which has one foot in the grave ?

Believe me , as a lifelong electronic hobbyist AND RC model airplane hobbyist , I have with great dismay watched the decline of both franchises , due to the ever shrinking and now just about non existent customer base required to keep any retail establishment alive . Do I wish this has great success and revives brick and mortar shopping for both hobbies ? HELL YEA ! Do I think it's got a "snowball's chance in Hell" ? Well , just pop on over to any of the few big model airplane forums and type in "Hobbytown" into the search bar and see what the cheaper on line retailing has done to the once mighty "LHS" (Local Hobby Shop) , Hobbytown being the poor poster child predictor of what's to become of the last brick and mortar hobby establishments .

You can wack ol Frankenstein with the paddles as much as you want , but dead IS dead and sadly the writing IS on the wall for both franchises ....
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Old 07-19-2018, 08:25 AM
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They may come back right after:
Studebaker
Zenith
Digital Equipment Corp.
Burma Shave
Good movies......

No place for them anymore. Practically no home brewing or repairs
happen anymore. We are a small exception but all of us couldnt
keep one person employed selling resistors & caps etc.
And if you want a phone you can already get them anywheres.

73 Zeno
LFOD !
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  #6  
Old 07-19-2018, 09:02 AM
Chip Chester Chip Chester is offline
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RS should take over all the Sprint stores that will be gone when they are bought by T-mobile. Poetic justice, in a way.

But it'll never happen.
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  #7  
Old 07-19-2018, 10:01 PM
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Alternative, Hobby Lobby would be a great place to see a Radio Shack Dealer store be located, as there are many. Quite a few Radio Shack Dealer Stores are still operating, I have one in Madisonville, Tennessee which still is in business.
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Old 07-20-2018, 09:07 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by KentTeffeteller View Post
Alternative, Hobby Lobby would be a great place to see a Radio Shack Dealer store be located, as there are many. Quite a few Radio Shack Dealer Stores are still operating, I have one in Madisonville, Tennessee which still is in business.

Doesn't Hobby Lobby cater to crafts & framing? I don't see how Radio Shack would dovetail with this, unless you're suggesting they could broaden the tent for what they consider hobbies.
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Old 07-20-2018, 12:13 PM
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It's a 'something for the whole family' tactic.
I read elsewhere that Jo Ann Fabrics has laser cutter machines by the hour, with classes.
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  #10  
Old 07-20-2018, 12:24 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by user181 View Post
Doesn't Hobby Lobby cater to crafts & framing? I don't see how Radio Shack would dovetail with this, unless you're suggesting they could broaden the tent for what they consider hobbies.
Hobby Lobby is doing well enough without the added burden of taking on the sales of electronic parts . Think of the additional liability insurance they'd need to carry , in this day and age of a lawsuit for just about anything coupled with no more personal responsibility for one's own mistakes , consider this ;

Hobby Lobby , selling electronic parts , sells someone some resistors who hasn't a clue of how to solder , the clueless one then goes and burns his house down with the soldering iron , and BA BAM , instant lawsuit .

Sad times we're living in when such a wild scenario isn't all THAT far fetched , no , I can't see a company like Hobby Lobby that's doing well taking on such risk ....
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  #11  
Old 07-20-2018, 04:15 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by KentTeffeteller View Post
Alternative, Hobby Lobby would be a great place to see a Radio Shack Dealer store be located, as there are many. Quite a few Radio Shack Dealer Stores are still operating, I have one in Madisonville, Tennessee which still is in business.
There's a couple more opened back up an hour north of you. The Jefferson City Radio Shack is making inroads in the ham radio community by stocking odds-and-ends, and have also partnered with the local ham radio "builders club" and carry parts and supplies they use to build projects.

There's another Radio Shack in business at West Town Mall in Knoxville. I spoke with a guy who visited it a few weeks ago, and he said they had a selection of component parts, albeit at high prices.
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Old 07-20-2018, 04:38 PM
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KentTeffeteller KentTeffeteller is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by user181 View Post
Doesn't Hobby Lobby cater to crafts & framing? I don't see how Radio Shack would dovetail with this, unless you're suggesting they could broaden the tent for what they consider hobbies.
They do more than Crafts and Framing. They do model hobbies and model kits also a great deal.
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Old 07-29-2018, 05:10 PM
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Radio shack was bought by sprint, that's all radio shack was reduced to, cell phones, and sprint wanted all of radio shacks cell phone business, so they bought them.
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  #14  
Old 08-25-2018, 10:20 PM
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ISawItOnTV ISawItOnTV is offline
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I recall the days of yore when the Shack caught some flack over asking for peoples addresses when making purchases. Now, it seems every business out there wants address, phone number/s and email etc.
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  #15  
Old 09-08-2018, 10:15 AM
crt89 crt89 is offline
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There's a Radio Shack still open here, but I haven't been in it.
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