[Coco] At RadioShack, a history of hits and missed chances

[Kandur]

In our neck of the woods the RadioShack stores were bought by
TheSource. They gradually phased out RadioShack's core products.
Many of the Source stores had closed their doors by now.
I wouldn't be surprised if they'd soon disappeared altogether.
Too bad, I'm missing the Archer and Realistic products.

Kandur

Sunday, October 5, 2014, 10:06:50 AM, you wrote:
> Most of that article reads as though it was taken from a letter I sent as
> an employee/shareholder to then CEO John Roach in the early 1990's. I told
> him it was a mistake to drop the core products that put RadioShack on the
> map, but you see where they are now, he didn't listen, and the board of
> directors still won't listen. they are too content to collect their hugh
> paychecks for attending 4 meetings a year, and sit on their duffs the rest
> of the time, waiting for a phone call. I told John Roach that the board of
> directors (and every other corporate exec in the company needed to have
> sales floor experiance in a RadioShack store at least two weeks out of the
> year to see first hand what customers want. they didn't do it, they won't
> do it, and it will be the downfall of the company, just as I told John
> Roach it would be nearly twenty years ago.

> On Sun, Oct 5, 2014 at 12:18 PM, Gustavo Ranaur Schoenaker <
ranaur at ranaur.net>> wrote:

>> Hi,

>> Here is my 2 cents tough. I live in a country with no Radio Shack, nor
>> similar, since 1990s. I understand that the do-it-yourself market has
>> changed a lot since the advent of internet. Nowadays you can buy anything
>> you want on amazon, adafruit, or worse directly from China (DX, Alibaba,
>> and so on). With this competition, the profit margins would lower a lot.

>> However, the DIY market can be made different. When you start a DIY project
>> you normally want the pieces as soon as possible. If you wait for three
>> week to receive your chip, you probably will loose interest in the project,
>> or, worse, will have other things to do. So, it is important to have
>> somewhere you can just go and buy the thing you need. It would be ever
>> better if this place started to gather other hobbysts with the same
>> interest, so you can find help and support for your own projects.

>> It was not on this direction Radio Shack took on last decade. If they want
>> to be another cellphone seller, they'll certainly loose their differential
>> on the market and will be "just another one" as fast as you can spell
>> Tandy.

>> If RS want to get back into business, they should stop selling cellphone
>> crap and start investing back in the DIY market. Imagine if they have a #d
>> printer that you can hire to "print" your stuff? And how about having a
>> service to make circuit boards? And about helping people to develop
>> projects that need different skills (electronics, woodworking, robotics,
>> programming ...)

>> It will be a pity if nobody gets on this market.

>> But this is just my opinion,





>> On Sun, Oct 5, 2014 at 12:25 PM, Chris Osborn <fozztexx at fozztexx.com>
>> wrote:

>> >
>> > On Oct 5, 2014, at 8:01 AM, <davidlinsley at gmail.com> <
>> > davidlinsley at gmail.com> wrote:
>> >
>> > >
>> >
>> http://seattletimes.com/html/businesstechnology/2024676003_radioshackanalysisxml.html
>> > >
>> > > This article was in today's Settle Times and is a reprint from a Fort
>> > Worth Star-Telegram article. No mention of the CoCo directly, and mostly
>> > mainstream press fluff, but some mainstream coverage of Radio Shacks woes
>> > none the less.
>> >
>> >     "And the market for hobbyists and do-it-yourselfers has evaporated"
>> >
>> > Not even close! It has grown a lot, and has a whole new culture
>> associated
>> > with it, known as "maker." And Radio Shack knows it. That same culture is
>> > the one that made them huge, their problem is that they have largely
>> > abandoned that market and think they need to sell things that appeal to
>> > everyone. Yes, I know mail order can undercut Radio Shack, but there's a
>> > lot of times when you gotta have something right now or you want to
>> inspect
>> > something in person to make sure the part is going to fit.
>> >
>> > Someone at Radio Shack has been trying to get in on the maker movement,
>> > they tie in with Make magazine a lot. Heck, they even sent me free
>> tickets
>> > to Maker Faire last year because I posted some silly things I made on
>> > twitter! I think though it must be a very small team that's trying to get
>> > back into the hobbyist/diy/maker market because in-store they are
>> > constantly clearancing parts & tools.
>> >
>> > The hobbyist & DIY market is bigger than it ever was, they just need to
>> > stop turning those people away.
>> >
>> > --
>> > Follow me on twitter: @FozzTexx
>> > Check out my blog: http://insentricity.com
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > --
>> > Coco mailing list
>> > Coco at maltedmedia.com
>> > https://pairlist5.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/coco
>> >

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