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

[Chris Osborn]

On Oct 6, 2014, at 10:27 AM, Frank Pittel <fwp at deepthought.com> wrote:

> While the hobbyist and DIY market is huge I don't think that it's
> bigger then ever. Anyone remember Heath Kits and the various
> electronics magazines from the 70s What's happened is that the
> nature of it has changed! It used to be mostly ham operators, etc
> but now has moved away from that and towards microcontroller
> based projects with a large emphasis on home made robotics.

The microcontroller projects is what has greatly increased the size of the market. It's no longer just electronics hobbyists that are doing electronics. When I went to Maker Faire in San Mateo last year, the place was *packed* so much you could barely move through the crowd. There's now lots and lots of people & children that are interested in creating art, doing something with crafts but want to add some blinky lights, music people, and more that aren't trying to make electronics a hobby, but are turning to simple microcontroller projects to do what they need to do. And those are definitely the kind of people that are going to be going in-store to get some parts so they can follow along with whatever guide or video they found on the internet. They won't want to wait a few weeks just so they can save a couple of bucks, they're the type that want to "rapid prototype" and won't think twice of purchasing from a store that's nearby, as long as the parts are there to get them going.

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