Radio Shack

It's been a long while since I've seen you post, Wade. Good to see you still around.

Thanks, same to you! I haven't been seeing a lot of familiar names. I check this forum periodically, but most of the time I have nothing going on and nothing to add, and there seems to be a lot less activity here than there was in the past. I've been on here recently because I'm wrapping up a restoration that I started 8 years ago. :)

Wade
 
4.49 seems a bit pricey for a 25 amp bridge rectifier. I guess that's the convenience fee.
Have you looked at prices lately?

I just paid $4.00 for a FS2A starter module. The last time I bought 3 of them, it was $0.99/each.

Plus, you are paying for brick and mortar - not ordering it from some warehouse. Plus, you don't get $9 shipping tagged on to your order.
 
I still don't fully understand the whole rebrand they tried a few years ago where they mashed a pile of 80's stereotypes into a store and proceeded to say the NEW radio shack is nothing that you remembered because now it's Better!*

Then watched their remaining retail footprint evaporate because they somehow surgically removed the last few things the place was good for and replaced it with more druggie burner phones and headphones.
Radio Shack also had an amazing order-in catalog system for when you couldn't find what you needed in an Assorted pack. I still cannot comprehend how ANY of these catalog order stores absolutely failed to adapt to the Internet.
 
I still don't fully understand the whole rebrand they tried a few years ago where they mashed a pile of 80's stereotypes into a store and proceeded to say the NEW radio shack is nothing that you remembered because now it's Better!*

Then watched their remaining retail footprint evaporate because they somehow surgically removed the last few things the place was good for and replaced it with more druggie burner phones and headphones.
Radio Shack also had an amazing order-in catalog system for when you couldn't find what you needed in an Assorted pack. I still cannot comprehend how ANY of these catalog order stores absolutely failed to adapt to the Internet.
We've gone over this countless times, including a few of us, myself included, who were former RS store managers.

General: the RS big hey day pay day was their CB line. When Convoy was a hit in the 1980s, a lot of people joined that easy communication (which predated the internet) and they sold a LOT of gear.

Their stereo line was hit or miss. I sold more force feed than I did stereos. Their premier STA-2100D had such known horrible tuner drift that no audiophile would get near it.

Phones were generally okay, but tended to be over-priced.

Their TV line came from RCA, and those didn't hold up well.

They tended to gravitate towards the cheap technology. For example, when Laser Disc players were coming out, they went with RCA's Video Records. The problem was the needles were extremely delicate, and would last only a few dozen runs, then KA CHING! $100 for a new needle. We sold, let's see, take 0 and carry the 1, ZERO.

The computer stuff didn't sell well in the stores.

Boom boxes moved. Clock radios moved. Solder moved.

But the big stuff. Not so good.

Then they tried cell phones. They could have done it right, but nope, stuck with the same business model of the cheapest wins. By the time they caught up and figured it out, it was too late.

The last ad campaign was trying to shed the image of a store that was dreadfully out of date. When you walked into some RS stores, it was like a trip to the 1980s - or EARLIER. South Chicago Heights was an example. The place was in a pit strip center - the damn owner refused to power the street sign at night.

The whole ad campaign was to put a new face on the business. But it was way too little, way too late, and they tanked.

That's life.
 
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