I still laugh like a child over the old (fictitious) Hiney Winery in French Lick. The ad spoofs were fabulous. Where I live now (MN), it's still easy to grab an ice-cold Hiney this time of year.
Lived there from 74 to 86. I went back a few years ago for a wedding, and I hardly recognized it.
Tend to agree with Kevin. As a kid I went to RS to get components, raw speakers etc and prices were crazy high, little did I know it at the time as in high school. There was also a Lafayette Radio in town that I got a 10 watt bare amp board that I had to put a transformer on it to power it. Even Frys has given up and they had a much deeper inventory than RS. At some point I gave up on Frys as I'd drive over, only to find they did not usually have what I needed. And of course would order from Digi or Mouser and have it in 3 days, exactly what I was looking for. If you start adding up the vast number of R values, wattages, types, etc the depth of inventory just doesn't work for B&M. Digi/Mouser probably has around 1M+ unique items for sale in stock. Although it was always enjoyable to just walk around and look at stuff at Frys.
Une "madeleine de Proust" ... But is it more economically sustainable today than in the past? With an ease to buy anywhere on the planet, who is still willing to pay the extra cost of the local store?
I knew Radio Shack was spiraling down the toilet bowl when they stated trying to push phones on you as soon as yo walked in the door..
Well, this is the real challenge isn't it- How does ANY brick and mortar business compete with absolutely everything being available online in one click? I'm setting up a lawn chair and cracking a beer to watch how they do, if they can. I think there is a solution space, it's kind of small, but it's there.
The skeptical side of me thinks the traditional bean counters are thinking "lets open a chain of cell phone stores (plenty of precedent for that) and sell a few components along side" not realizing that model has already failed. The optimistic side of me hopes they will actually reach out to the DIY/school-STEM/Maker/Audiophile community that has been blooming over the last decade and get ideas that can actually be different from the competitors.
All comes down to desire to innovate, and break moulds, and take bold risks which I do see a fair lot of lately in many industries "post web".
Some key areas and thoughts:
- Don't "add value" to low value components by putting a capacitor in fancy packaging so you can hang it on a wall and charge 5 times what the capacitor is actually worth. That's DUMB. Don't carry "any resistor you need as long as it is 1K,10K,or 100K". That is not a critical mass.
- Do keep a LARGE selection of these very inexpensive components in bins in the back (or heck, in drawers like they do screws at ACE). Follow ACE, and set a healthy price for the convenience, but not 5X what you can get online- they are screws, not diamonds.
- Do maximize the chance someone can get all of the parts needed for a project (or at least what they want to do NOW), and don't offer to order it online for them. If someone has to go online, you destroy your entire value proposition, because if they have to wait, they will order everything online and you are irrelevant. Repeating history there.
- Do have a teaching space. I have seen this in quilting and fabric stores that are otherwise dying because young people are not getting into sewing, and Grandmas who do are dying. Offer free or low cost classes or kit project builds in the evening or on weekends. Make it fun little projects that kids can learn and do one day, and a more advanced project or class interesting to adults another. Need not be soldering- make a little proto board kit with some wires and some parts for reasonable cost- They can then keep the kit and build the other kits in the book. While they are there, you can demonstrate what a multimeter is, how soldering works for when they are ready- Give them something to bite into that is physical, hands on- Parents would LOVE that and be supportive.
- Do have a demonstration area- For Christ's sake, have a 3D printer that kids can get a free key chain from. Even public libraries are getting these to get kids involved into STEM. You can have volunteers in this area, experienced people you can't afford to pay who can answer questions or run demonstrations. Have a couple of drones and other toys that people can actually see what is available and what it can do, and maybe have a hand at.
- Do reach out to and cater to the audiophile community. There is a Chi-Fi explosion going on right now, with an amazing increasing array of inexpensive audio gear that is getting better and better, with more features and quality. Yes, we can get them cheap online- however, they have to come from China (long wait) and you have no idea what the quality is or what it sounds like. You can stock this stuff- Heck, if it's profitable after Amazon takes it's 30% certainly RadioShack can take that same cut. People are willing to pay a premium to take home now what they have just listened to. Same with speakers- a huge lineup of bookshelf, standing, and subwoofer offerings that customers could switch A/B and see for themselves- What DO those new Class-D offerings sound like- how do they compare.
- Do carry phonographs and more importantly record accessories. How stupid is it that Walmart carries and entire aisle of $30 records, which the college kids are loving right now but they do not carry a single record cleaning kit? And the only turntable offerings are super low end Crosley suitcases or maybe a very low end Audiotechnica? Yet I can walk one aisle over and they are selling $1000 laptops and gaming desktops?
- Do hire employees that know their a$$ from a hole in the ground. At least for common stuff. Pay something at least, and understand that an employee who posesses knowledge and experience is a MAGNET for customers, most of whom have questions or need help on basic things. That is just as important as a flashy sign, or nice carpet- and can be an important resource for an entire community.
They could be a bit like Dayton in that respect. Imagine going into RS and coming out with a 4 output DSP board, with USB, Toslink, I2S and AES/EBU inputs? Something along the lines of Dayton's "DSPB-K DSP preamp" but a RS version with a few more features...
Saw a RS short wave RF amplified antenna preselector at the thrift today - $2.99. Left it, as I havent turned on a SW radio in how many years? Still the coincidence is baffling. Think: "SW RF preselector" I made as a kid for this thread. Universe: "here ya go!"
We need more recent LS3/5A threads 😳
We need more recent LS3/5A threads 😳
I feel like even this is not possible. There already exists things like adafruit, seeed, and many others that offer practically every kit imaginable in well explained (text and video) kits. Mainly I think the problem is the DIY'er time is free, it is a hobby. So if it takes me an extra hour to figure out the 10 dollar kit (or 4 dollar pico board) it doesn't cost me anything. But even a barista at SB now costs SB 30/hr. So if the helpful person at the B&M store spends even 30 minutes with me to figure out the kid, that makes my 4 dollar pico 19 minimum. And since it is a hobby, I'll figure it out myself for that money. In the case of the pico, it would have been way more too. My first experiments was some gpio, next was spi and i2c, next how to use the pio to make an spi master and slave, next the pwm stuff, ... so I'd have been there hours in total asking lots of questions about a 4 buck board. And with stuff as complex as it is these days, having people at the counter who understand all the kits is not a barista pay grade. And if the experts don't know anything, then why go to the store?
🤣 🤣
Seriously though they weren't honoring the warranty 25 years ago, and my last set of replacement Lifetime Warranty tubes (EL34 IIRC) sometime in the early 1990s were absolute bottom of the barrel. I did not use them.
I didn't even recognize Keystone Ave. I don't mind roundabouts, though.
If anything, I'll give the Indy area credit, the roundabouts are more 'recognizable' there than here. Our roundabout midpoints are 'comical' in some situations. They're hardly visible, particularly this time of year. Seeing some tire patterns... Roundabout... what roundabout?
Tremendously. I'm trying to get back at least once a year now. Maybe they'll put my old Radio Shack back at the strip mall next to the old "Hi Fi Sounds". I think that was the name of the store. With a quick search, I couldn't locate it.
I hope everyone has a joyous holiday!
Merry Christmas everybody! My very first memories of electronics components and kits was a RS in downtown Portland Oregon. I wandered in there when I was 7 years old. I remember the big console tube tester machine. All the spinning carousel racks of hanging discrete through hole components in blister packs. I got an electric motor kit for Christmas from that store. I still remember the gentleman that ran the store. Fond memories.
Fast forward 15 years later and I remember stepping into a Fry’s Electronics in Hayward, California and my eyes went wide with the feeling it was a RS x 1000.
Nowadays, we just order from Mouser or Digikey. But there is no neighborhood place to pick up some missing simple resistors or capacitors for your project. Maybe Amazon or eBay is the next fastest thing. There’s no neighborhood Fry’s near the Northern VA area where I live.
Fast forward 15 years later and I remember stepping into a Fry’s Electronics in Hayward, California and my eyes went wide with the feeling it was a RS x 1000.
Nowadays, we just order from Mouser or Digikey. But there is no neighborhood place to pick up some missing simple resistors or capacitors for your project. Maybe Amazon or eBay is the next fastest thing. There’s no neighborhood Fry’s near the Northern VA area where I live.
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Frys has an interesting history. Just out of college first job in Tucson, and there were Fry's grocery stores I shopped at. Then a few jobs/cities later ended up in SJ and there was the first Fry's electronics. It was started by the sons of the Fry's grocery store. I think it was modeled somewhat on grocery. Initially only the SJ store, then I think opened another in SJ, then LA, and then expanded a nationwide into places like Austin and Houston. I know the TX stores are closed and possibly all of them now. Different times, online commerce was not the first thought like it is today. And especially electronic components that it is more about the datasheet than what it looks like.
The 24 hour diners inside the Fry’s stores were essential to enabling the full on project mode. They are greatly missed.
It is to wonder what would differentiate them from Target or BestBuy, if that's their tack. I also wonder if putting the whole thing on Amazon's "near-instant gratification" new age model is going to work, if people upon seeing the price can suddenly now justify waiting a week, versus taking it home today.