Sure do. I loved going to Radio Shack, as a kid. I still have a few screwdrivers and whatnot, purchased there with allowance money. If they were still around, I’d be still shopping there. Microcenter is not bad, and of course ebay/amzn/newegg. Still there was a kind of charm about an old RS store, with the junky stereo equipment and made-in-Taiwan-or-wherever-was-cheapest toolsets and the guys behind the counter wearing ties. A lost era.
There are a few RadioShack left, though the one near me still has the parts cabinets from years ago, most of the store is bicycles, tobacco, and cell phones now.
I owned a couple of them. Unfortunately useless for understanding electronics. It is not their fault, they were no substitute for an electronics class.
Really sad to see RadioShack reduced to this. Grew up on a Tandy Color Computer. Hate seeing RadioShacks Twitter account being dragged through the mud by a foul mouthed crypto scammer intern.
> “It’s our voice, a new voice, one for the people,” said Abel Czupor, the chief marketing officer. “RadioShack’s audience used to be only an older demographic, but as times have changed and e-commerce has taken over, the old voice of RadioShack is no longer relevant.”
Everything about this quote makes me want to throw up.
What's especially stupid is that the maker economy, as it's now called, is very much of interest to young people and Radio Shack totally missed the boat on that by becoming a phone store. The old Radio Shack (the one that made money) sold parts for people who wanted to build electronics. That field is hotter than ever.
I had hoped that maybe Home Depot would have swooped in at the last minute and bought up RadioShack as they're at different ends of the DIY market and could have had some good crossover opportunities. And maybe Home Depot could have created some maker spaces in their big box stores. Anyone who has had anything cut at Home Depot has likely seen the "No precision cuts" signs, but what if that was a premium service one could purchase? Laser cut plywood? Waterjet cut aluminum panels? Might not have been a market for it in every store but I'd like to think it could have worked at a couple of locations in each large metro and maybe trickled down from there.
I consider it unfortunate that Radio Shack feel compelled to hire a person from an unrelated segment and are even pressurized to pivot into a space (NFTs, general "crypto") that is being viewed with skepticism (perhaps less skepticism than it deserves).
While I myself am still studying this space, I do feel that there is a significant mismatch here.
Seems like it's all -- and only -- about brand and image. Nothing about value or risk or profit. Who buys an investment on brand alone?
> we continue to see robust interest among gaming-token start-ups, in particular. They understand that the RadioShack brand is congruent with their own play,”
Looks like they were purchased by Tai Lopez’s PE firm and pivoted to crypto (exchange + token) + edgy tweets at the height of the bubble. RIP Radio Shack.
Readit News
Everything about this quote makes me want to throw up.
I consider it unfortunate that Radio Shack feel compelled to hire a person from an unrelated segment and are even pressurized to pivot into a space (NFTs, general "crypto") that is being viewed with skepticism (perhaps less skepticism than it deserves).
While I myself am still studying this space, I do feel that there is a significant mismatch here.
[1] https://emamo.com/event/nftnyc/r/speaker/abel-czupor
[2] https://cryptobrowser.io/people/abel-czupor/
> we continue to see robust interest among gaming-token start-ups, in particular. They understand that the RadioShack brand is congruent with their own play,”
It was part of the 90s revamp when they turned into a phone and remote-controlled toy store.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=u8wwBIA8wMw
That was a stepping stone along the path to the crazy tweets: https://www.barstoolsports.com/blog/3423441/to-the-surprise-...