# Conversation and Fun > Just Conversation >  Radio Shack

## rbaker

Radio Shack bit the big one and will probably be closing a lot of stores. What are we going to do when we need to replace a weird fuse or a microswitch or a diode to repair the things that go bump in the night. While there are on-line sources for this stuff we usually need it NOW!

I guess we don't fix stuff ourselves anymore - either throw it out or hire someone to fix it.

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## David_Garza

> Radio Shack bit the big one and will probably be closing a lot of stores. What are we going to do when we need to replace a weird fuse or a microswitch or a diode to repair the things that go bump in the night. While there are on-line sources for this stuff we usually need it NOW!
> 
> I guess we don't fix stuff ourselves anymore - either throw it out or hire someone to fix it.


Honestly can say I cannot recall ever using the Shack for anything in my office.
I just Hope Wal-Mart is the next big man goin down! :Cool:

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## Flux3r

thats a shame, i used the shack all the time to fix instruments and power supplies. thank god we have a frys relatively close by!

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## MikeAurelius

I've got an account at Digi-Key (http://www.digikey.com/) onesy prices are higher than Radio Shack, but so is the quality of the product.

I rely on DigiKey, Grainger, and McMaster-Carr for probably 98% of my generic repair part purchases.

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## WFruit

We have a Grainger store 1.9 miles from our building :)

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## rbaker

Everything you need can be found at:
Thomas Net:  http://www.thomasnet.com/
McMasters' Carr:  http://www.mcmaster.com/ 
Graingers:  http://www.grainger.com/
Digi-Key:  http://www.digikey.com/
If they ain't got it, you don't need it. I am sure that there are others that can be added to the list.

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## CME4SPECS

> Everything you need can be found at:
> Thomas Net:  http://www.thomasnet.com/
> McMasters' Carr:  http://www.mcmaster.com/ 
> Graingers:  http://www.grainger.com/
> Digi-Key:  http://www.digikey.com/
> If they ain't got it, you don't need it. I am sure that there are others that can be added to the list.


 More examples of how the internet has destroyed brick and mortar

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## MikeAurelius

> More examples of how the internet has destroyed brick and mortar


Except that all of those existed long before the Internet.

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## rbaker

> Except that all of those existed long before the Internet.


And a brick and mortar would be hard presses to carry 1/10th of their stock.

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## MikeAurelius

The only one of those 4 that isn't a brick and mortar with an additional web presence is Thomas.net, which used to be The Thomas Register.

DigiKey has one location, Thief River Falls, MN (about 2 hours away from me). McMaster Carr is located in Chicago, might have warehouses across the US, don't know for sure, but they had them long before the internet. And Grainger, heck, I remember when they were W.W. Grainger Company. These three companies are the essence of brick and mortar success, translated into broad coverage of the US first by their massive catalogs, then later by their internet websites. 

They are everything that "E" isn't. They deserve admiration, not denigration.

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## rbaker

While "Tom Cat" as the Thomas Register is called today doesn't sell goods directly it is the purchasing agents single source reference.

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## fjpod

I used to be the type who would run out and buy that micro-switch or odd fuse that I needed...but alas, I must confess, I order just about everything online now....vacuum cleaner bags, light bulbs, ...you name it.  And it's usually cheaper, but I do it for convenience.  If I had to run to the store for everything that we needed...I would have no time to see patients.  

And this is probably why Radio Shack hit the skids.  Often enough I have tried to use their website, and found it hard to navigate and find the little item that I needed.  Ebay in contrast, offered up the items, new or used for less money.

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## scriptfiller

I have a Lowes and ACE Hardware less than 5 mins. from the office usually I can find what I need from those two.

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## braheem24

How can a technology store go out of business during a technology boom?

Radioshack had the opportunity to flourish with the technology boom, Instead they chose to say "that's not the way we've always don't it".

If you can't be flexible in your business model no matter the business, You'll fail when times change.

Radioshack has been empty for the past 15 years, The last piece of originality  died with the TRS-80.

Geek squad dept inside best buy has better sales then radioshack, thats is inexcusable because rasioshack supposedly has the geeks.

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## MikeAurelius

^^ This. 100%

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## braheem24

Every radio shack should replace cracked phone screens, Every radio shack should have someone that can read a schematic and replace diodes on a board, Every radioshack should be the teaching place of technology.

Phone repairs
3D printing
CNC design and building
Home automation
ACTUAL PC repair, not parts swappers.

RadioShack can be a field trip of learning for the kids.  Not just grandpa's shortwave radio, Even grandpa learned radio reception was better online before he died and they lost him as a customer.

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## rbaker

My first purchase at Radio Shack was a crystal for a radio when I was a Cub Scout back in the late forties followed by numerous electronics project kits. I built a Heathkit signal generator and oscilloscope in high school. Bought a ton of vacuum tubes and cards of resistors and capacitors. When the transistor and SCR's first came out I was there to experiment.

Well I guess kids don't do those things today. As a result we are filling our engineering schools with foreign students and are having a tough time maintaining a leading technology position in the world.

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