Cheeseburgers, froofy coffee, and a place to get on the Internet. Yeah, an Internet Cafe. I think we're on to something.
Rat Shack dying
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mhardy6647
Lunatic Member
mmm -- a Radio Shack cheeseburger, replete with service contract.
sorry, we're brainstorming, here... there are no wrong answers.
;-)
sorry, we're brainstorming, here... there are no wrong answers.
;-)
Old HiFi Guy
Well-Known Member
They could sell reprints of their old catalogs in their cafe for you to read while you eat your cheeseburger and drink your coffee.
Glass Prison
Well-Known Member
It's to but RS got away from what was their niche in the market. Circuit City has taken over the RS stores. Some of the owner's are trying to keep parts but it is nothing like years ago.
Ed in Tx
Super Member
No one gets to kill off Rat Shack until my town gets a bloody Frys. End of story.
Mrv8q
Audiofool
FRYS, home of the WORST customer service. End of story.
The Fry's in Renton Wa. is generally hit or miss on good help but you just can't stand there waiting for it. All in all it "can" be good....have had a lot of still great help over the years too (specialty areas) but don't think the whole store is like that as "general goods areas" can fail fairly consistently. (Lot more new and inexperienced help.)
Great place to check out new consumer tech,build a computer,full range of decent "box store"audio equipment....and not so decent. (Best "Box o Crap" store around here by far anyways.)
I have stopped going to my closest Radio Shack because of the manager treating me like hell for returning a cell phone that couldn't receive a signal at my home. He swapped it out for another model in a red faced huff slamming things around? (Imagine the "cell phone" bean counters had probably just chewed him out!) His crew acted sooo embarrassed (I felt embarrassed for them actually.) and their suggestion that I "Just come back when he isn't here?" couldn't budge my calm resolve on the behavior. I will never go back and I "stretched" to spend money there on camera equipment,X-Mas gifts,batteries,parts,cables, and that unfortunate LAST purchase.....hell!
The new phone works as perfectly as he doesn't.....idiot.
Great place to check out new consumer tech,build a computer,full range of decent "box store"audio equipment....and not so decent. (Best "Box o Crap" store around here by far anyways.)
I have stopped going to my closest Radio Shack because of the manager treating me like hell for returning a cell phone that couldn't receive a signal at my home. He swapped it out for another model in a red faced huff slamming things around? (Imagine the "cell phone" bean counters had probably just chewed him out!) His crew acted sooo embarrassed (I felt embarrassed for them actually.) and their suggestion that I "Just come back when he isn't here?" couldn't budge my calm resolve on the behavior. I will never go back and I "stretched" to spend money there on camera equipment,X-Mas gifts,batteries,parts,cables, and that unfortunate LAST purchase.....hell!
The new phone works as perfectly as he doesn't.....idiot.
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mhardy6647
Lunatic Member
All I can say is that Fry's was great back in the late 1980s when I was at my first real job in Sunnyvale, CA... and they were three blocks down the street from work.
Ed in Tx
Super Member
I've always had pretty good luck with customer service at Fry's. Returns are easy too. When I do go, generally get there at opening time, so no wait.
maximillian
New Member
Grew up in the 80's loving electronics (DIY components and off-the-shelf) and I loved RS. Now I don't care. I used to go in every once in a few months, but haven't in the last few years. It's really disappointing. For anything electronics the selection is terrible, the quality of the stuff is poor, and it's over priced. Their soldering tools are sub-par. You can get better tools at Harbor Freight, but I just buy online.
Between Amazon Prime Membership getting me free 2 day shipping, and a myriad of online stores for everything else I need (Newegg, Part-Express, Monoprice, Ebay, DigiKey, etc.) there simply isn't a need for RS any longer, at least for me. Even Best Buy serves no real purpose except for larger items that I still prefer to buy local.
RS can disappear for all I care. I stopped missing and feeling sorry for them years ago. They failed to change with the times and stay competitive.
Between Amazon Prime Membership getting me free 2 day shipping, and a myriad of online stores for everything else I need (Newegg, Part-Express, Monoprice, Ebay, DigiKey, etc.) there simply isn't a need for RS any longer, at least for me. Even Best Buy serves no real purpose except for larger items that I still prefer to buy local.
RS can disappear for all I care. I stopped missing and feeling sorry for them years ago. They failed to change with the times and stay competitive.
andy
Super Member
Fry's is proof that you can still sell parts and tools in a store and make a profit. Who knows if they make a profit on the parts though. The Fry's near me has a whole aisle of NTE parts, another one with tools and test equipment (they have DMMs and oscilloscopes on display and plugged in like they were TVs). You can buy everything from connectors to heat shrink and soldering irons. It's also the only place I know of that has computer parts like motherboards on display.
They are odd stores though. They tend to be disorganized, and stock is spotty. I've never had a problem returning an item. Customer service can be a little quirky, but they do seem to be able to resolve problems that aren't on their official list of questions and approved answers.
They are odd stores though. They tend to be disorganized, and stock is spotty. I've never had a problem returning an item. Customer service can be a little quirky, but they do seem to be able to resolve problems that aren't on their official list of questions and approved answers.
chicks
Lunatic Member
Another nail in the coffin this morning.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/radioshack-loss-widens-lower-sales-111549286.html
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/radioshack-loss-widens-lower-sales-111549286.html
Ed in Tx
Super Member
Yep. See my post 134.
bluesky
Lunatic Member
Went to RS yesterday to ask the only guy working in the store some VERY BASIC questions about hooking up (the right way) a home theater 5.1 amplifier and connecting a flat screen tv to the whole system.
He knew NOTHING. Quite honestly...I knew 10x more than he did.
So I got 'zero' advice or help. I wonder why RS is going out of business???
I believe I needed to buy one 30 inch ' Y, Pb, Pr ' 'component' cable... and I definitely needed 2 pair of RCA 16 foot 'composite' cables and didn't even buy that. More sales lost for RS.
And spend $8 in gas round trip. The whole experience was quite frustrating.
I finally figured it out... but now have 2 more questions. Called Sony but they are a 'space case' as well. Wonder why Sony is going broke??? The Sony Tech Rep didn't even know how to connect his own gear! QUITE UNBELIEVABLE.
I mean, this is all 'pretty basic stuff' for folks 'in the business'.
I'm not trying to connect the amp to the ' Moon '. I'm just trying to connect a DVD (with 5.1) to a 5.1 amp, connect it all up 'component vice composite', and connect a Vizio flat screen TV into the whole mess. Guess it's impossible.
Called Best Buy but they didn't know how to do it, but said they could send someone out to the house to connect it...for $149!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I mean, this is all pretty basic stuff.
Maybe it's just Florida.
He knew NOTHING. Quite honestly...I knew 10x more than he did.
So I got 'zero' advice or help. I wonder why RS is going out of business???
I believe I needed to buy one 30 inch ' Y, Pb, Pr ' 'component' cable... and I definitely needed 2 pair of RCA 16 foot 'composite' cables and didn't even buy that. More sales lost for RS.
And spend $8 in gas round trip. The whole experience was quite frustrating.
I finally figured it out... but now have 2 more questions. Called Sony but they are a 'space case' as well. Wonder why Sony is going broke??? The Sony Tech Rep didn't even know how to connect his own gear! QUITE UNBELIEVABLE.
I mean, this is all 'pretty basic stuff' for folks 'in the business'.
I'm not trying to connect the amp to the ' Moon '. I'm just trying to connect a DVD (with 5.1) to a 5.1 amp, connect it all up 'component vice composite', and connect a Vizio flat screen TV into the whole mess. Guess it's impossible.
Called Best Buy but they didn't know how to do it, but said they could send someone out to the house to connect it...for $149!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I mean, this is all pretty basic stuff.
Maybe it's just Florida.
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