How does radioshack stay in business?

[holaback]

If I have to elaborate anymore on this question then you won't know what I'm talking about. But really tho how do they do it?

[d123456]

This is an awesome question.
Will anyone respond to this?
moneylaundring?
I think they're a bit pricey though and the quality they sell is not the best either, so when they do sell, they make a profit.
-probably low wages
-almost never have discounts
Actually I never been to the US, but I knew a "Tandy" (where I bought my Sega Master System, oh those days....) in my neighbourhood which was the same organisation and I knew a Radio Shack in Curacao.

[silverback]

Tandy was here in the UK, went bust years ago.

Maplin took their place really.

Beatties used to be good for cames, models and so on, it also went bust.

[Hatta]

Huge markups on cheap chinese electronics. I needed a cr2032 battery one weekend, the kind that Racketboy sells for $1.25. They wanted like $6 a piece for them. They killed all the independent electronics part shops during the 80s and 90s, so there's really no alternative any more unless you want to order on the internet and wait.

[General Chaos]

I have no idea but I am certain that I hate Radioshack. It's just a depressing place. Since moving to Canada I've discovered that "The Source" is a lot like Radioshack, and also pretty depressing, especially since I liked Circuit City in the US and supposedly The Source is owned by them.

[zarathstra]

I've wondered that myself, since i never freakin see anyone in there. Maybe they're a front for the Mob, or aliens. Or alien mobsters.

[V3rtigo]

no bricks-and-mortar competition. where else can you buy capacitors or a potentiometer? also, they make a killing, as everyone else does, on mobile phones. also, your typical 55-year-old doesn't know to go to monoprice.com to get a $6 hdmi cable so they go to radio shack and buy it for $139. If they can sell one cable a day, that's probably enough to keep them open for another day.

[Doctor Fugue]

I have no idea but I am certain that I hate Radioshack. It's just a depressing place. Since moving to Canada I've discovered that "The Source" is a lot like Radioshack, and also pretty depressing, especially since I liked Circuit City in the US and supposedly The Source is owned by them.

Circuit City bought all the Radio Shack stores and named them The Source stores. Other than the name, nothing has changed. They still sell crap, and usually already-opened crap.

Anyway, didn't they go bankrupt a while ago?

[gradualmeltdown]

They are one of the only easy to access electronics stores left. They surely suck but where the hell else will I go Saturday at 4PM to buy 5 BNC to RCA adapters I lost on the way to the gig. I'm sure old people still buy their electronics there but I doubt that really amounts to much. The margins they make on cables, adapters, and batteries are obscene. The batteries they sell are actually kind of cheap and of acceptable quality. Many wireless mic's have opertated hours and hours on them on my watch.

Radio Shack sucks for the same reasons Gamestop sucks. Too bad we HAVE to go places like this because generations of consumers before us threw away local businesses.

[Mozgus]

Radioshack is nothing but a bunch of overpriced shoddy shit being sold by complete assholes. Everytime I walk out of there with a piece of breadboard or some other nicknack that I cant get anywhere else, I leave in a horrible mood because the clerk is a fucking jerk. I just came out of there today and you immediately get assaulted with that aggresive "Can I help you?!" and before I even get 3 words out, he's turned his back and walked away. Same experience at like 5 locations so far. I don't understand it. I was actually barred from a radioshack for getting in a loud argument with one of them because this specific one said they didnt have to respect the online store's prices, and also don't take any returns, no matter what. They said they were a privately owned Radioshack.