[TriLUG] Radio Shack: was Old Dog In Need of New Trick - Digital TV Recording

David Burton ncdave4life at gmail.com
Tue Feb 11 20:45:53 EST 2014


On Tue, Feb 11, 2014 at 7:12 PM, Steve Litt <slitt at troubleshooters.com>wrote:

> On Mon, 10 Feb 2014 11:53:10 -0500 Bill Farrow <bill at arrowsreach.com>
> wrote:
> ...
> > Opening a retail store to sell electronics components in this area
> > would be very risky financially. Sure, there is demand from the local
> > makers and do-it-yourself-ers, but you would have to charge a lot more
> > than the mail order places to cover rent and payroll. You would need
> > to carry a large amount of stock, some of which won't turn over for
> > very quickly at all.
> >
> > How would you structure this type of business to make it profitable ?
>
> Big challenge. Not easy. For starters, you'd need to become nationwide
> like All Electronics, via a descent website.



I can't imagine that you could make a viable standalone retail B&M
storefront business selling $1 parts which are widely available on-line for
1/2 the price or less. But it might work as a sideline to an existing
business. That's really what Radio Shack does.

It would be a "draw" to pull some customers into the store who wouldn't
otherwise be there. It wouldn't make much money, directly, but it wouldn't
take up much floor space, either. It would "share" the existing store
personnel, and might boost other types of sales.

It might work at a Batteries Plus, Intrex, Hobby Lobby, or Tom's
Trains<http://www.tomstrainstation.com/>,
or perhaps even at an appliance store or hardware store, especially if the
owner/franchisee happens to be an electronics buff, himself.

If TechShopRDU<http://makezine.com/2013/04/16/techshop-raleigh-durham-to-close/>hadn't
failed, that might have been a good match. Does FabLab have a
permanent location or regular hours?

Dave


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