Radio Shack to carry full line of electronics once again?

[joetnymedic]

So this past Monday night 11/19, I go into one of the Radio Shacks located in Milford CT to look at a couple of scanners as well as pick up a connector I need. While I'm there out of the clear blue sky the salesman starts telling me that Radio Shack as a whole is going to start carrying a full line of electronics like back in the old days right down to and including ham radio stuff and more scanners. I'm like are you kidding me? The whole chain or just this store. The guy claimed the whole chain. Sure enough, I called a couple of other stores and got the same info. This is supposed to occur after the holidays. So I talked to someone else from these very boards that I know personally and we both came up with this theory. As he couldn't find any FCC data on new equipment or even stripped down rebadged stuff, we're thinking Radio Shack will most likely start selling other companys stuff, similar to what they do with Uniden for a mark up which most likely isn't going to fly considering how high they mark up the Uniden stuff. Most likely this is a last ditch effort to try and save the company before it goes under. Oh and before anyone from Radio Shack signs on saying the company is oh so stable, don't all anyone has to do is look up the investors meeting for the 3rd qtr from this year. The release of the iphone 5 made them take a hit, as have a couple of other things

[dispatcher812]

That would be cool. I have been considering a new scanner and would love to be able to check it out before I bought it.

[jhooten]

Radio shack is doing well. Stock closed at $1.91 down $.02 yesterday.

[mmckenna]

I was in an RS for the first time in a long while last week. I noticed that they had a number of the audrino items, accessories and the like. They seem to be making an effort to capitalize on the "Make" crowd. Not sure if it will be sufficient or not. I would like to see them survive, but I don't think the products are the issue, it's the people. It would be happy to see them start carrying more components, but I'd like to see their staff be better trained and better equipped to help. The current staff at the local RS seems to be more geared towards selling cell phones and cell phone plans. They actually seemed pretty good at it form what I overheard.

They are still a handy source for components and connectors, as long as you don't expect to much. For 95% of the repairs I do, RS has what I need. For the other 5%, I can go to a dedicated electronics store 25 miles away, or purchase on line. I needed a 1/8 inch stereo headset plug to repair a set of Sennheiser headphones I got free. RS had what I needed, and I now have a $100+ set of headphones for less than $3.

The other advantage that RS has is like others have mentioned. You can walk in there and actually look at products. The internet is nice, but it's hard to replace actually holding a product in your hand before you buy it. While their cell phone deals are not that good, you can walk in there and look at phones from a number of different carriers and compare plans. That's something that is hard to do at the company stores.

Should be interesting to see what the next few years brings. They are either going to survive or fail, and it'll happen soon.

[gr8rcall]

This would be neat! If GRE doesn't survive, maybe RS can work up a scanner contract with Uniden.....(UPman *hint*)

[Fuzy_GSXR1000]

That would be cool!!!!

[W8RMH]

Originally Posted by gr8rcall

This would be neat! If GRE doesn't survive, maybe RS can work up a scanner contract with Uniden.....(UPman *hint*)

Radio Shack has been selling Uniden scanners on their website for some time and a manager told me they will soon stock them in their stores.

Radio Shack and Uniden have worked together in the past as there are some 50 Radio Shack scanners that were made by Uniden.

[nbdyspclk]

i used to be a faithful tandy shopper back in the day,couldnt find it,go to tandy(rs),last few years they have driven me away from hobbying and favoring telecom sales,maybe they realize that they had a much stronger customer base with less phones and more hobby geared sales!

[mikell68]

Originally Posted by W8RMH

Radio Shack has been selling Uniden scanners on their website for some time and a manager told me they will soon stock them in their stores.

Radio Shack and Uniden have worked together in the past as there are some 50 Radio Shack scanners that were made by Uniden.

I was in my local RS today and I overheard a sales associate talking to a couple about the Uniden Home Patrol. I turn around and lo and behold he had one in his hand! After they left, without buying one, we had a good conversation about digital scanners, GRE, my recent BCD-996XT purchase and this web site.

[Rt169Radio]

Well that is interesting to hear.

[quarterwave]

When it comes to scanners, I'd say Radio Shack will have no choice but to sell Uniden, what else will they sell if there is no GRE? They have already raised prices on all their scanners on the web site.

My local Radio Shack is mostly Phone Shack for the last 5-10 years. They only recently started getting in more parts (but nothing like they used to have). I worked at the store in college 22-23 years ago...and we had alot of nice stuff then. Now, over half of the floor space is Phones, Ipod (or the like) and accessories for those. I go there for simple pieces I use in my business, and they only have 1 or 2. One of their dork salesmen said one day..."well how many do you really need? I'm mean who actually uses this stuff?" and I said, I do, how many can you order. He said "I think 20 at a time" So I called his smartass bluff and told him I would take all 20. Little snot nose wouldn't know a tweeter from a woofer, but he thinks he is the king because he knows all about smartphones....my 7 year old nephew knows all about Ipods and smartphones too.

So, I like the place, it's just not what it used to be. Even the managers are often clueless in electronics. But they will sell you a phone....

[rapidcharger]

I guess everyone already has a cell phone and a satellite dish.

But I'll believe this when I see it.
Scanners and ham radio equipment? LOL. Sure.

[N8DRC]

It would be great if they sold the Radio Shack brand ham stuff ,2 meter, 440 and 10 meter radios and antenna's like they did in the 80's. I used to love going to Radio Shack back then looking and buying radio stuff.

[cifd64]

I havenet been to RS in a long time. Last time was to find an antenna. I practically lived there in the late 80's and early 90's. Back then it was a dream to actually work there. Now I wish i would stop getting flyers in the mail to upgrade my cell phone.

[pdfdems286]

i believe i've been hearing this same b.s., or variations of this b.s. for year's. no discredit meant to the o.p.

[desert-cheetah]

It will be nice if it actually turns out to be true. I miss being able to go in and having a decent selection of scanners to choose from. The one closest to me only has two different ones and the store was so ignorant about scanners they didn't realize they had an analog marked for $425 and the digital for $125! I'll believe it when I see it in regards to them carrying more electronics again.

[desert-cheetah]

[QUOTE=quarterwave;1860005]When it comes to scanners, I'd say Radio Shack will have no choice but to sell Uniden, what else will they sell if there is no GRE? They have already raised prices on all their scanners on the web site. /QUOTE ]
Actually, they DO have a choice ...they can choose not to sell any at all. Besides, they already sell other brands on the website, but at ridiculously high prices.

[Kingmobileaudio]

Our local RS has about 5 Home patrols on the shelf.


Sent from my iPhone 5 using Tapatalk

[scannerdaddy]

i broke one of my cardinal rules of life--thou shall not go shopping on black friday. anyway, i stopped in at the store in macedonia commons plaza in macedonia, ohio. after completing several laps round the merchandise area,i noticed some interesting things. first and foremost, there were NO scanners on display at all. some accessories, like the 800mhz. and telescoping antennas. but no scanners. i asked the sales clerk if he knew why, but he did not have an answer. of course i had to explain what a scanner was. i had him look up available inventory within a 15 mile radius.only three pro106 for example. as i began to leave, OMG. i noticed several drawers of electronic components. there were resistors, caps, bulbs, potentiometers and other misc. repair parts, just like in days gone by. the shelves were arranged like they were in an auto techs tool box. how about that. any one else notice the same thing in their local store? just curious.

[N1BHH]

Originally Posted by scannerdaddy

i broke one of my cardinal rules of life--thou shall not go shopping on black friday. anyway, i stopped in at the store in macedonia commons plaza in macedonia, ohio. after completing several laps round the merchandise area,i noticed some interesting things. first and foremost, there were NO scanners on display at all. some accessories, like the 800mhz. and telescoping antennas. but no scanners. i asked the sales clerk if he knew why, but he did not have an answer. of course i had to explain what a scanner was. i had him look up available inventory within a 15 mile radius.only three pro106 for example. as i began to leave, OMG. i noticed several drawers of electronic components. there were resistors, caps, bulbs, potentiometers and other misc. repair parts, just like in days gone by. the shelves were arranged like they were in an auto techs tool box. how about that. any one else notice the same thing in their local store? just curious.

Only select stores carry all scanners. I have been in several, some carry some scanners, others none at all, and I can only get the digital scanners at certain stores. I go to Radio Shack for parts and connectors and adapters that I need for some projects. I got a bag of capacitors for filtering a few months ago and cured a little RF problem. I keep them around for future use, too.