What Might Have Been part 2.

I was never a good reader. In high school and college I would go to the library to read Aviation Week, or look at books on flying (not many) and electronics. There were always little project books. About 1978, I went into the very back of a B. Dalton Book Store, and found a section on computers. I suddenly was someone who would buy books, and actually read them. B Dalton and Barnes and Noble merged in the early 80's so I would seek out book stores where ever I was.

Through the 90s I relied on Barnes and Noble (B&N) to have the books I needed for the various jobs I was pursuing. As technology changed, so did the book shelves. I think for a while my local B&N store had 2 or 3 rows with multiple shelves full of computer books. The variety was very good from end users, to developers.

In the late 90s Amazon was born, and my book buying shifted. I went from perusing the book shelves at B&N to shopping on line, and ordering whatever I needed. It didn't matter that it might take 3 days to get the book, it was probably available, and I was going to get it. Eventually Amazon gamed the system with their multiply rejected one-click patent, and I vowed never to buy anything there again.

It didn't matter, there were other book sellers on line. I mostly use Half.com, but there were others including A1 (now out of business). These book sellers would sell new and used books at a fraction of the price others were.

As technology started moving faster, some of the books were out of date by the time they hit the shelves. Online forums replaced the tech books. Open source software begat open source documentation, and eventually tech books seemed obsolete. I mostly stopped shopping in book stores, since everything I was looking for was on line.

A funny thing happened though. The magazine stores went out of business, so I would go to B&N about once a month to browse magazines for some of the fringe subjects I am interested in (Model Railroading, Wooden Boats). These are subjects I am interested in, not always for the actual heart of the subject, but they are craftsmen and hackers on a whole nuther level.

This month, I had an article published in Kitplanes Magazine and I wanted to get a couple copies. While wandering the aisles in B&N to see what else is going on, I noticed several kits that might be useful. The store carries Little Bits and Arduino kits, along with some other robots and RasberryPi kits.

The kits sold at B&N are not the cheapest, but are probably suitable to the retail space where clerks may not be able to provide much after the sales support. But maybe their staff knows a thing or two. On top of kit display, there was a sign:

Yes a mini maker faire at all the stores. I am hoping the staff is helping and participating. It sounds like they are moving in the right direction. Engaging the community. Go if you can, tell 'em it is a great idea.

If you go, please give me some feedback.

What Could Have Been

Radio Shack is no more. I am both sad, and not surprised. I got my start with Radio Shack components, 80 in One kits, and Forest Mims books. I relied on Radio Shack for resistors, and my introduction to Integrated Circuits. They didn't have everything, but they had most of what I needed through college building computers and robots. If I needed some wire, or a 15k 1/4watt resistor at 8pm on a Thursday, Radio Shack was the answer.

Tandy wire and cable made some wonderful coax and other wire. The RG-58 was really nice, and available both with a braided center core and with a solid center core. Of course they sold connectors to go with it. Asking a clerk for help, they happily would cut custom lengths, or suggest pre-made cables.

Somewhere along they way, Radio Shack changed. After college many things were in flux. The computers that people built at home were no longer chips (yes, Radio Shack sold 8085, and 8080 CPU's plus others), but were boards. PC's that people built were now plug together boards. Radio Shack only sold some expansion boards, and pre-assembled computers.

Radios changed as well. Fewer and fewer people were buying component stereos, and self installing car stereos. I am sure the sales at Radio Shack declined during the late 80s and early 90s. To compensate, Radio Shack expanded into television sales, and other consumer electronics. Eventually Radio Shack was getting heavily into the cell phone sales for all the carriers.

Expansion of the consumer electronics area caused the reduction in the component floor space. The clerks didn't want to waste their time selling 10uf capacitors when a customer wanted a new cell phone. The knowledge of the staff was on the decline. I've heard stories about EE students that wanted to work at Radio Shack were actively discouraged because they might spend too much time helping with components.

The last couple of years, the president of Radio Shack was really making an effort to "fix" the decline of the brand. There were engagements with hackaday and other hobbiest web communities, The communities were slightly hostile, but most of the ideas were too little too late. The brand was bought by Sprint in 2015, and most of the stores have closed.

What Could Radio Shack Have Been?

I've been going to Micro Center for a bunch of years. They mostly were the place to get reasonably priced PC's. They had all the accessories, boards, power supplies cases, and cables. Their prices are good, for a retail operation. They had a closeout section that often had some amazing deals.

PC prices have plunged. When a PC or laptop used to cost $1000-1500 in the early 2000's, now a modern PC or laptop only cost $300-500. The gaming systems are not making as much money, it seems, and the book sales are almost non-existent. The shelves are still full of accessory boards, CPU's cases and power supplies.

Micro Center has expanded into the hobby space. They have a very large selection of Arduino boards and accessories. The Rasberry Pi selection is equally full. The prices are as good as mail order as well. At Christmas time, they had Rasberry Pi Zero boards for $5, but were sold out quickly. The aisles were full when I went there yesterday. I don't have any insight to the income this is generating, but people are buying the the hobby electronics, and I will continue to.

What if Radio Shack had followed the hobbyist trends? Well Radio Shack did sell Arduino boards toward the end. The prices were very high (I think I remember looking at an Uno for about $24). It was something I couldn't justify. What if they had kept the prices better? With the mall space rent as high as it is, they might have gone out of business sooner. Hard to say.

Do you think, if Radio Shack had done a better job with hobby electronics, they'd still be around?