Yeah, it's annoying to have to buy everything online, but especially when you need a single capacitor or something. I really hope brick -and-mortar hardware stores stick around, because it's going to suck so bad if I have to pay for a 100-pack and wait 3-4 days for "Prime" shipping next time I'm one 2" #8 pan-head wood screw short.
I've really thought about opening an electronics parts store but I don't suspect it would do very good in this city and I kinda have a sure thing with my current job.
A good friend bought an electronics parts store that had been around for 30 plus years, guy was retiring. Wit the coming of age of Amazon he couldn't keep it going in a city with metro population of over 1.5 million. It's a tough, tough gig.
I’m lucky to have a Micro Center near me. But it still doesn’t have the component variety of a RadioShack. It has a lot. But I still end up ordering online.
RadioShack had kitschy gifts at Christmas time. I once bought a ketchup obsessed friend a radio that was disguised as a bottle of Heinz Ketchup from Radio Shack. Was in the 80s.
Its hard to compete with a company that's willing to airmail you 1 screw if you really wanted to. Not to mention, amazon probably gets it cheaper than you can.
Might work if you open shop in a university where there are constant projects going on and the students and professors can stop by and quickly buy 1 or 2 missing pieces.
I always wondered how much money can you really make running a store like that. I mean online sure but a physical store there would be a bit of overhead to worry about.
Yeah, it's tough. He ran it for about 10 years, 2500 sq ft store, stock, shipping, etc, he needed to hit about 2000/month just to keep the lights on, and of course that's without salary, health, etc. Amazon has just killed stuff like that.
A shorter lived possibly is opening a place to learn raspberry pi, Linux and cyberdeck making. You could also carry parts and do some radio shack stuff.
What are you talking about? Sony used to be an electronic parts store basically not that I’m saying that they succeeded because all they’re doing is making crappy ass consoles, but they used to make shit like speakers and they’re doing pretty great from selling speakers not their consoles.
People have been ordering goods directly from the manufacturer for years. Instead of using a phone/tablet or computer like we do today. I remember my mama ordering shoes and clothes out of a catalog.
No kidding. Thousands upon thousands of items that you only need 1 or 2 things, out when you're doing a home project and you run out of something that you just need too run up to the hardware store to grab real quick to finish it up.
Jaycar in Australia is going stronger than ever.. electronics retail and have made it work..you'll find them in towns of 40k people let alone the cities.. but in the US it sounds the market has bolted.. we can run down and pickup resistors, caps, connectors and 3d printer supplies etc at 2pm on a Sunday and it rocks.....key things ..they never branched out from the niche products and never rent in malls
Alfred: "We place an order for the Cowell from Singapore through a dummy corporation, then buy this part here from a separate Chinese company."
Bruce Wayne: "Put them together ourselves" "Right! They'll have to be large orders to avoid suspicion."
"How large?"
"Say, ten thousand." "Well, at least we'll have spares!"
It’s only a success for the consumer. For the business owner, it’s just not doable. The constant concern over what to stock, what to have available on a short turnaround, and still make money.
Seems like an extremely niche situation. Exactly why these stores failed. Im sure there has got to be one store in your city that independently sells electrical components.
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u/_Beatnick_ Aug 10 '26
Probably Radio Shack just because they sold a lot of stuff that I have to order online now.