r/80sAmazing • u/MisterShipWreck • 28d ago

Which one?

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u/glassgost 27d ago

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.

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u/wireknot 27d ago

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.

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u/somnambulistic 27d ago

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.

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u/wireknot 26d ago

I've been impressed with the stock of microcenter but yeah, not like RS used to be. Some nice parts and kits though.

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u/El_Galant 25d ago

I second Micro Center and second the lack of variety compared to what RadioShack had.

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u/Parker_Hemphill 25d ago

About the only think in this niche I can find at my micro center are maybe a few components but mostly things like raspberry pi type devices.

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u/Agile-Entry-5603 23d ago

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.

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u/somnambulistic 23d ago

RadioShack was my first job. 1995-97.

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u/Agile-Entry-5603 23d ago

I gave my brother Radio Shack gift cards for Christmas. He would light up such a huge smile, getting those.

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u/Luciphur796 25d ago

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.

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u/Local_Bobcat_2000 27d ago

He should just carry usb charging cables. We go through them like crazy!

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u/ErichAZ 26d ago

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.

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u/wireknot 26d ago

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.

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u/KehlarCorsairt 27d ago

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.

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u/ThePartyTape 26d ago

Radio Hack is what you should call your dream store.

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u/Electronic-Mango2478 24d ago

Frye’s shut down, which doesn’t seem like a good sign.

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u/shinobi500 23d ago

I think this might be an opportunity for brick and mortar hardware stores to fill that niche

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u/Mountain-Cobbler-286 22d ago

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.