"Hershel" wrote in message
...

On 3-Oct-2006, "Tom Lucas"
k wrote:

"Joel Kolstad" wrote in message

...
"Homer J Simpson" wrote in message
news:L0cUg.7286$N4.2849@clgrps12...
Pretty much what happened to Radio Shack in the US. Perhaps
they are
the model - certainly their stock is now 1/4 of what it once
sold
for.


I used to manage a RS store about 30 years ago.

We sold a ton of stereo equipment, because there wasn't a
Best Buy down the street. We sold CB radios because they
were popular at the time. We sold PA equipment, microphones,
and the like (expensive goods, with a huge profit margin),
because we were the only place in town (other than the TV
repair shop) where you might find something like that. We sold
TV antennas, masts, rotators, signal boosters, etc. because
everybody didn't have cable.

The electronic components, connectors, hardware and other
little items had a great gross profit, but didn't generate enough
revenue to amount to anything.

Those items were there to attract customers. A guy comes in
to buy a "record player needle", and you sell him a new stereo.

It was great, going into a RS years ago and being able to buy
a couple of 1/4 watt resistors. But when people quit checking
to see what stereo system was on sale while they were there
(because you know you can get one cheaper at Best Buy),
the business model quit working. I think they have done the
best that could be expected, but are on the same path as the
small grocery store or full-service gas station.

I'm sure there is still a viable market there for the accessories and
parts that no-one else sells - cordless phone batteries, stylii, fuses,
obscure bulbs etc. There is also another niche market that they should
be involved in, albeit carefully, and that is the support of partially
legal activities. PIC12C508 and 509s are used in the chipping of
playstations, cable boxes and other devices and Maplin is about the only
place around you can buy them in bulk and still pay cash. They also have
their "video copy enhancer" which very effectively strips off
macrovision and other copy protection mechanisms which can be happily
overpriced and people will still buy it.

There is a future for high street electronics shops but they must stick
to their core business and accept that they have grown about as big as
they are going to and stop striving to topple Comet, Currys and Toys 'r'
us.