When I think about my
childhood the two companies that come to mind are Nintendo and Radioshack. To a
preteen and teenage boy Radioshack was a wondrous place with gadgets and wires
and books filled with helpful ideas.
Recently Radioshack
has lost its way and instead of trying to stay true to its roots by doing what
made it successful, it is trying to retain the customers it had last century.
Today you can buy cell phones, satellite dishes and toy cars at Radioshack,
back in the day you could buy the things to build those things or at least what
would evolve into those things.
It will be very, very painful, but for Radioshack to return
to its former glory it will have to be a place for tinkerers, and innovators
and not a place for buying C cell batteries. (When was the last time you need a
C cell battery?)
To change back into what it was the company will have to
close stores and invest heavily but the new Radioshack will be a place for
people to build the future. At the new Radioshack you will be able to pick up
3D printed objects from CAD files you uploaded via the RadioShack plugin for open
source CAD/CAM tools. You'll be able to buy lab equipment for everything from
Synthetic Biology to Molecular Gastronomy, and take night and weekend classes
to get certifications for owning and using the equipment. There will be
development environments for using hardware/software/sensor systems you can buy
at the new Radioshack. They will sell Maker magazine and have an online
community to foster innovation.
