Mark is reporting brisk sales of Arduinos at RadioShacks.
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16 Comments
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Brilliant, now if we could only persuade Maplin in the UK to follow Radio Shack’s lead…
I also wish a Maplin or another UK shop will sell Arduino Kits! If not Maplin then a hobby or toy shop!
Rough Trade Shop in Brick Lane, London sells Arduinos and a few other kits
It is really falling on deaf ears because the only news organization to write an article on this is the Christian Science Monitor.
http://www.google.com/search?aq=f&hl=en&gl=us&tbm=nws&btnmeta_news_search=1&q=radio+shack
My local Radio Shack (Silicon Valley) didn’t have any Arduinos, and the sales guy had no idea what they were when I asked. I mentioned something about DIY electronics, and he asked what DIY meant. So I’d say the Shack still has a ways to go before becoming a creditable resource for electronics hobbyists, but it’s nice that they’re moving in that direction.
I don’t need another Arduino, but I want to buy one, just to encourage them!
If this were from the Bay Area, I’d question the statistical significance. This guy is in Houston. It would be interesting to see what other areas are seeing brisk Arduino sales at Radio Shack.
One thing I liked about the Arduino was the minimal packaging. Radio Shack seems to be doing business as usual excessive packaging to represent value.
Sigh…
I checked out the Omaha Nebraska store that stocks them – he said a lot of folks were asking about them and didn’t quite understand how people knew they were being stocked. Glad they are seeing interest…
That’s awesome. Hopefully it keeps up.
(Took 2 tries to get through the colorblind-unfriendly CAPTCHA.)
tell them it’s like a cell phone
@CJ
There’s a thread on the Maplin forums on this and it seems there is interest from Maplin on stocking them and hopefully they’ll be in stores sometime this month. Mind you, they’ll need to do a serious overhaul of their component catalogue as well, far too much tat being sold and not enough electronics stuff.
If you don’t find them in the store you checked at, try the website, and click on find in store. Some of the items aren’t in stores yet, try the getting started with arduino kit, as it’s one of the first they shipped. They are in around 1 out of ten stores, not sure on the distribution, they may be at a lower rate where there is a higher density of stores, as they are in 2/6 locally here, but if they are selling fast, they will soon be in all.
On training, from what I can tell, they haven’t had any, but if they are selling, and so will be doing a full launch, then that would be when they would have the training. They are going to have to sell a whole lot of hobby electronics for it to be a priority, this is the company that was selling more cell phones than everyone else combined excluding direct sales by the wireless companies back in 1999. Cell phones are still a major part of their business, and while almost everyone has a phone, it’s probably completely the opposite as far as percentage of people who’ve even heard of arduino.
I think the next thing that they should add is the powerswitch tail or similar, since that lets you turn lights on and off with a program on the arduino, turn on and off fans, heaters, etc based on sensor input etc. It lets the step be made from playing with it to making something useful.
I’m really impressed by the reactions we got on twitter 🙂 so good job radioshack!
Regarding the packaging, retail stores need different packaging. something that it’s not so easy to put in a pocket and walk away with.
These boxes are really beautiful and they look nice in the shop 🙂
My local Radio Shack (also in Silicon Valley) didn’t have them yet when I was there a few months back, but they had a lot of PIC kits, and the guys at the counter actually knew a lot about soldering equipment, and were electronics geeks and not just cell phone pushers. And while there are bigger and better electronics stores in the area, Radio Shack really does carry a good assortment of components, so if you just fried your last green LED or need to pick up a pack of random resistors, they’re nearby and usually have something.
One of the Radio Shacks in Milwaukee had some of the Arduino boards, but none of the kits, and a limited supply of sensors. That said, I was tickled pink to see them in stock, and I may get a Mega just to encourage them to keep them in stock. The store also had a few other MC boards, a PIC and a Propeller, good stuff!