Last Electronics Store

[km1125]

Seems like there was also a branch of Radio Specialties on the east side, maybe on Gratiot between 11 and 12 mile?

I vaguely remember Wiedemeiers in AA.

Anybody been to Ken's Electronics in Kalamazoo?? I ordered some parts from there quite a long time ago, but never have been in the store.

[Round Six]

Maybe they might invest in a few things:

Website, Google listing, anything... This came up:

Yeah, I think someone said in this thread he wants to sell the place. If I owned it, I would have ham radio trunk sales in the parking lot a couple times a year during the warm months. And of course be open for business during the swap. Swaps draw hams from near and far. Let them see the store.
(of course you'd have to rent a couple porta johns for the old hams with weak bladders )

How many hams have never heard of Electronic Connection? After seeing the place, how many would take a drive and buy stuff they need instead of waiting until Monroe or Dayton or Toledo or wherever?

[syntheticexctasy]

Something I just learned the other day. there is a radio shack store, open and operating in Saline. Not sure what all they have in there, can't be much - but they keep the lights on.

Electronics Connection would be a great place if their prices were reasonable and the staff weren't so damn cranky. Pretty much 99% of anything i'd purchase in an electronics retail store, I buy online nowadays.

I'm pretty involved in CB and GMRS and buy equipment pretty regularly. I'd love to see a radio dealer around here. Seems they've all closed up shop, and those that haven't need to make enough profit for all of those that have closed.

[billmich88888]

I could spend all day in Electronic Connection, but I always feel surveilled and monitored in there, like I’m known to steal or something. Too bad because everything in there gets my nerd motor running.

I used to love going to Purchase Radio when I was discovering my fascination for antique radios in the late 90’s and early 00’s before they closed. Always nice guys in there, full of info and stories.

that woman there is so nasty that i'll never shop there again.

like i should be on my knees in their store because of the H*** favor they are doing for me

[Round Six]

post removed

[ZenithCKLW]

I'm amazed you're not an HR professional.

The "whole point of having a retail business" is to make money. The method(s) to accomplish that is up to the business owner. Business owners can accomplish that without being a pervert.

[billmich88888]

I believe that cranky lady there IS an owner......

[Plate Cap]

Well, here goes.....somehow I suspect I will regret this:

Bernie and Rose have done this for many years. He continues it not because they need the income but because it mainly gives him something to do, a place to be, and essentially a reason to get up in the morning. He's not terribly well, and many things fall upon her. She supports him out of love. She worries for him, she worries about theft, she is tired and wants to retire like normal people.

The previously lucrative items are either no longer wanted or are sold online. "Police Scanners" are now too complex for the average person, and selling one requires lifelong support from the seller to the buyer. Radar detectors are now not really in demand because laser units have the speeder caught the moment the detector announces it. EC used to be essentially the CCTV HQ; now you buy an 8 camera and DVR system at Costco for what a camera used to cost.

Being friends with them and having spent many many hours in the store, the typical sale is $20 or $30, it's often an hour between customers, and frankly, many of the geeks that shop there are more trouble than they are worth. There is a significant amount of shoplifting.

Despite all the good theoretical ideas here, if such businesses were profitable on the whole, they would not have all gone away as we lamented them one by one earlier in this thread. I've been in the industry for nearly 50 years and I rarely solder, don't buy many switches, resistors, PC boards, or other components.....there are few that do...just who does today, and if so, are there enough within driving distance that will spend enough to cover a couple hundred thousand dollar 'nut' each year and then provide a profit? Owning or renting a location, having the knowledge to purchase stock 'right', heating and lighting it, paying local taxes, paving a parking lot, plowing, salting, managing shrink and theft, and (the big one), hiring and keeping staff all stand in the way of making it work. Dollar General is everywhere because that sales model works. The sale of small electronic components and accessories does not....you folks listed and lamented them one by one.

Hell, ham swaps are just a shadow of what they once were for all the same reasons, and that's $30 for a table and 5 or 6 hours once a year. Burger King is struggling; who doesn't like rings instead of fries and 'having it your way"'?

Greet Rose by name, ask how Bernie is doing, smile, and try to be understanding. All is not as it appears to be, and there are no quick fixes. I suspect the only real option would be a serious online presence, but the costs to set that up are astronomical, and completely impractical for a couple in their 70s and 80s. And, the fact that no one is stepping up to buy it to do so says something.

P.S.

When you find that hottie in the short shorts that knows the resistor color code, applications for various capacitors, an NPN from a PNP, can give advice on multilevel PC board repair, know what an audio return HDMI is, has the skills to watch and stop shoplifters, and will work at a declining one-of-a-kind-in-the-area store for a price they can afford to pay, I'd love to meet them.

[Round Six]

" ... ham swaps are just a shadow of what they once were for all the same reasons, and that's $30 for a table and 5 or 6 hours once a year ... "

I deleted most of your post but wanted to leave this. Seems having a trunk sale in the parking lot could be a "no touch" event for your friends. A local club, maybe Garden City, could do everything, including a couple of porta johns. Put the word out during the local nets. Have it listed in QST and the League's hamfest page.

All Rose and Bernie need to do is be open. Like I said in an earlier post, just how many electronic hobbyists would find out about Electronic Connection for the first time?