I am a member of the Collective Bias® Social Fabric® Community. This shop has been compensated as part of a #LetsDIT - Do It Together social shopper amplification for #CollectiveBias and its advertiser Radio Shack.
It's no secret how much every member of our family embraces technology. With my husband working in IT, we are pretty well-versed in where to shop for our various tech needs. Those needs can range anywhere from shopping for a new mobile phone to building a custom charging station to accommodate multiple devices per person for five people. This DIY tech project was just one of the reasons we headed to Radio Shack last week. We also wanted to checkout the Boogie Board eWriters we recently heard about (to replace those old magnetic doodling boards we finally had to get rid of) and to find out what options there were for robotics components and kits for our 10 year old son. The latter is not something I think a big box store would carry, but I knew that Radio Shack, who caters to DIYers and hobbyists, would.
Our local Radio Shack store is not a big one, but it is conveniently located in the largest mall in New England. You will be amazed when you walk in the store to see how organized the store looks, while still being packed full of product. After the courteous associate showed us where the Boogie Boards were located and we made our color choices, we noticed that there were robotics kits for children on the shelves right above them. Then we looked to our right and saw the colored SOL Republic headphone bands our son had been hinting about. I can't think of any other store where I can see three things I would be interested purchasing without wandering through aisle after aisle.
A small store definitely does not mean a small selection at Radio Shack. I think their secret is that they display only a small handful of each item and replenish them as they sell out, rather than giving each sku multiple spots. As a customer, this is fine with me. I never need to purchase 20 of the same thing . . . just one or two. I also appreciate being able to see everything available without needing to conduct an extensive search.
Ultimately, we purchased two Boogie Boards and an HDTV antenna. My husband has missed watching some games on TV since we switched to strictly streaming video. We did look at components for building a custom charging station, but decided we weren't ready to move forward with it just yet. We still need to figure out a few other aspects of the charging station to make it look organized and user-friendly. The associate suggested we look for more ideas on RadioShack.com since their site offers free shipping to our local Radio Shack store or to our home on orders over $25. We also checked out the robotics components where our son could build robots from scratch, but we decided against it for now since I'm not ready to trust our 10 year old with a soldering iron. The great thing is that we can stop back for any of the items we didn't purchase that day the next time we're in the mall!
I remember shopping at Radio Shack with my dad when I was younger than my children are now. It's almost like going to the corner hardware store . . . you can find everything you need for your latest project and get personalized and friendly service.
It is on my to-do list to return to Radio Shack to pick an associate's brain about getting our son started on DIY robotics projects before summer arrives. I also need to check the trade-in values of all our old mobile phones, tablets, headphones, cameras, video games, and more online, so we can come back to take advantage of Radio Shack's Trade & Save Program (not available at franchise locations). What better way to reduce our clutter and to pay for new gadgets on our family's wishlist?
