RadioShack to the Rescue?

The other day I bought a new SATA DVD-burner. As I installed it I noticed that I didn’t have any free SATA power connectors. I did, however, have some IDE power connections that weren’t being used so I started looking for an IDE to SATA power adapter. (“MOLEX to SATA power adapter.”)

My first thought was the local computer store. But they specialize in Macs and even if they did have it, it’d probably be expensive. So I checked Newegg.com. They had one for $6.00 ($4.00 + $2.00 shipping & handling.) But I really didn’t want to wait for it to be shipped. So I checked BestBuy.com. They had them, but not in local stores.

Then, for some reason, I was reminded of RadioShack. I checked their web site and to my surprise not only did they carry them, they were available in my local store! When I worked at “The Shack” a decade ago, they had begun de-emphasizing their parts business. They were pushing high profit things like cell phones and satellite dishes.

So I was pleasantly surprised when I was able to get an adapter from RadioShack for $5.50 – including taxes! They also seemed to have some other computer parts too. I actually want to go back and check it out. RadioShack may be able to get back some of the parts customers that they’ve lost. But I think their main problem is that most people wrote them off years ago because they didn’t seem to want our business. If they can advertise that they have these things in stock at local stores, they might be able to get us back.

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