New Moses Lake shop offers electronics and service

MOSES LAKE — For almost a century, Radio Shack was the electronics geek’s mecca, with parts and components for any project as well as cutting-edge toys and kits. Then, the company ran into financial trouble in the 2010s and closed more than 8,000 franchise stores, including the one in Moses Lake. 

Now, its products are making a little bit of a comeback.  

The Shack, owned by former Moses Lake Radio Shack co-owner Rick Rodriguez, held its grand opening Saturday. The Shack isn’t a Radio Shack franchise, but it carries Radio Shack products as well as an array of electronic supplies from other sources, including radios, phone accessories and kits for young people learning how electronics work. 

“I had a customer come in with his son, and his son's getting into STEM and mechanical stuff,” Rodriguez said.  “He was looking at some projects here, and I showed him you could build an alarm clock. You wire all the components in it, and you can build your own alarm clock.” 

Rodriguez has a history in the electronics business. He started working at the Moses Lake Radio Shack franchise in 1997, he said, and was hired by Ron Jones, who had owned the store since the early 1980s. Jones taught him how to run a business and also the ins and outs of electronic equipment. 

“Ron was the man,” Rodriguez said, “You took him a broken musical keyboard, or your CB radio, your car stereo. He could open it up, put a tester on it, and figure out what was wrong.” 

Rodriguez and a partner bought the franchise in 2007, and he ran it until he left to take a job with the city of Moses Lake in 2012. The store closed a few years later, he said. 

“I used to take my dad's stereo equipment apart all the time just to look at the board,” Rodriguez said. “He would get so upset with me, ‘Stop taking my stuff apart!’ And I'm like, ‘I just want to see what's in here.’ From a young age, my teenage years, I was fascinated with PC boards and, all the electronics inside.” 

The Shack is the first business to open in the Moses Lake Chamber of Commerce’s new business incubator, said Chamber Director Debbie Doran-Martinez.  

“(Rodriguez) was open within a week of (the chamber) closing on the building,” Doran-Martinez said. “He was so excited and ready to go. He had actually ordered product before he had found a space, so he had products sitting in a storage unit … I closed on a Friday on the building, and the next Friday or Saturday he opened.” 

Radio Shack doesn’t have the inventory it used to, Rodriguez said, but between it and other suppliers, The Shack has a pretty fair selection of electronic gadgets, from retro items like CB radios and record players to cell phone accessories. 

“Mobile phone accessories are huge, simply because of pricing,” Rodriguez said. “You go into any of the mobile phone stores and they’re corporate-owned, so they have set pricing throughout the whole U.S. … I had a buddy come in and say he paid $60 (for a screen protector), and then he came in here and saw my screen protectors were $10.99. He paid $30 for a case, and my cases are $14.99 … The biggest seller in our store since we opened has been cell phone accessories: home chargers, car chargers, screen protectors and cases. They have just been moving like hot cakes.” 

Something that Rodriguez said he’s had to look elsewhere for is components – resistors, capacitors, transistors and such – for hobbyists who like to build or repair their own devices.  

“We carry components, but we don't source them from Radio Shack,” he said. “We have to source from another vendor, until (Radio Shack) starts filling it. Then I'll start ordering from them … I had a guy from Spokane call me the other day. He said, ‘Hey, do you carry the Radio Shack loop cleaner?” And I'm like, ‘I don't. Radio Shack has no tools, no soldering irons, no cleaners, no flux, nothing.’ And he goes, ‘Man, that was the best stuff. I don't want to use anything else but the Radio Shack stuff on my equipment.” 

Rodriguez still works for the city, he said, and his son runs the store during the day. His older children grew up in the old Radio Shack store, he said. 

The Shack is open six days a week, Rodriguez said, and may temporarily go to seven after Thanksgiving. 

“Radio Shack has told me they are going to have Christmas toys,” he said. “Anyone who (shopped) at Radio Shack in the late ’90s or early 2000s remembers the toys, the (radio-controlled) cars. It will be amazing if they do get me toys. I will be a happy camper.” 

The Shack 

310 W. Broadway Ave. 

Moses Lake 

Mon.-Fri.: 9 a.m.-6 p.m. 

Sat: 10 a.m.-6 p.m. 

    Two-way radios, including CB radios, are part of The Shack’s inventory.
  

    The Shack carries tools and components for the electronic hobbyist and learning kits for children who may grow up to be hobbyists.
  

    Cell phone accessories are a hot seller at The Shack, owner Rick Rodriguez said, because as an independent retailer he can charge lower prices than some other stores.