> The problem is that in 2024, kids can play video games and watch stupid videos in the comfort of their own home

I always thought of Chuck E. Cheese as being aimed at hosting larger children’s gatherings, freeing parents from concerns about space or catering. The video games would just be an extension of things they already want to do, but the draw is no cleanup/planning.

Considering how curated children’s activities have become (no more "free range" children), and how expensive housing is (more renters, less likely to host a big bash), it could actually address a growing need.

Whether it’s more attractive than booking a dedicated kids venue and just ordering pizza is open to debate.

>Radio Shack. Stop selling electronics components, and start targeting to the bigger market of cell phones. Have no competitive advantage over Best Buy or cell phones stores. Keel over.

I was a radio shack employee as a teen in the 90s, right before the pivot to cellphones started. I joined the Army and got the hell out of there right before the 1998 catalog came out, the one with the Sprint PCS partnership on the cover. I helped install and stock the Sprint furniture and signage.

At my store and every single store I was aware of, if they had not pivoted to cellphones they would have gone out of business in 2000.

By 1998 people no longer purchased computers at electronics stores. They either bought them from Gateway, out of PC Magazine or Computer Shopper, or from Walmart.

By 1998 people no longer bought CB radios from electronics stores. They no longer saw Optimus or Realistic scanners/AV receivers as desirable products. Throughout the 80s and early 90s the Japanese brands snuffed out the cheap Radio Shack brands.

By 1998 people hadn't purchased electronic components in volumes high enough to turn a profit (needed to pay wages, rent, and buy inventory) in 10-20 years.

Even in the late 90s, components were a vestigial organ, a money pit, a revenue black hole.

"But I used to buy capacito.." You were the exception.

You were the atypical customer.

You literally lost Radio Shack money and hastened the transformation every time you walked past the CD players and plasma spheres towards the back of the store where the components lived.

> The problem is that in 2024, kids can play video games and watch stupid videos in the comfort of their own home

With that thinking, why do restaurants exist when you could just eat from the comfort of your own home (or going to a sports game in-person, etc).

What’s being sold is the experience and/or convenience.

In the case of Chuck E Cheese, it’s a bit of both. Parents get to buy an experience for their kids, and if it’s for a birthday party - they are buying the convenience of not having to host/cook/cleanup a party.

Bookstores do have upside over pure online stores though, they can lay out their shop with interesting books and the like, personalised recommendations from staff, organise events, rebrand as a coffee shop, etc etc etc. Sure, pure book shops that sell books are at a disadvantage, but in my country there's still plenty of local book shops that at least for now keep their head above water.

Radio Shack could've had a field day when the Raspberry Pi and co came around and made electronics and programming a hobby for the masses, especially if they rebranded into a hacker space of sorts and organised events and classes and the like. Whether that would've saved them is another matter though, as the Raspberry revolution also came with very cheap and affordable electronics, which only works if sold en masse.

I take my kids there a few times a year. They are both under 10 and love it.

The price also isn't too bad: $20 for unlimited plays on any game for an hour.

I've noticed the similar pattern and always wondered how Micro Center seems to manage to do OK.