I was in the same boat. I had the top PBA (parts, batteries, and accessories) sales in my district by 3x over #2. Even though PBA was the stuff with the highest profit margin, I still had to go to those cell phone meetings because I only sold about one phone a month, on average. Nobody else in my store would go near the parts section, so that was essentially my job. And we had enough business in that area that it was my /full time/ job. So I had two choices: help those customers, or don't because I'm too busy trying to sell cell phones. As anyone who's ever bought or sold a cellphone knows, it's a long process to get everything set up and see the customer out. When a cellphone transaction is happening, everything else stops, so customers looking for help finding a fuse or battery are SOL and end up leaving.

In my (anecdotal) experience working at 2 different Radio Shacks in different parts of the country with vastly different demographics, RS didn't need cellphones (or laptops, or TVs). I would claim that the cellphone business drove away more customers than it brought in. If RS was a simple, no-hassle PBA retailer, I am convinced that it wouldn't be in the shape it is in now.