Farewell, Radio Shack. Chain to close 1,100 stores

[cali]

<snip<

The company as its exists today is “broken,” chief executive Joe Magnacca said Tuesday as he announced plans to shut 1,100 stores, about one-fifth of Radio Shack’s U.S. footprint, amid plummeting sales and losses that hit $400 million in 2013, triple that of the year before.

The company’s stock price fell 17.3 percent Tuesday, to close at $2.25, continuing a free fall that has pushed what was once one of the country’s premier retailers into self-ridicule — parodying itself in a much-discussed Super Bowl ad that validated what consumers had already decided: Radio Shack is an analog company fighting for attention in a networked world.

That is ironic for a firm that helped define modern electronics retailing, and for a while was included alongside Apple among the leading consumer brands in the early years of the digital age.

What tripped the company is the speed with which those technologies took over, changed, morphed and made much of Radio Shack’s stock in trade — think component sound systems, cathode-ray televisions, and all the stuff those people in the commercial were carting out of the store — irrelevant.

<snip>

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/radio-shacks-back-to-the-80s-culture-meets-2014-company-to-close-1100-stores/2014/03/04/7bbfe286-a3d2-11e3-84d4-e59b1709222c_story.html

[NM_Birder]

1. Radio Shack is like going to K-Mart

I was always surprised to see the doors open.

[ileus]

22. Only worse...

[tridim]

2. We're lucky to still have an independent (I think) electronics store here.

It's much better than Radio Shack ever was.

[1awake]

3. When I was young radio shack was the place to be for cool electronics! nt

[shenmue]

15. Me too

That's where you went for gadgets and stuff. I for one will miss them.

[GP6971]

27. One of the few places

that I can find quality toggle switches. Other than that, I don't go there. I'm sure our local 2 stores are on the closure list

[Downtown Hound]

4. Radio Shack is pretty much a cell phone distributor now

They stopped being a general electronics store years ago.

Nevertheless, sad news. I have fond memories of going to Radio Shack as a kid.

[lpbk2713]

5. Radio Shack was the first merchant I recall asking my home address.

Even on a cash purchase. This was many years ago. I never went back there much after that.

[IDemo]

9. There was that

and the fact that they steered away from carrying electronics components and parts for hobbyists. I haven't been to one in a very long time.

[BlueStreak]

28. I don't know that you can have a business based on electronic hobbyists

especially if you are going to have thousands of stores. As a result they added all sort s of other crap and they don't do any of that well. It is a ridiculous business. I was in one today. I just needed a female RCA plug. They didn't have it. But they wanted to sell me a box of junky batteries.

Who buys a cell phone at RS?

More than that, who would ever buy a TV there?

[IDemo]

29. We still have a Radar and a Current Source

Neither of which has thousands of stores as far as I know. Good to know they're there if you can't wait for a DigiKey order.

[TroglodyteScholar]

6. My first computer came from Radio Shack...

Man, did I have some fun with that thing.

[HipChick]

14. My first computer was a Tandy 1000...

I remember my husbands words..."Don't you bring that thing into the bedroom, If you do it's over"....I went on to have a very successful IT career....last time I heard, he was still a loser...

[TroglodyteScholar]

17. LOL!

Sometimes we do well for ourselves by nerding it up a bit....

[Brainstormy]

7. Actually going to miss it

I buy a radio controlled toy there every Christmas for some kid whether they ask for it or not. I'm crazy for radio controlled toys. This year it was helicopters. Now I can go to Brookstone and pay twice as much.

[JI7]

8. i'm surprised they stayed around past the mid 1990s

[mike_c]

10. all they seem to sell is cell phones and such....

Cheap consumer electronics, for the most part.

I have a pair of much loved speakers that I bought at a Radio Shack 20-some years ago. I've replaced the foam rims around the cones of both speakers in both cabinets, and I'm beginning to think about rebuilding the chipboard cabinets because they've had some water damage. When the foam rims disintegrated five years ago-- the girl friend thought taking the grilles off and vacuuming the cones was a good idea-- I thought, "eh, they're old-- I should replace them." A year and two sets of replacement speakers later, I realized that I was NEVER going to find replacements that I could afford-- I paid $100 each for them originally-- that sounded anywhere near as good. Speakers of similar quality are now in the $500 dollar range. Each.

So I rehabbed them and they sound as good as new.

The point of all this is that the first place I went to try and replace them was, of course, Radio Shack, where I'd bought them originally. TS no longer sells anything like that. Sure, they have lots of little powered 5.1 tinny boxes, but no beefy, powerful floor speakers. No high quality audio gear of any sort, if I recall. The parts racks are still there, although the selection seems to have gone down while the prices have redefined the meaning of "retail cost." But mostly, it's cheap alarm clocks, TV gimmicks, cell phones, MP3 players, and stuff like that. The sort of stuff you can get at any Kmart. Or from Amazon. And probably at lower cost. And the staff no longer seem any more knowledgeable than the kids at Kmart, as well.

I loved Radio Shack back in the day. But now, they seem pretty irrelevant. I've been mourning their passing for years. It seems they've finally caught up with that.

[Auntie Bush]

11. Radio Shack gave my son his first job. They sold TV's cheaper than on the internet and big stores.

They will come to your house and set things up or repair. Have to drive 35 miles for any other supplier for everything they sell. They answer questions and tell you how to operate equipment. When I bought my last TV they told me all the pros and cons of all the brands they carried...was very helpful and I'm going to miss them!

[dem in texas]

12. Bad Service is what killed this store

Won't wait on you, if they do, they are out of stock, or you have to go to another Radio Shack store. No loss to the consumer.

[MineralMan]

13. The CEO must have gone to a mall and

discovered that you could buy cellphones there. What a shock that must have been, eh?

[Jenoch]

16. I was never into building my own electronic

gadgets but I did buy a portable cassette tape recorder and several radios from Radio Shack. They did not adapt to the fast changing digital age in the last decade. Their Super Bowl commercial certainly was an accurate measure of the state of their company.

[geek tragedy]

18. "Even CEO Can't Figure Out How RadioShack Still In Business"--The Onion, 4/23/2007

http://www.theonion.com/articles/even-ceo-cant-figure-out-how-radioshack-still-in-b,2190/

[Liberal In Texas]

19. The Shack has been going downhill for a long time.

They don't carry a large variety of electronic devices and parts like they used to. And when you can find what you need, it's usually a lot more expensive than where you can get it elsewhere.
I always cringe when I have to pick up a cable or patch cord because I know I'm going to pay a premium for walking through the door.

[mindwalker_i]

20. Well, they suck

I always hate going in there and asking for, like, a resistor. They just look at me as if to say, "A what?" Quickly followed by asking me if I want to buy a flip-phone or some such BS. But it's been happening for a long time. The people working there have long been weakly interacting massive particles.

[jsr]

21. The store where time stood still

[Downwinder]

23. Should have stuck to leather crafts.

[belcffub]

24. I still go in about once every other month

but I'm into electronics... their selection stinks... but sometimes I just ran short on a resistor, capacitor, pot, knob, proto board or something that they do have... every year that section gets smaller and smaller and for me they are the only local place...

we have 5 with-in 3 miles of my home... They do probably have over saturation in our market for storefronts...

[idendoit]

25. Fond memories of the Shack from my own analog geek days.

Yeah, I knew how to use a slide rule.

[adirondacker]

31. Where else could you go and buy breadboards and components?

Recently I had to go to an old school TV repair center to locate a couple of starter caps for my LG television (known defect). At first he quoted me $10.00 a piece , but when I showed up he cut the price to $7.00 for both. The television has held up for over three years since the repair, so it was money and time (30 minutes) well spent.

Now it's internet order from Mouser and the like. meh

[idendoit]

39. What a blast from the past.

I used to go down and rummage thru their bargain bin. Always had plenty of stuff I never needed, but might someday.

[Suburban Warrior]

26. I stopped shopping there...

when they asked for my phone number and address when I bought some batteries...cash.

[sad-cafe]

30. this has been coming

for a while

[Gidney N Cloyd]

32. Awful lot of people writing their epitaph. I'd say 'not so fast.'

These guys have survived the demise of all kinds of competitors. All the stereo chains in the 70's, the discount home electronics chains in the 80's (Fretters and Electric Avenue come to mind but they were myriad), the computer chains (including a Tandy company- "Computer City"?) in the 90's, appliance stores like Circuit City in the 00's... RS is like the Keith Richards of electronics.

And I hope it makes it a while longer. I go back with it to the Allied Electronics chain it merged with in the 70's. My parents got my brother and I our first phonograph from Allied. My dad did the Knightkit thing. Right out of college I went into AV work and RS was always there when you needed a part or adapter quick.

[Fumesucker]

33. I was wondering why the guy in the Radio Shack store was in such a bad mood today

Called yesterday to verify that they had a 5.5mm x 1.7mm power jack to replace the damaged one on a laptop charger module. Got there today and the man behind the counter said "we don't have any, we may have had them yesterday but not today" so I went and checked and they did have them.

Really ticked me off, the jerk deserves to lose his job.

[Grammy23]

34. I remember going to Tandy Mart when my family moved to Ft. Worth, TX in 1963.

I think this must have been during the time that Tandy was taking on Radio Shack. I'd go with my dad to the Tandy Mart where we found all manner of exotic things to eat, like canned reindeer steaks and chocolate covered ants. You could also find some nifty kits for making leather belts or wallets. And tools for working on leather. Usually we'd wander over to the Radio Shack side and look at the electronic gadgets and supplies they carried. For Christmas that year my sister and I both got transistor radios that came from Radio Shack. Mine was turquoise and hers was a tomato red. About the size of a pack of cigarettes.

Many years later my niece married a guy who worked at Radio Shack while he was in college. He bought a stereo system (this was around 1976) that included a turntable, amp and speakers. He later gave it to my son and that amp is still going strong and has been used by my grandson.

Fond memories of time spent with my dad wandering through Tandy Mart and Radio Shack.....back in the day.

[Rocket_Scientist65]

35. And for your viewing pleasure....

A nice collection of all the old Radio Shack catalogs....really gives you a view of how "The Shack" has changed over the years and gotten away from its' roots.

http://www.radioshackcatalogs.com/catalog_directory.html

[Initech]

36. Radio Shack, Blockbuster, Tower Records - corporate Darwinism at its' finest.

In business, you refuse to change with the times and you rely on old school monopolistic practices, you're done. End of story, finished, kaput. It doesn't take an MBA PhD. to figure that out.

[Boom Sound 416]

37. Always a great place to dart in for

Audio connectors and cables when in a pinch.

But that's it.


I asked a kid (clerk) if they still sold cb radios (maybe a couple years ago now) and he had no idea what I was talking about.

[Matariki]

38. Couldn't possibly be because everything is horribly overpriced

and they insist on getting your address and phone number even for the smallest cash payments.

No sympathy.

[pipoman]

40. ours is staffed by 2 old men and is the nearest sprint store

In the area. Buying a phone from those guys is like trying buy one from my dad..I'm not sure either know how to text. The last phone I bought there, the guy who was activating it actually called it a "blasted thing!"...we still giggle about that. .

otoh, ask them about ham radios and they will tell you how to build a hallicrafter..