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Radio Shack Reported To Be Ready for Bankruptcy Filing

Posted by timothy on from the what's-wrong-with-soldering-irons dept.

hij writes A number of news reports are coming out the Radio Shack is ready to file for bankruptcy. The stock price has tanked on Wall Street. There are conflicting reports that they are seeking more credit and they may be bought for their assets. (The Wall Street Journal has the story, but paywalled.)

12 of 314 comments (clear)

  1. Obligatory Onion link by Andy_R · · Score: 5, Funny

    Even CEO Can't Figure Out How RadioShack Still In Business

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    A pizza of radius z and thickness a has a volume of pi z z a
    1. Re:Obligatory Onion link by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 5, Insightful

      i don't think you need to follow their share price to figure out that a store that sells random crap and never seems to have anyone working there might not be doing so well.

      But why now? Even back in the 1980s they were selling random overpriced crap, and there were rarely any customers in the stores. They were openly hostile to the few that ventured in, demanding name, address, and phone number for the privilege of buying a battery. Why is it only now, three decades later, that they are finally going under?

    2. Re:Obligatory Onion link by AvitarX · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Last time I went there I needed a 1/8" audio jack and some solder. It was great, I don't know where else I could have gotten those things in 20 minutes, but $8/year doesn't keep a store open, and the times I need those connectors are few and far between.

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      Wow, sent an e-mail as suggested when clicking on "use classic" banner, and got a fast response that addressed my msg
    3. Re:Obligatory Onion link by Macman408 · · Score: 5, Funny

      It just shows that they continue to be behind the times. They may be ready to file for bankruptcy now, but all their customers were ready for them to file for bankruptcy 20 years ago!

    4. Re:Obligatory Onion link by TWX · · Score: 5, Interesting

      How long as it been since you went into one?

      For the last couple of years I've been able to buy switches and relays and lamps at the one near me, and they haven't harrassed me when I've gone in either.

      Tandy Corporation (remember when they were called that?) got screwed up a long time ago. They tried that Incredible Universe chain as a competitor to Fry's, but screwed that up so badly that Frys ended up taking over those store locations after Tandy spent all that money building them. They tried "Tech America" as a way to go austere and provide us with an outlet for all of the discrete stuff that we needed in a local warehouse, but somehow that folded too after they renamed the store "Radioshack.com".

      By the time they started putting components and heathkits and stuff into their regular stores again the damage was already done.

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      Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
  2. Surprised it didn't happen sooner by technomom · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Great article on their imminent demise. http://www.sbnation.com/2014/1...

  3. Sad by TechNeilogy · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Probably inevitable, but sad nonetheless. Some of my fondest memories of my Dad are of visiting Radio Shack with him.

    --
    "The wisdom of the Patriarchs was that they *knew* they were fools." --Master Foo
    1. Re:Sad by Waffle+Iron · · Score: 5, Funny

      I think a libation is in order.

      I think I'll go down to my basement and gather up a buch of old through-hole resistors, caps, potentiometers, 555 timers and 74-series TTL logic. Then I'll fill a 40 oz bottle with them and slowly pour it all out on the ground.

      Then maybe I'll scribble my full name, address and phone number on a 3-sheet carbon paper form one last time.

  4. Which is kind of a shame by Overzeetop · · Score: 5, Interesting

    With the resurgence in the maker movement, RS might have been in the right position to take advantage of it, but instead had tacked towards a mobile phone mall storefront with some overpriced toys, horrifically overpriced, low end consumer electronics, and batteries.

    Sadly, there's probably not enough volume in the maker niche to keep all of the stores afloat at competitive pricing (i.e., not $35 for an Uno board that can be had from Amazon for $18 and from foreign shippers at $12), but it would be awfully cool to have racks of parts and components in at least one store in every town.

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    Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
  5. Sad to hear by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I know the fashionable thing to do is to bash Radioshack, but there really isn't a brick and mortar that still sells components for tinkerers. If I needed a capacitor for a project, I could nip out and get one from the drawers. They haven't done well with consumer electronics since the Tandy days and I'm amazed they've lasted this long. It's sad to think that this great institution well probably go through a fire sale and disappear. Malls, what's left of them, will just replace it with something like Gap for Dogs or whatever. I know many may not mourn the loss because of things like $30 cables, but I will mourn the loss for the unique items they did carry.

  6. Amazon by chuckugly · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Maybe Amazon should buy them and convert them into Amazon fulfillment centers.

  7. Re:"and they may be bought for their assets." by neilo_1701D · · Score: 5, Insightful

    You just nailed the fundamental problem with RS: the total lack of vision of what they wanted to be.

    They followed the crest of every consumer wave for years, but missed the PC market by offering their not-100%-compatible boxes (software had to be written specifically for a RS PC because they did things like keyboards so differently). When it became obvious that the next wave was going to be build-it-yourself PC's, they were caught flat-footed and never caught up.

    In Australia, they quickly dropped components, the "battery of the month" club and virtually everything else that might have set them apart and became nothing more than an expensive place to by mid range consumer electronics. History shows just how wrong that bet was, even in a small market like Australia.

    It's a shame to see the brand go, but I said goodbye to Radio Shack sometime in the late 80's and never set foot in another store.