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RadioShack Near Deal To Sell Half of Its Stores, Close the Rest
mrspoonsi sends a Bloomberg report about a possible endgame for RadioShack. The company will reportedly sell half its store leases to Sprint, and the remaining stores will simply close. Negotiations are still underway, and the deal could fall through — but as it stands, the stores still open will likely change to Sprint's branding.
Sprint and RadioShack also have discussed co-branding the stores, two of the people said. It’s also possible that another bidder could emerge that would buy RadioShack and keep it operating, the people said. The Chinese backers who took the Brookstone chain out of bankruptcy, Sanpower Group, also have been in discussions about bidding for RadioShack assets, one person familiar with the talks said. ... The discussions represent the endgame for a chain that traces its roots to 1921, when it began as a mail-order retailer for amateur ham-radio operators and maritime communications officers. It expanded into a wider range of electronics over the decades, and by the 1980s was seen as a destination for personal computers, gadgets and components that were hard to find elsewhere.
I was so upset when Tandy closed up shop in England, they had the best gear in - not to mention the Battery Club which kept me in PP3s for a decade.
Political debates have me rolling my eyes so much I think I got optical whiplash. I should sue. - Foamy The Squirrel
... if I'm sad or happy about this.
Back when I was a kid, Radio Shack was a place where you could buy electrical components. Sure, they sold RC cars and stuff at the front, but at the back you could buy breadboards, wires, resistors, capacitors, microchips, etc. it was great.
In the past 15 years, most of that good stuff is gone: Radio Shack is nothing more than a non-denominational mobile phone store.
So, since they aren't much different than, say, Best Buy, or any number of other similar retailers, it's no wonder they are going under.
If they still sold components, I'd mourn their loss. Since they don't, I'm not sure I'll be shedding any tears.
Agreed. Craftsman used to be a great brand: I have power tools from my grandfather that still run AND for which I can still get parts (from Sears!). I have bought a few mysef over the last 5-10 years the the quality is rubbish. It's possible for them to turn around, though, should they care to do so.
Kenmore as a brand is actually just a private-label of other "real" brands like Whirlpool. So generally speaking, you can get decent appliances for not a lot of money.
Both of these brands are usually a great deal less expensive than their name-brand competitors.
Losing Sears means losing these two brands that will definitely be a loss for American consumers.
When I first saw the commercial last year the beginning made me think they were going back to their roots, back when they were relevant. I was thinking they'd have things like everything you need for a diydrone, 3D printing, various electrical components and such.
Instead they tried to be a cell phone store....I think.
Most of you probably don't remember back in the sixties when Radio Shack was the retail distribution arm of Allied Radio (yes, it was known as Allied Radio Shack), a major components distributor. It was a real parts store the. Eventually Tandy picked up the chain, began selling branded parts, and it was never quite the same. The reality is that the advent of the personal computer, the death of manufacturing in the U.S., and an educational system that no longer valued engineering skills combined to kill the electronics hobbyist market that the Radio Shack depended upon. Their change of focus to consumer electronics was a reflection of that new reality, but unfortunately that is a saturated market. This was, alas, a long time in coming.
The higher the technology, the sharper that two-edged sword.
but they just don't have anything to offer anymore
First Radio Shack sold radios, which enabled technically-savvy people to communicate.
Then Radio Shack sold simple computers, which enabled technically-savvy people to run applications to improve their lives.
Now, everybody carries an advanced radio/computer in their pocket, they're sold at RadioShack, and the nerds declare a tragedy.
My God, it's Full of Source!
OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
So, nothing changes except they wall off the back 1/3rd of the store?
"File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
ars technica makes the point that neither radio shack nor sprint are willing to comment on this story, let alone confirm it.
http://arstechnica.com/busines...
Michael Jordan having 'retired,' with $40 million in
endorsements, makes $178,100 a day, working or not.
If he sleeps 7 hours a night, he makes $52,000 every
night while visions of sugarplums dance in his head.
If he goes to see a movie, it'll cost him $7.00, but
he'll make $18,550 while he's there.
If he decides to have a 5-minute egg, he'll make
$618 while boiling it.
He makes $7,415/hour more than minimum wage.
If he wanted to save up for a new Acura NSX
($90,000) it would take him a whole 12 hours.
If someone were to hand him his salary and
endorsement money, they would have to do it
at the rate of $2.00 every second.
He'll probably pay around $200 for a nice round
of golf, but will be reimbursed $33,390 for
that round.
He'll make about $19.60 while watching the 100- meter dash in the
Olympics, and about
$15,600 during the Boston Marathon .
This year, he'll make more than twice as much
as all U.S. Past presidents for all of their
terms combined.
Amazing isn't it?
However...
If Jordan saves 100% of his income for the next
500 years, he'll still have less than Bill Gates has
at this very moment.
Game over. Nerd wins.
You hit the nail on the head about being early to the game.
The problem was, then they just sat there. They became a toy store, then a cell phone store. Nowadays, you can't even get special-purpose adapters, just the common ones. You know, like 90-degree USB connectors, or S-Video to HDMI.
If Radio Shack had stuck to its mission, they would be the place to go for 3-D printers, Arduino, HDMI computers, and A/C network adapters.
The fact is, they forgot about us tinkerers, and tried to become mainstream. It may cost them their very existence.
The saddest thing of all is that Sears was in a position to be what Amazon has become, but with an even better distribution chain and at the time, far more product. The Sears Catalog was the gold standard for catalog sales in the United States for decades, and Sears screwed the pooch when they discontinued it without having a good Internet-based catalog to replace it. Given the ubiquity of Sears locations, I bet that more than 90% of the population of the United States was within a reasonable same-day delivery period too, as opposed to Amazon's Prime not being feasible in many rural areas due to a lack of nearby fulfillment center.
Sears could have used their warehouses, their parts centers, their service centers, and even square footage that had been retail floorspace or the auto center or such to warehouse items for distribution to reach that huge number of people it had ready access to. Instead it launched a poorly-executed, nearly impossible to use online catalog and let it stagnate for years before adding a broken marketplace and a halfhearted facelift to make it somewhat work.
And then came K-mart...
Do not look into laser with remaining eye.