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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.
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.
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.
At this point the only nod to their heritage is that some locations might have a dusty selection of parts(often still 'Tandy' branded and yellowing with age) hidden behind the iphone cases and overpriced consumer electronics.
... and marked up 500%. Last time I went there hoping to get a cable they wanted nearly $20 for it. Not a complex cable, just a bog standard 6 foot stereo audio cable. I ended up soldering one together from scraps but see now that Walmart has the same cable for $4. Next time I'll just go there first.
You forgot to add in the babe factor
Table-ized A.I.