Radio Shack Reported To Be Ready for Bankruptcy Filing 314
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.)
Obligatory Onion link (Score:5, Funny)
Even CEO Can't Figure Out How RadioShack Still In Business [theonion.com]
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They're irrelevant to their target market. Same as Target Canada announced they're going bankrupt because their prices absolutely suck in Canada and their choice of merchandise is much more limited.
This is the annual January Clean-out of white elephants.
Lost its way. (Score:4, Informative)
I think Radio Shack lots its way.
It use to be a paradise for what we now call Makers.
Except for the bulk of the stuff being cell phones. There were a lot of things that we could use to make and repair our electronics. Wires, Solder, cables. connectors, converters, even a decent set of integrated circuits. When I got my hands on a dumb terminal, Radioshack was the place to go for a null modem adapter, so I can hook it up to my PC. Or to get resisters, breadboard and a capacitor and a parallel connector to make a Parallel 8 bit D2A converter which you can hook up to your PC and have quality sound (better then the beeps of the 2 bit PC speaker)
I'm not a wedding DJ, but ... (Score:5, Insightful)
I needed some odd audio cables last year, so that I could patch an mp3 player into a PA system. I was thinking that I'd find crimp-on 1/8" ends, and make the cable myself.
I got to the store, and was having trouble finding what I wanted (I found solder-on, but the crimp-on slot was empty), so I thought I'd look at what cables that they had that I could cut up ... and they just happened to have a cable that was 1/8" to bare wires.
The year before, I got a bunch of various cables so that I could patch into a mixing board to record audio from a conference that I was at. I've had other times when I was outfitting a chase vehicle for a solar car race, and they had the parts that I needed to get all of our various antennas on the roof of the van.
So yes, it helps for those 'I really do need it now' situations. In some cases, Guitar Center might have it, but the closest one is more than an hour away, and they wouldn't have had the components to make the specific cable that I needed, and they sure wouldn't have had N-connectors and magnetic antenna mounts.
I hope they can turn it around ... I'd be willing to pay a membership fee just to have them around for when I really need a part.
membership fee or kiosk at makerspaces (Score:2)
I'll also miss the buy-it-now option for small parts
Instead of disappearing, maybe they can try one more time by making RS small-part kiosks at makerspaces, staffed by makerspace members who use some of the money they get to cover the cost of monthly dues for the makerspace.
Re:Obligatory Onion link (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?
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Re:Obligatory Onion link (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Obligatory Onion link (Score:5, Interesting)
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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Many, many, MANY years ago (early 90s), I bought *one share* of Radio Shack stock because I read that they gave shareholders coupons to get discounts in the store. So, I paid like $20 and would get coupons every Christmas worth, I don't remember, like 20% off one item. Over the years, I got more than my money back for buying the stock. The stock was horrible even back then, but I never watch it. It split 2:1 a few times over the years, and eventually they discontinued the shareholder coupons so I sold my 8
Re:Obligatory Onion link (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!
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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?
In the 80s they at least sold stuff that people wanted. VCRs, computers and computer components, stereo systems and components (speakers, receivers, turntables, etc). And there weren't a lot of other companies selling those products (at least where I live).
But nobody buys those things any more. As the demand for those products disappeared Radio Shack removed them from their stores, leaving them with nothing to sell. And the few things they do have that someone might want can be bought elsewhere, proba
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You also need to remember Radio Shack in its original conception was not just a retailer. It was a subsidiary of Tandy, which actually made some of those things. The TRS80 for example and later IBM clones. While not exclusive Radio Shack partially existed as captiptive retail channel for Tandy's other products.
Radio Shack origins (Score:4, Informative)
Well, in the original conception it was exactly a retailer, opened in Boston in 1921. It didn't sell its own product brands until 1954. (Tandy didn't purchase Radio Shack until 1962.)
Re:Obligatory Onion link (Score:5, Insightful)
Amazon Prime maybe?
Radio Shack has never been a good deal, but their over-inflated prices are usually still cheaper than ordering a single part+shipping. Plus it's it's generally been one of the few places you can go when you need a single random part *today*.
Today though you've got lots of stores with massive online catalogs that can be ordered with free shipping to the store, and places like Amazon that offer free or deeply discounted shipping to members and/or on fairly reasonable-sized orders (and offer a broad enough catalog that you can usually find other stuff you need anyway to pad out an order). As people increasingly make use of such alternatives, Radio Shack's customer base is shrinking to just those people that really want their widget NOW, and I imagine there's just not enough of such people to make a profit from.
Plus there's the demographic lag effect. Even today lots of people don't like doing business over the internet, but it tends to disproportionately be an older demographic that didn't have compelling options when they were younger and more open to alternatives. And that's a demographic that, for any given alternative, will only ever be shrinking.
Le Shrinkage (Score:4, Interesting)
And, at least as near as I can tell, at the same time as they stopped carrying widgets in favor of plastic toys, cellphones, and bottom-feeder car stereo equipment.
When I could get resistors, caps, ICs, transistors, even tubes, wire, connectors and adaptors, I used to go in there all the time -- because yes, I wanted it now, my time counts for a lot in my estimation of where to go and why.
I can't say who they were trying to target with this shift in emphasis, but I can tell you who they weren't trying to target, and that would be me and people like me. Who I suspect were the ones that made their original business model work in the first place.
I have this theory about publicly owned companies. They are forced to grow by the obligations to their stockholders. Without growth, even when the profits are decent, they are considered low performance -- so the emphasis is always, always, always on growth. No matter the consequences for the presently profitable sector.
But I don't think Radio Shack had anywhere to grow to. There are only so many electronics enthusiasts in any one town, so once they had addressed that, legit growth was over. In the computer realm, they had a pretty good day with the 6809-based color computer, but really couldn't keep the z80-based stuff going, and never got the PC compatible stuff into a workable price performance region. The plastic toys and cellphone sales? There never was a significant enough market for that stuff to make a difference. And so here we are.
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The answer: Cell phones.
Upper management lost its vision long ago, but the coup de grace was when they started selling cell phones to cash in on an exploding market. Trouble is, RS buys the phones at retail cost and loses money on every unit.
In the last couple years someone in RS management sniffed out a bit of a clue, because they started stocking Arduino, RaspberryPi, and most recently LittleBits. A slight correction, but everyon
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In the 80's they were:
- Riding the last of the CB revolution
- Riding the last of the Space Patrol brand
- Pushing out tons of TRS computers (CoCo 3 anyone?)
- Select over-priced products based on their reputations (VCR's, TV's, and weird NES co-processor add-on that did '10 bit games)
- Started selling Motorola phones
Re:Obligatory Onion link (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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You don't have an real electronic supply stores in your area? My sympathies...
Re:Obligatory Onion link (Score:4, Funny)
Welcome to the rest of the world...
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> The "universal" charger did not charge an 18650, because it was a quarter inch too short. I was pretty shocked.
Oh come on, the voltage isn't high enough. ;)
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Because you live in Virginia and nearest Fry's is in Georgia? Good for you that you live near a Fry's, but they're hardly nationwide.
Surprised it didn't happen sooner (Score:5, Interesting)
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As I said, Radio Shack is the ball in this; nominally the raison d'etre, but really just a means to an end of little importance in itse
Sad (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Sad (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.
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Meh. Radio Shack actually died decades ago, once they decided to stop being an actual parts supply store. All of my sadness passed way back then.
Re:Sad (Score:4, Insightful)
Radio Shack formally jumped the shark with the CueCat. Been heading downhill ever since.
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Re:Sad (Score:5, Interesting)
I don't know - a father and child who share a passion for building things together, going to a place that has all the pieces and parts you could want for the latest project (at prices that mean almost nothing to the child)? I could see that being extremely memorable and satisfying experience. Like being the proverbial a kid in a candy shop, topped with anticipation of building the latest whatsit with Dad. Actually, maybe going to a Lego store would be a more apt comparison.
"and they may be bought for their assets." (Score:2)
Re:"and they may be bought for their assets." (Score:5, Informative)
Their assets are basically their storefronts. That's a lot of retail space that is certainly not going to be transformed into something I would ever want to visit.
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Sucks to not have a Fry's in easy driving range.
It's not like RS had a decent selection of components anyhow.
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Sucks to not have a Fry's in easy driving range.
It's not like RS had a decent selection of components anyhow.
Fry's has gone downhill a lot too. I am reminded of Best Buy whenever I go in there, and dislike going unless it is an emergency.
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Does Radio Shack still sell those capacitors and connectors?
I'd sort of gotten the impression that for the most part Radio Shack had been reduced to "cheap electronics R us" for some time now.
Radio Shack has been in fairly steady decline for a few decades now.
Re:"and they may be bought for their assets." (Score:5, Insightful)
My local RS still carries a lot of that stuff... they built organizer drawers so they could take up much less space than hanging bags on pegboard, but much was still available. Shame, because sometimes you just need a pack of resistors, or a small transformer, and you don't want to deal with shipping and credit cards for something that should cost $1.50.
I will say though, that I saw the writing on the wall when they started stocking cheap consumer electronics and the employees there didn't know where to find the resistors... at that point I'd just waive them off and say I'll find what I need myself... none of them knew anything about electronics anymore.
To see them die now is more of a relief than a sadness... they were dead 5 years ago.
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But now you just buy a jumbo pack of assorted resistors from China for $3 (free shipping) and you're set for life.
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I actually went to one the other weekend. They actually had a good selection of resistors, capacitors, and so on. As others have said, I can't think of another brick and mortar anywhere near me where I could pick up components *now* if I wanted. I think there was a phase where they got all of that out of their stores to chase yet another business strategy. I think that was a mistake because it removed radio shack from the minds of the few people who still would go there to chase a market that didn't pla
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I would love a place that has a solid selection of electronic hobbyist stuff: Arduinos and their ilk, electronics (try to find a 12.6V transformer on a shelf anywhere), a comprehensive set of switches, LED strips, prototypi
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They seem to be a store that doesn't know what they want to be, honestly. They used to be big when CB radio was popular and people were buying into that, and some were continuing on into HAM radio, but once that faded and the TRS-80 was crushed beneath the wheels of the PC industry t
Re:"and they may be bought for their assets." (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.
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I know this is meant to be a joke, but closing Radio Shack means there is no longer any place you can just run out and grab a specific capacitor or DB9 connector or whatever.
I have never lived in a larger-than-tiny town that didn't have at least one independent electronic supply store within driving range. I haven't set foot in a Radio Shack in years, but I am always totally able to run out and grab components at the last minute.
this is a good thing (Score:2)
closing Radio Shack means there is no longer any place you can just run out and grab a specific capacitor or DB9 connector or whatever
No, it means that the company selling overpriced defective floor sweepings may go away, and that could well open the door for another company that may treat their customers better. If RS is replaced by someone worse, the new company will go out of business too. But they could be replaced by someone far better, even if it is "only" a small private company serving a local
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Well that depends: do people still use carbon film resistors?
Yes, but we prefer to buy them for a fraction of a penny, not a package of 5 for $1.49. Good riddance, Radio Shack.
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carbon film?
you mean carbon. or metal film. I don't think you meant both ;)
fwiw, carbon resistors fail by opening; metal film usually fails by shorting. sometimes you want an open instead of a short, should the part fail.
LOL .. again? (Score:2)
How many times is this now?
This has been going on for years it seems.
I actually assumed they'd gone under by now, but apparently they've dragged out the death throes for a long time.
Which is kind of a shame (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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I would like to see RS die, and a new store spring up in it's place that sells components, but focuses more on 3D printers than cell phones. XBees rather than pre-packaged RC trucks that break after one use, and Ham antennas rather than TV antennas.... but I doubt that any but the largest cities could even support one of these stores.
In other words, I agree that the maker movement could help... but I seriously doubt there is enough of a movement to support an actual storefront. It's a shame really...
Re:Which is kind of a shame (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Which is kind of a shame (Score:5, Insightful)
Radio Shack has tried to serve makers. It turns out, makers are among the people most comfortable shopping online.
I was in a RS recently and they had a 3D printer display, had a rack of Arduino kits, robotics stuff, and lots of little circuit toys for kids on display.
http://www.radioshack.com/diy-... [radioshack.com]
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They got the supply part of it, but they needed the knowledge and price competitiveness of it. I got into doing some Arduino stuff awhile ago, and when I was a noob I stopped by just to look at their various shields and options. One of the employees asked if I needed help and I asked a couple questions about the compatibility and features and he had no idea about any of it. If they'd prepared their employees to answer at least basic questions about them, and not had them priced 30-40% higher than online, it
Sad to hear (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.
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Unfortunately for me the nearest Fry's is over 80 miles away while there is a Radio Shack just down the street from work. But I haven't bought anything there since I needed a few new RCA plugs for some speaker several years ago.
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Radio Shack carries CRAP for components and has continued to carry less and less stuff I need and more and more over-priced items for the "I need it now!" crowd. I'm not surprised that they are going belly up when you can get the same thing in 2 days from Amazon and sometimes at a cheaper price.
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One needs to remember than internet shopping is actually quite new - back in the "old days" when you needed parts, you called up DigiKey, read aloud your parts list and then waited a couple of weeks for it to come back, hopefully you didn't transpose a digit or so.
Or you typed it out
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If you are near a Fry's they still have a decent selection. Now I'm in CO and can drive to Sparkfun if necessary.
I've built up a pretty good kit now and am better at planning ahead with some experience so I find that I need emergency supplies much less. I have never actually driven to the Sparkfun location.
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Probably useless for most people reading this, but my favourite-ever electronics store must be the utterly one-off R. F. Potts [google.com] in Derby, UK. The shop is absolutely tiny, but chock-full of stuff both new and old - with incredibly helpful and knowledgeable staff. Weird, obscure component is buggered, and you need a new one? Hand it over, and they'll find a replacement from the wall of drawers behind the counter - then charge you something like 20p for it. They also have a wide range of old computer parts and
When I was a young squirt (Score:3)
I bought my first computer at Radio Shack. It was a Tandy 1000, XT compatible, with an 8088 processor, 2 floppy drives, and 384K RAM (which got upgraded to 640K). I haven't been in a Shack for many years (and apparently neither has anyone else), and I'm not surprised, but it is kind of sad.
Re:When I was a young squirt (Score:5, Interesting)
I don't mean to one-up (ok, actually, I am), but my first computer was from Radio Shack as well. A TRS-80 (later, it would be called a Model I, but at the time it was the only model so didn't need a steenkin' model badge). 4 whole kilobytes of RAM. A tiny BASIC interpreter in-ROM which probably started life as someone's punched-tape baby. 300 baud I/O for highly unreliable audio cassette storage. A video monitor that started out life as a gutted-down RCA black-and-white TV. It's the reason I'm a SW/Systems Engineer instead of an Electrical Engineer.
I was in a local Radio Shack late last year. There was virtually nothing there for me. I guess some of the Arduino toys were cool, but for my degree of urgency I'd be far better off shopping online. And their consumer electronics stopped being interesting sometime shortly after the 1980s.
A little sad, a little nostalgic, but the same way as discovering the ol' neighborhood has changed so much and all the landmarks you remember are gone. If they bulldozed the whole thing, it wouldn't be much different.
Radio Shack was a great store (Score:5, Insightful)
When I was growing up. Used to be one of the few places you could go and buy electronics parts, and even leatherworking products. They had an excellent line of electronics instruction material, the Forrest Mims books were priceless. Was the place where I bought my first computer a TRS-80 Model 1
. The shame is that throughout the years they never seemed to know what they wanted to do. Later it seemed like a zombie corporation, where the people who had a passion for the products had left, and all that were left were bean counters being driven by the random lurching motion of retail fads.
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When I was growing up. Used to be one of the few places you could go and buy electronics parts, and even leatherworking products.
I don't think I recall RS being a great store, many times it seemed mediocre. But now with its demise, this will be a huge loss for the tinkerers. I occasionally go to RS to get parts for some of my homebrew projects. Though there is Frys and HSC (in Sunnyvale), RS was also convenient. You don't know what you got until you lost it. It seems root of RS downfall is them chasing the cellphone market instead of staying with their core mission.
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It seems root of RS downfall is them chasing the cellphone market instead of staying with their core mission.
What was their core mission? I got the impression it was to follow each consumer wave until the next consumer wave was happening and follow that. Which is why they failed at being a PC company: by the time the natural inertia of being a market follower allowed them to switch gears to the next wave, the market was already on the subsequent wave.
To be fair, they did try and pre-empt the market with the Tandy 2000, but missed the mark by aiming for MS-DOS compatibility rather than PC-XT compatibility.
But the
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Not quite. *Radio Shack* started out under that name, by a pair of brothers selling ham radio equipment and parts out of a store in Boston, both at the storefront and via mail order. In 1962, Radio Shack was bought by Tandy Corporation, which were the guys who started out as muleskinners.
Needed Products (Score:2)
They had some of the most popular computers at the time, such as the Model 1, Model 100-102, Color Computer 3, and Tandy 1000.
They have small stores, and yet, they have empty shelves. Where is the products? They could still have sold PC compatibles.
[In the 1990s, they should have put 68000 processors in their popular color computer like they had planned, but they were worried that it would cut into Tandy 1000 sales.]
If they go, I will miss them because they sold inexpensive computers that I could afford : (
Radioshack doomed by inept management (Score:4, Insightful)
Radioshack should have been the go to place for mini-dishes, unlocked cell phones, tv cables,etc
They instead got rid of the geeks who knew stuff and replaced them with the same type of perky clueless
people you would find in an at&t or t-mobile. Why would I buy the exact same cell phone and plan that I could
buy in a tmobile and at&t store. Radioshack never offered what the consumers really wanted
a good unlocked cell phone and our choice of prepaid plans.
Radioshack could still recover but they need to reduce the number of stores, expand its online offerings and make
deals with more competitive suppliers like monoprice. They also need to refocus radioshack back on customer
service with "friendly geeks" that help you with everything and provide honest unbiased advice which is so lacking right now.
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Fwiw radio shack actually does carry a selection of contact-free phones.
That's a shame. I'll miss it. (Score:2)
I also submitted the story but got scooped. I wrote this:
Our favorite source of resistors, odd batteries, and cell phone accessories is preparing to file for bankruptcy, according to the Wall Street Journal. Millenials won't remember a time when it was a legitimately geeky place to go with lots of new at the time computers on display, tons of electronic kits and DIY gear, and a Free Battery Of The Month club card. Sadly, Radio Shack never found a clear way forward from those roots and swung between emphasiz
Amazon (Score:5, Interesting)
Returning to their roots & getting with the ti (Score:5, Insightful)
They could have "gone back to their roots" by dumping all the common electronics that you can get anywhere and addressing the do-it-yourselfers by hopping on the robotics/Arduino bandwagons. Turn the retail floorspace that used to be occupied by crap TV's with a robot combat ring or workshop, focus on hands-on projects again, have in-store Arduino workshops and local demos of user projects and robotics competitions. Connect with the local high/middle-school to supply robotics/coding extra-curriculars, sponsor robotics workshops and have those kids drag their parents into the store after class to build their own projects. I don't even participate in most of that stuff, but I could see those would have been great paths to pursue a new market share.
They would still need to close many locations and better compete with the mail order business, but they would have created a different customer segment that would be more enthusiastic than the "I need another charger for my phone" crowd rather than reduce their own business to carrion for the vultures. This was a missed opportunity.
2N2222 (Score:5, Insightful)
Story
So I found myself needing a 2N2222 the other day. I wanted it NOW I couldn't be bothered to wait 3 days for mouser.com to mail one two me. So I remembered that my friendly neighborhood radioshack carries all the components I need! I head down there and much to my chagrin all they sold anymore were extremely common A/V connectors, cables, and mobile phones by low paid high school kids. Where were to remote controlled airplanes/cars/boats, the CB's, misc electronic parts, knowledgeable sales staff with white scraggly neck beards? I didn't go there expecting to save a buck. No, I expected to pay 3+ times the price of getting it online somewhere. But I could have it NOW! Then I remembered I hadn't been into a radioshack in 10 years. *sigh* I'll miss you electronics parts store.
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I can't speak for your RadioShack, but every single store (5) I have been in over the last year has component drawers somewhere in the store, and the all carried 2n2222s. Dollars to donuts you store had them too.
Selection isn't great, but they do carry the very basics — along with protoboards, breadboards, etc.
Old geeks are crying (Score:2)
If anything proves the commoditization of hardware, the death of Radio Shacks proves it. What was once a vital lifeline is...nothing. Personally, my last straw was when they insisted that I give full contact info...while paying with cash, and that was only an emergency purchase of batteries, not anything esoteric. Eff that. They won't be missed; they've been dead for years anyway.
Overlooking one small thing... (Score:2)
"You've got questions; we've got blank stares" (Score:2)
CEO salary (Score:2)
Meanwhile the past few CEOs who drove the company into bankruptcy still get paid millions every year. Must be nice to be paid more than almost everyone else in the country for utter incompetence.
Color Computer support (Score:2)
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The Computer Museum?
New stores till the end (Score:2)
Hire MBAs, get what you deserve (Score:3)
I love when the darlings of the MBA world like Blockbuster turn out to be so riddled with cancer that they can't survive.
My next prediction is that the MBA riddled aviation world is next. The whole concept of "calculated misery" where they shrink seats not only to pack more people onto the plane but so that they can charge extra for getting what should actually be a mandated minimum leg room is classic MBA "cunning" that will blow up in their BSchool faces. The only problem is that the bastards are the sort who weasel their way into "retention" bonuses.
But to any CEOs who might read slashdot, right now go to HR and tell them to fire every MBA even if they are doing a non financial related job as their Machiavellian training is probably causing massive misery for anyone around them.
Assets? Of what? (Score:2)
Business model (Score:2)
As far as I can tell, the RadioShack business model is to royally rape anyone walking through its door. A couple of years ago, I was helping a friend out in the middle of nowhere and we needed a network cable. RadioShack was close by but they wanted to charge $12 for a 6ft cable. We had to buy it since there wasn't any other store close by and couldn't wait for deliveries. Maybe, just maybe terrible customer experience had something to do with RadioShack dying.
Here's what I'll miss most (Score:2)
It'll be a sad day when Radio Shack is gone. Here are a few of my favorite things:
- Drawers full of overpriced components and do-dads in small-quantity bubble packs. All except the one you need.
- Not-so-great stereo equipment that you could get cheaper nearly anywhere else
- Strange electronic toys
- Cellphones that nobody actually buys
- Not knowing quite where I should stand to get in line to pay around that counter in the center of the store
But here's what I'll miss most: being asked for my contact inform
Microcenter is the new Radio Shack... (Score:2)
I have a soft spot in my heart for Radio Shack having grown up with it as the source for so many amazing things, but it should have evolved years ago. Microcenter is a chain that is closer to the big box format - they have cheap computer and gaming stuff (kind of like the old CompUSA) but they also have a pretty big section way in the back dedicated to hackers/makers with real, modern components such as Arduinos and nice tools.
Radio Shack didn't have the floor space to sell useful stuff and keep their gee
The best toy I ever got (Score:5, Interesting)
Having just dissed them above, I feel obligated to acknowledge that Radio Shack sold me the best toy I ever got. It was the "100-in-1 Electronic Project Kit". Like all great toys, you could do lots of different things with it. It was endless fun. It had a set of basic electronic components attached to springs, and you wired projects up by bending a spring to the side and then poking a wire into it.
Some projects were easy (few wires) and some were hard (many wires), but all were fun. Most worked well, some worked a little, and a few didn't work at all. I don't think I ever once got the "Three Transistor AM Radio" to work. But the "Electronic Organ" was endless fun. You could turn a knob to change the pitch. And if you did that just right, you could drive the cat absolutely crazy!
I bought a couple of updated "150-in-1 Electronic Project Kits" (150? wow, even funner!) for my kids at garage sales a few years ago, but those didn't hold their interest for even an hour. I guess kids nowadays aren't interested in stuff like this - it seems pretty lame in the age of video games (we only had Pong back then) and cellphones (all phones had cords back then, and were the property of AT&T in those monopoly days). They don't know what they're missing. And unfortunately, neither does their cat.
Re: (Score:3)
The best thing I built was an automatic 'ding dong ditch' delayed door bell ringer. After mom got suspicious that we were ringing the doorbell from the basement.
They tried like only RadioShack can (Score:3)
They just tried too late, and made such a tepid entry, it only served to get people exposed locally, and ultimately hooked up with SparkFun and Adafruit (or eBay for knock-offs which RS could damn well produce in Fort Worth, TX.)
First, RadioShack acknowledged there was a need, so they teamed up with Make and began carrying Arduinos.
Then they made a very public appeal to the community for feedback on how to be awesome again. http://hackaday.com/2011/05/27... [hackaday.com]
Next, the stores received a Bright White remodel that did nothing but highlight how few people there were in the store, and there was that Super Bowl commercial that may serve as Tandy/Radio Shack Corp's epitaph.
You may notice the rather complete shelf of branded electronics tools and racks of organized component drawers, largely missing from most of the stores you've been in lately.
They could be *owning* the SDR and Quadcopter market with DIY and R2R set-ups, workshops. The 3-D printing and DIY screen repair stations are cool but unused and expensive.
Bottom line; RadioShack's used to *BUZZ* with activity. There were computers humming, disk drives loading, an ungodly cacophony of "Made in Taiwan" beeps and squawks, CB's that needed squelch, and customers enjoying and producing that buzz.
It's gone, and no number of Cell Phones will bring it back.
Domestic Hi-Fi for the blue collar audiophile could, so could an in-house engineering department that hires grads and rewards them with equity. Take the damned thing private for a while, narrow the focus.
Hell, I'd even advocate for a merger with MicroCenter or buyout from Adafruit or SparkFun. (10MM could have bought more than greenfield construction)
This makes me sad.... (Score:5, Interesting)
I grew up knowing RadioShack in its glory. It was one of the few places where I could run out and buy parts to build some new gadget or circuit. And, it was one of the few places where you could not only test tubes from your TV, but replace them...yeah...when YOU could repair your own TV. And, it was fun.
I also had my first, unofficial job demonstrating the TRS-80 computer. They would let me come in and write software for it. I managed my paper route on their computers. The selling point, customers would come in and see me working. They'd ask what I was doing and I would tell them. Seeing how it ran my business contributed to quite a few sales for the local RS.
Yup....first HeathKit disappeared, RadioShack lost their way. Now, they too, will soon be gone....just like me.
Sad. (Score:3)
Radio Shack stores used to be really cool places to find all sorts of great stuff. Long ago before most people here were born. They had parts. But alas, this was back before the Internet. Now we can find anything easily and Radio Shack seems to mostly carry phones and toys. It's a tough market.
Re: (Score:2)
Probably very little in the way of items relating to their business.
However, companies of a certain age do come into a certain amount of real estate and other items that have a value which can be realized. Some companies actually have their fully-owned stores or business offices sitting on some prime real estate, bought long before that area was popular.
They may have their own data centers and equipment to run their business.
The Radio Shack name has taken a beating, but there may still be some value in it
Re: (Score:3)
Sears and Kmart problems are more due Eddie Lamperts inept management. JC penney actually is returning to profitability this year.
Best buy is a dinosaur and newegg and amazon are eating its lunch.
Good Ridance (Score:2)
Electronic parts houses.... (Score:2)
were never primarily in business to serve hobbyists and DIYers. They were around to sell parts to TV repair shops, industrial maintenance shops, etc.
Once consumer and industrial electronics became uneconomical to troubleshoot and repair at a component level, there was no need for the places that sold the parts. The handful of remaining hobbyists and radio hams weren't enough to pay the bills, so most of the parts houses gave up and closed their doors.
Re: (Score:3)
Has Radio Shack made any efforts to remake themselves? I mean, I remember when they had a purpose of selling hard to find cables, electronic parts, kits, and
electronics. Now all I see mostly in a Radio Shack is phones. One of the most competitive and low margin markets you can sell. On top of that they don't even sell a lot of the niche stuff they can make money on in store. You know have to order it online and many times these items are a must have today, not a week from now. Their cable line up went from practical, to selling Gold plated china crap, I bought two patch RCA cables a while back that did not even have soldered connections! Yea, Gold plated but come on Radio Shack they had so much resistance it wasn't even funny. Oh, I could go on about old batteries, terrible China made products, and horrible help that can sell a phone and that's about it. Radio Shack needs more then a bankruptcy they simply need to close up shop.
They were trying to ride the Maker wave, they advertise pretty heavily in Make magazine, and had a sizeable booth at the last Maker Faire I went to, but their in-store selection seems too limiting to really be successful -- for $100 on eBay I can order component kits that cover 99% of what I can find in Radio Shack's inventory.