RadioShack to close 400 to 700 stores

[ckramer]

DALLAS - Electronics retailer RadioShack Corp. on Friday said fourth-quarter earnings dropped 62 percent and disclosed it plans to close 400 to 700 stores and two distribution centers as part of a plan to improve its financial performance.

link

[CottonBear]

1. Great. The economy's doing great. Not. n/t

[Beetwasher]

2. This Doesn't Surprise Me

In my old neighborhood there were 3 Radio Shacks within three blocks of eachother. :shrug:

[PassingFair]

68. I wrote them a scathing e-mail for being such HUGE advertisers

... on Rush Limpballs and other Clear Channel vehicles.

I'm sure they began folding operations upon receipt!

Remember the original "Take Back the Media" blitz?

[qanda]

3. They don't sell anything anymore

Well nothing that you can't get from Target.

[pitohui]

4. exactly they shot their customer in the foot

they got rid of all the parts you would need to actually create something on your own, if i have to order from the fabulous internets anyway what do i need radio shack for?

[Salviati]

11. As I told my dad earlier this year:

Radio Shacks come in two varities these days: The crappy ones and the even crappier ones.

[Canuckistanian]

56. They abandoned the hobbyist years ago

Not enough profit for them.

Now, the stock is pitiful and vastly overpriced.

There must be a lot of techs with money, or amateurs who don't know any better.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

5. They sell a few shortwave radios

The Grundigs they sell are OK. Target has nothing like them. Neither does Best Buy. Don't know about Circuit City. For middle America in the market for a SWR (shortwave radio), it's RS or mail order.

[LeftyMom]

7. Circuit city had Grungig shortwaves when I worked for them

but that was probably 7 years ago. I don't know if they still have them.

[DemoTex]

12. As a ham radio operator, I do mail order almost 100%.

I can get much higher quality equipment from AES (Amateur Electronic Supply), HRO (Ham Radio Outlet), or any of a number of others. On the other hand, it is nice to have a Radio Shack nearby when I need a couple of PL-259 connectors and some ground wire .. today.

The Shack does seem to have too many store in some areas. Dallas comes to mind. Also, it has been my impression that some stores are company-owned and some are franchised. The R/S in Brevard, NC, for example, seems to be family-owned and run. One of the guys there is a ham radio operator, too.

73s to the employees of Radio Shack.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

21. Amateur Radio

There is an HRO nearby, in Woodbridge VA. I really miss the long-gone EEB in Vienna VA. It was either the Electronic or Electronics Equipment Bank. The guy running it ran afoul of the feds for one reason or another. I used to go out there to buy an occasional Passport to World Band Radio, but I never bought any radios from him.

I picked up the 2003 Passport yesterday at a book sale a the library. The books were priced at three for a dollar. It is in mint condition too.

I completely advocate that all DUers get amateur licenses and buy SWR's. Surely by now we know better than to rely on the Washington Post to be anything other than a mouthpiece for Karl Rove.

[DemoTex]

23. I listened to SW on the first night of Bu$h's attack of Iraq in 2003.

Radio Habana Cuba English language news was the best. No TV, no cable. Just a long night tuning SW news stations.

Yes. Get your amateur licenses and at least learn the basics and get some entry-level gear. I consider my radio station a key element in my survival kit.

[sendero]

29. 73 and fine business...

.. nice looking rig you got there :)

Know a good Icom tech?

[Kenergy]

51. 73 from Asheville n/t

[CBGLuthier]

34. not 100% true, I shop there every week.

Their 1.99 buzzers can be salvaged and combined with a jack make an excellent cheap transducer for home music projects like the cigar box guitars I build.

Still, I doubt the 15 bucks a week I spend will keep them afloat. :-)

[henslee]

40. i'd like to make one of those. Any tips?

[mitchum]

72. Go to cigarboxguitars.com...

its a great site. There you will find plans for building the basic 3 string cigar box guitar. That's a great beginning to work from. I have built over 30 them over the past year. You can experiment with scale length (the site also includes a link to a scale length calculator), number of strings (I have also built 1 and 2 string variations), pickup placement, etc...

The best advice I can give is to not expect it to "really be a guitar"
After all, it's still just a cigar box and a stick!
But it is a highly enjoyable way to explore, express, and experience the perfect combination of the ridiculous and the sublime.

have fun,
mitchum

[mitchum]

70. They do make great transducers for that purpose...

I have used many of them.
Hello to another fellow cigar box guitar enthusiast! :)

[henslee]

39. I got a wf adapt.,headsts & DVD player there & played w/ a wireless robot

I like that I can walk there, there's never a crowd, the A/C is pumping, and I can return anything for cash in thirty days.
What I bought... wif-adadpter - 40., vcr/dvd plater - 50., headphones. sony, 15. They work fine.

[qanda]

41. My husband and I still shop there for the same reasons you mentioned

However, I usually can get a better deal somewhere else, but I do enjoy that the stores are small and we usually know the salespeople pretty well. Still, their selection seems pretty limited these days.

[henslee]

42. Radio shack should have rode the rebirth of deejay culture... Hell they

were the first ones to carry turntables and newmark mixers. They should have gone deejay gear, computer games, ipods/mp2 players, cell phones and car stereos. Done. They would have killed. And of course, keep the electronic accessories.

[SquireJons]

44. Not even close to being true.

When was the last time you set foot inside of a Radio Shack? They have almost nothing in common with Target. The problem with Radio Shack is that what they do sell doesn't have much of a market. If you need a special battery for your TI device, where else are you going to go? Certainly not Target. If you want a special adaptor or cable or LED, or a host of other specialty items your only other alternative is the Internet. I don't think Radio Shack will survive but I will be sad to see them go. No one else does what they do. Target, et al only sell items that the public as been told to buy with the latest marketing blitz. Radio Shack sells things that only a hand full of people need, but they are the only retail store to fill that need. I shop there several times a year, the most recent purchase was for an adaptor that allows me to plug in any electrical (a/c) device through my car lighter (i.e. laptop, TV, boombox, fan, floor lamps - it's great for car camping or long trips). Try finding that at Wal-Mart.

[ewagner]

71. I worked for RS

about 15 years ago...sort of a stop-gap job..

to be honest, I don't think I ever had so much fun in my life...we used to "demonstrate" the big Mach I speakers by cranking up the 100W stereo to the max and letting a cd of "Danger Zone" rip.....we were located in a mall and actually rattled the menu off the wall of the restaurant next door to us...

I was always amused by the hobbyists who came in...I couldn't understand why the manager ordered so many mercury switches in the winter until I understood that the ice fishermen would buy them to make light or buzzers go on whenever they had a fish on the line...fun...

"demonstrating" radio controlled cars up and down the mall walkways was always fun.

I suspect our RS will be one of the first to go...

sigh......lots of good memories......

[kineneb]

6. damn, where will I get patch cords now?

It's not like we have any other stores to get stuff like that out here in the boonies.

[libnnc]

47. Muscians Friend?

www.musciansfriend.com

I get my strings from them. S&H isn't too much.

[brmdp3123]

8. Don't know how they've stayed in business this long.

They don't have anything that you can't get somewhere else cheaper, not to mention the fact that they ask for your damn phone number just to buy a couple of batteries.

[Scout1071]

15. I never give my phone number to retailers. When they say "can I have

your home telephone number?" I just reply "no thanks." End of discussion. They cannot demand it from you and they will just move on and ring up the sale.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

25. They stopped doing that some time ago

due to widespread anger.

[Scout1071]

27. Baloney. I get asked for it all the time still. nt

[susanna]

55. Absolutely...

I tell them, "I do not give out my telephone number." Only one in-store associate has ever pushed me on it, and when he reached annoying (about 10 seconds), I told him "I'll get this somewhere else if you need my phone number that bad." He said, "I do." So I left the merchandise on the counter and walked out.

This is just an FYI for those who might not be aware: 99.9% of the time, if you tell them you don't give out your phone number, they bypass it.

[ellenfl]

9. i disagree that you can get their items elsewhere.

they were the only place locally that i could find speaker cables for my 'puter and an antenna for my portable tv, to name 2 things. there are no other electronics stores around that carry these things. however, there are 3 stores close to me so i hope they keep one of them open.

ellen fl

[hobbit709]

10. I used to go there

and get all sorts of parts and things to build various circuits. but they don't carry anything I need anymore and every time I walk in they try to sell me a cell phone or something else I don't need.

Edit: can't spell anymore

[Jayhawk Lib]

13. I am an electronics hobbyist

and Radio Shack used to have a lot of the transistors, capacitors,etc that I used. Now all they are is a high priced appliance store.

[DemoTex]

14. I can remember when Radio Shack (founded in 1921) sold vacuum tubes!

I can still find a few specialty electronics items at R/S if I am willing to look hard. Most of their employees are clueless on that sort of thing. I hope that they are more knowledgeable of the cell phones and boom boxes that must have a higher profit margin than a PL-259 connector. Still, good luck to them. It sounds like many are getting Cheneyed (which now has a multitude of meanings, from screwed, to shot, to drunk-as-a-lord).

[Jayhawk Lib]

20. I can remember them selling tubes also.

If I remember right they had a lifetime warranty on their tubes. I am lucky because in my area is a Radio Shack that is locally owned and he not only sells Radio Shack goodies but he sells ham radio equipment new, used and consignment equipment.

He also has an IFR engineer that works in the store to repair a lot of electronics including ham radios.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

22. With a Lifetime Guarantee

Just try to get them to honor it anymore, though.

[LeftyMom]

28. The thing is,

the cords, connecters and doodads have a pretty high margin. Usually the highest of anything in the store.

Cell phones are highly profitable both because the companies pay a good amount for every new contract and baecause people usually have to buy a few acessories to go with them.

[sendero]

30. And the cords, connectors..

... cables and doodads are probably the lowest quality stuff you can get anywhere. They are truly selling bottom-quality parts for high-quality prices.

One good thing about living in Dallas, we have Fry's and they just slay Rat Shack, as us hams call them :)

[Jayhawk Lib]

35. I really like Fry's

My son lives in Mansfield and when we are there I always take about a 5 mile drive on Matlock to Fry's.

[DemoTex]

38. Bwaaaaaaaaaaa!

I hate Fry's! Personal preference.

[reprobate]

59. DemoTex, do you remember when they were Allied RadioShack on

Western Ave in Chicago, back in the 50s?

[susanna]

57. My husband agrees with you.

He's an electronics nut and can't stand what has happened to Radio Shack. He buys everything online now. I wonder if RS corporate realizes how much they betrayed their base market by trying to grab folks that get everything from Best Buy, Circuit City, Target, Walmart, etc.?

[MsUSA]

16. Aren't the radio shack commercials great?? They are the

ones that just have a chair and person, male or female come and sit on the chair and start talking about the cell phone they want and that you can buy it for them at radio shack. Aren't those radio shack commercials??

[951-Riverside]

17. I saw it coming when they decided to get rid of their catalogues

[alcibiades_mystery]

18. Two words: Tiger Direct

End of story.

[Divine Discontent]

33. TIGER DIRECT IS THE DEVILSPAWN OF EMERCHANTS!

screw tiger direct! they sold me a computer and when it had MULTIPLE differences than what was advertised they REFUSED to give me any kind of credit, were rude and uncaring (two reps) about their screw up on my purchase, mocked me because I didn't spend a thousand on a good computer and said, the profit they're making off my purchase wasn't worth the effort of doing anything special about the problem


HELLO!???? They have no idea how much I spend a year on electronics, and that was my first, of what would have been many purchases.

Idiots.

Any GOOD service stories where problems arose with other emerchants?

[alcibiades_mystery]

37. I've had nothing but good experiences with them

I'm sorry to hear that.

Then again, I ain't getting a kickback from them, so if you say they're shit, I'm more than happy to let that stand.

Built a system from case up, mostly with components bought from TD, and it zooms like a motherfucker, no problems...

[karlrschneider]

52. I guess I've built 25 or 30 computers from pieces from TigerDirect and

had virtually no problems with either the hardware or the company. Weird how widely experiences vary isn't it?

[SquireJons]

45. The problem with e-merchants...

Is that you really don't have any idea of what you're buying, unless you already have one. The picture of the item is useless, as is the description. The sales people know nothing about the products they take orders for, and they routinely give out false information. And the technical specifications were written deliberately to obscure weaknesses. I used to own and run a cyber cafe and made tens of thousands of dollars worth of purchases. I tried many different options; I leased, I bought from value added retailers, and I bought from catalog and online companies. There are problems with all merchants, but I was never surprised about my purchases except when I bought from catalog companies like Tiger Direct. I find my satisfaction rate with online/catalog purchases to be about 50% where as with a retail outlet it's more like 90% satisfaction. The saving can be worth the risk, but it's easy to get burned.

[LiberalGuy000]

19. that's too bad

Actually, I've gotten some excellent help from Radio Shack a few times over the last couple of years. There are times when I simply don't know what little part I'm going to need and they've always been very helpful.

Try asking an employee at Target or Circuit City about a technical problem you're having and watch the blank look you get in response.

I will admit, however, that Radio Shack does seem like a relic. The stores feel outdated.

[DainBramaged]

24. So many of their stores are in malls, they have huge overhead

and NO value. But they are talking about the corporate stores, not franchise stores, which are the bulk of Radio Shacks if I am not mistaken. But, in spite of them thinning their inventory, wasting time trying to sell computers at full list price, or charging twice what I can buy batteries for at Costco, at least 3000 or more people will be out of work.

What a country.:shrug:

[RebelOne]

31. Not necessarily in big malls.

There is one practically around the corner from my house. And it is in a small strip mall. Including Radio Shack, there are only about four stores and one restaurant.

[DainBramaged]

48. Bet ya it's a franchise store, and they usually carry more "tweak" stuff

[The Straight Story]

26. No real market for the idiots anymore - which means maybe someone

else will pick up the fine things they used to do - electronics, computers, hobbyist stuff.

I have great memories of Radio Shack, but last time I was there last year it so turned me off I never went back.

[Sgent]

32. Sad...

In my area the R/S still does most of the hobbiest supplies -- and a lot of stuff its more expensive to ship than the cost of the item.

There is one electronic's store -- but they do more installations and the like, and unless you need a 5000' foot roll of Cat 5, they have to order it.

[slampoet]

36. PERFECT eXAMPLE OF A BUSINESS THAT DIED 'CAUSE....

they lowered their wages.

A Radio Shack employee used to be decently paid.

Then they lowered their prices and thus had to take people without any kind of training.

I went into a store and asked for a female 1/4" TRS jack (the kind you plug a guitar cable into)

I didin't care if it was TRS or TS.

It took four employees and then the manager said they didn't carry that part.

I said "You don't carry the most popular audio connector of the 20th century?"
It turns out i found it on my own and they did have it.

[SquireJons]

46. But they did have it...

Where will you go when Radio Shack is gone?

[slampoet]

67. But they did have it?

This is an audio connector that I used to see in Grocery stores!!!

To get one now I will probably risk being fired from my work by for picking one of these out of the garbage, since i now work for a company that uses 300+ of these connectors a day.

I'd rather take that risk than pay $1 shipping on a 90 cent part.

[Rex]

43. There goes RadioShack.

RIP

[Straight Shooter]

49. RadioShack is a Tandy Corporation company, based in Fort Worth, TX.

To the best of my knowledge, anyway. Things might have changed in the last few years.

There will be some mighty unhappy Texans over this news. Closing stores affects employees there, too.

[corporatemedia]

50. Does anyone remember when Lafayette Electronics...

was a retail (and catalog) competitor to Radio Shack?

At one time, in some areas of the country, you had a choice of a Radio Shack or Lafayette store.

Obviously, only one survived (so far anyway).

Lafayette "relaunched" the brand name in 2002

http://lafayetteelectronics.com/home.html

[karlrschneider]

54. I remember Lafayette well...from the 50s But I was thinking Radio Shack

started out as Allied Electronics...that split off as a wholesale tronics supplier when Tandy bought the retail part?...or have I got it AFU?

[reprobate]

60. RS started as Allied Radio Shack in Chicago IIRC, on Western Ave.

I think I still might have one of their catalogs from the 50s somewhere in the piles of memorabelia.

Tandy the leather company bought them later.

[karlrschneider]

64. That sure sounds right. That catalog might bring some big bucks on Ebay!

:D

[pimpbot]

58. I used to goto rat shack for all my circuit board needs

However, now you can get a lot of the stuff online for cheaper. You have to wait a few days for shipping, but I guess thats worth it since I dont like to pay $20 for a few parts I can get for $5. digikey.com and mouser.com have almost any IC or passive electronic component you could ask for in this day and age. I'll still cherrish the days of buying PCBs, transistors, and doodads at RS. Nowadays none of the salespeople know wtf you're talking about when you ask if they have any 10uF caps in stock. A shame really, and I'm only 25, not some old geezer here.

[reprobate]

61. How about a little respect for us Geezers?

[corporatemedia]

62. Yeah, 'cause we'll be marchin' every hour, we got Metamucil power!

[pimpbot]

77. lol sorry

Wasn't trying to make fun of geezers :). Just pointing out rat shack HAD a wide range of people who originally bought from them for the speciality stuff. I dont get why they branched out into selling crappy tv's, stereos, and other stuff you could get cheaper at a big box.

[karlrschneider]

65. And Digikey will generally send free samples of small items. I've bought

a zillion discrete components from them the last 15 or so years. They're an amazing company especially considering where they're located! :D

[Jose Diablo]

66. Tell me about it, RS is pretty lame

if your a geek looking for parts. My last trip to RS, looking for ferrite cores to build a ferro resonator DC power supply was a wasted trip. Being a geek from the 50-70's confronted with 'modern' techo wonders from Japan displayed at RS, I had to step back and wonder at the single small cube in the back that displayed all of the single components displayed in the packages, marked-up to the roof in price and say to myself, "Nobody does what I used to do anymore".

There wasn't even manuals available for a youngster to teach themselves what goes on inside electronics. Plenty of dandy electronic calenders and other doodads already built, but very little for the garage-hacks.

I don't know what happened to RS, but I'd say the 'bean counters' probably gained too much control of the company and it lost it's focus on who was really it's customers as it went for the customers looking for cheap electronic devices built in Japan. It turned itself into just a retail outlet to distribute electronic junk built in Japan and Taiwan.

As for us geeks, I guess we are now relegated to buying our stuff 'used' at meet-ups. Eventually us garage-hacks will all die-off and nobody will do what we do. It will become a lost art.

I say good riddance to RS, I've got no use for them anyway. The company turned into just another money grubbing 'fast food' outlet, like the rest of the world of strip malls we see lining all the streets.

It's a world without meaning, running first this way, then that way. Everything built cheap, to last as short a time as possible. A world that says nothing matters, so consume and shut-up. Nothing matters anymore, not even people.

[mitchum]

74. When I was a kid, I thought I was in heaven because our town...

had a Lafayette, 2 Radio Shacks, and a large local electronic component retailer :)

For awhile now, I have been keeping my eyes open for one of those cheapo electric guitars that Lafayette used to carry. It's all about the reverse snob appeal :)

[NVMojo]

53. yep, it's fecking great in USALand!

[Tsiyu]

63. Too bad

I believe they support Blue causes

[hunter]

69. Kids don't do electronics, and electronic stuff isn't repaired.

I think Radio Shack is the victim of our modern "throw it away and buy a new one" electronics.

Of more significance, most of the kids I know these days who might have been electronics and radio geeks when I was a kid now play with the internet and computers. They haven't grown up in a culture where people actually make things for themselves. They are used to buying things.

I built my first radio in elementery school, and my first computer in junior high school. I don't know any kids today who do things like that. Maybe they can write a little code, but they don't solder.

[mitchum]

73. Absolutely...people can't even be bothered to prepare their own...

food any longer, so it's no surprise they won't build anything.
It just doesn't fit in with their consumerist "entertain me" conditioning.

[reprobate]

75. Yes, and they don't know what they're missing. hours and hours of fun

soldering. And no child should be deprived of the bouquet of melting resin core solder. Even in their senior years it will be a trigger to fond childhood memories.

Talk about memories, some of my fondest early ones were of disassemling those old surplus aircraft receivers and transmitters from WWII. I swear you could get a wiff of the smell of those things, close your eyes and actually see the B-24 or B-17 assembled around it. Those old ARC series radios were a treasure for parts for years after.

[PatGund]

76. Radio Shack....

...You've got Questions, We've Got Blank Stares.