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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThe end may be near for RadioShack
Shares of RadioShack fell more than 4% Wednesday afternoon on the news. They plunged 10% Tuesday and have lost nearly half their value this year. The stock trades for about $1.32.
Scott Tilghman, the B. Riley analyst, wrote in his report that he was worried about how quickly the company is burning through cash. He said that turnaround hopes are based on "crossed fingers rather than hard data" and predicted that there is more than 50% chance that RadioShack will have to file for bankruptcy.
Tilghman added in a phone conversation with CNNMoney that RadioShack's problems are similar to Circuit City, the electronics retailer that filed for bankruptcy in 2008 and went out of business in 2009. He said that vendors may be unwilling to ship products to RadioShack during the next few months -- and that could be disastrous since the back-to-school shopping season and holiday shopping period are crucial.
http://money.cnn.com/2014/06/11/investing/radio-shack-worthless/index.html
Kind of sad, as buying electronic components there is a fond memory from my childhood. But it's tough to compete with the likes of Amazon these days.
Gidney N Cloyd
(19,781 posts)I've been a customer since the 60's when it was the best place to find parts and gadgets and I'll miss it, too, but I honestly don't know what's kept them afloat for the last 20 years. The tipping point was when they stopped printing the yearly catalog (following a short stretch where they were incredibly stingy with them).
yeoman6987
(14,449 posts)so I looked on line and found it at Amazon. A shame but they made these really small shops that sold nothing really. If you want to compete with large on-line folks like Amazon, you need to at least have items that are wanted when a customer walks in. I haven't been back since then and that was three years ago...I can see many people did the same as I did.
TeamPooka
(24,156 posts)as do most consumers of electronics etc today.
Gone are the days when people didn't understand "hi-fi's" and coaxial cable.
The Radio Shack empire was built on stores with salespeople who knew the answers to questions that their customers didn't know.
My 80 year old Mom, who is quite computer literate, knows more than the last two guys who tried to help me in a RS.
Their remote controlled cars were very cool though and I loved them as a kid.
yeoman6987
(14,449 posts)PumpkinAle
(1,210 posts)I will admit I usually only go to RadioShack for some hard to find items or when I need something in a hurry and I am right by a store.
Agree their prices are too high to shop there regularly.
KurtNYC
(14,549 posts)Heck one 9v is $3+ these days.
RS never updated their business model. The margin on most electronics is slim and even slimmer on cell/smart phones since they are loss leaders (sold below cost) to get customers for the carriers who rake in the monthly fees during the 2 and 3 year contracts.
Radio Shack hung on longer than many other mall store chains -- Hot Dog on A Stick, Orange Julius, Mrs Fields, Montgomery Wards, Sbarro, Bombay, B Dalton, Blockbuster, Wherehouse, and KB Toys.
One mysterious survivor in the mall stores group -- Spencers Gifts (?!)
Cooley Hurd
(26,877 posts)KurtNYC
(14,549 posts)all those left over black light posters from the late 1970s.
Cooley Hurd
(26,877 posts)...and DEFINITELY add a strobe light. For that, I'd have to dust off my "Dark Side of the Moon" mp3's. You know how dusty old mp3's can get. (for the record, yes, I still have my vinyl copy ).
onethatcares
(16,133 posts)sh... stuff, unless you have Meddle. on vinyl.
Luminous Animal
(27,310 posts)My dog would howl along with Seamus.
TeamPooka
(24,156 posts)Gidney N Cloyd
(19,781 posts)Where else are you going to find key fobs that make fart noises?
KurtNYC
(14,549 posts)And we know from this documentary from the future how enduring the appeal is:
tridim
(45,358 posts)It has been downsized to almost nothing, the entire store is about 10 feet wide. Probably one step before they go kiosk or out of biz.
They still sell the exact same stuff they did back in the 80's.
Cooley Hurd
(26,877 posts)...with their demo TRS-80 (Trash 80) back in the late 70's. I remember playing with it in their store and it came like a lightning bolt to me; "What if people could USE this device to look up cute pictures of kitties?" I shrugged it off and made my way to the library, where I received several paper cuts from the awesome books I read.
All kidding aside, I hope Radio Shack can survive this. It was a staple of my childhood.
tridim
(45,358 posts)Where I can buy almost any electronic component I need.
IMO Radio Shack has been worthless for about 20 years. Even more so now. They don't even sell parts for radios, let alone whole shacks full of radios.
We were lucky to have a special Radio Shack store in Denver that continued to stock electronic components for DIY'ers... It closed 8 years ago.
Cooley Hurd
(26,877 posts)Kinda like my favorite Tube electronics store: http://www.tubesandmore.com/
PSPS
(13,513 posts)Instead of on the peg board, they're in a drawer chest. Lots of different parts in there. With the demise of independent "radio" stores 40 years ago (due, in large part, to Radio Shack,) it's very hard to find individual parts like these immediately except at Radio Shack.
zappaman
(20,605 posts)Even when you are just buying a battery?
Never understood that.
Cooley Hurd
(26,877 posts)I used to JONES for the sunday flyer in the local newspaper! Free batteries and *flashlights*!!!
femmocrat
(28,394 posts)Last time I went there. The very last time.
I was buying a $5 calculator.
Zorra
(27,670 posts)Cooley Hurd
(26,877 posts)In a pinch, maybe.
Zorra
(27,670 posts)Just an AV cord.
Cooley Hurd
(26,877 posts)...tucked away in a box is my "in-a-pinch" patchcord from RS. It *might've* worked *once*, so I hung onto it.
JaneyVee
(19,877 posts)Spools of speaker wire?
InfoWingerWatch
(78 posts)People want deals.
Why would I go to Radioshack to buy a 20ft audio cable for $6.99 (+ tax) when I can get it from monoprice for $2 (+ shipping/handling and tax) or $2.89 (with free shipping) from a Ebay seller in California?
$6.99 http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=12487811&retainProdsInSession=1
$2 http://www.monoprice.com/Product?c_id=102&cp_id=10218&cs_id=1021808&p_id=650&seq=1&format=2
$2.89 http://www.ebay.com/itm/25ft-3-5mm-Stereo-Plug-to-Jack-Extension-Cable-Audio-Output-Black-For-iPhone-5-/261175961383
Radioshack screwed up big time.
HooptieWagon
(17,064 posts)Whatever part you needed, they had. Adapter plugs? No problem. Shortwave antenna? Got one right here. Now they stock cell phones and batteries. They completely abandoned their old business model and customer base.
CBGLuthier
(12,723 posts)they would have been gone 15 years ago. I was still getting some components from them just a few years ago but they have outlived their original shelf life by a few decades.
tularetom
(23,664 posts)always seemed pissed off that he had to try to make a living off a Raido Shack store. He opened late, closed early, treated customers rudely, never reordered stock, and took about 20 smoke breaks a day (of course he would lock up the joint when he stepped outside since he was too cheap to hire any sales staff).
I think he realized a long time ago that he had made a bad investment buying a Radio Shack franchise.
shenmue
(38,503 posts)Leme
(1,092 posts)I went in one every decade or so.... it now looked like a cell phone store last year.
Jamastiene
(38,187 posts)Wow, it is going to be hard to fathom that. It will take me a long time to adjust to that possible new reality. I always go to Radio Shack to buy certain special audio accessories. I guess I'll have to buy the cheap shit Amazon sells once Radio Shack is gone. It will feel VERY strange to me, a world without Radio Shack.
Mosby
(16,168 posts)I think they tried changing their business model over the years but some of their bread and butter categories virtually disappeared and in other areas they could not compete on price.
Consider the radio market, CBs, Ham radios are gone and am/fm radio sales are probably next to nothing.
They had a very complete line of component audio equipment and speakers of all types and sizes. They had a line of small bookshelf speakers that were quite good and unique, Bose and others didn't have anything like them at the time. Their equalizers were also pretty good, especially for the price, I still use one today to expand the capabilities of my audio system. Eventually though what I would call the mid-price component market shrunk tremendously and what was left of it was taken over by the big box stores like best buy.
Remember the Radio Shack computer stores? They couldn't compete with Circuit City and Best Buy on price so they didn't last long.
I knew when they became mostly a cell phone store that it was coming to an end.
Aerows
(39,961 posts)They are the last resort - like the expensive convenience store that is open at night when you suddenly realize you ran out of milk. Or transistors. Or wiring.
JI7
(89,182 posts)karadax
(284 posts)I learned a lot about what those little parts do from the more seasoned managers. When I worked there the company was on a mad push to sell sell sell cellphones. Depending on the provider you'd get $10 to $15 per phone sold. Verizon paid the most. I wasn't into the pushy salesman act so I got yelled at a lot by higher ups. I liked fixing people's problems and not charging them an arm and a leg.
I hope they survive. Their gimmick was that they always had the answer. A lot of the kids in the stores don't know jack.
Erose999
(5,624 posts)business sale. Capacitors, resistors, 1/4 mono jacks, potentiometers, and LED's for 90% off? Hells yeah!!! I may get to build the Bassman amp I've always wanted, on the cheap. I built a Champ last year:
Probably still cheaper to buy the stuff online, but it'll be fun to go through Radio Shack and see what I can get.
pintobean
(18,101 posts)from the mid 80s. Some of the Realistic brand stuff was pretty decent. I recently sold an old pair of Realistic 3-way bookshelf speakers. They had great reviews and sounded really nice, but the brand name killed the resale value.
Mosby
(16,168 posts)It really wasn't much different, but it was an attempt to get away from the Realistic brand name.
Can you sill get cartridges for your turntable?
pintobean
(18,101 posts)I bought two of them about ten years ago, but I rarely use the turntable. I've probably only played a couple of dozen albums in the last decade. Most of that was to transfer to cd through a Pioneer cd recorder. I still have stacks of vinyl, though. I just never use it and refuse to part with it.