Is Radio Shack Going Belly UP?

my first computer was a TRS 80 Model I

[lawman]

Looks like not only has Radio Shack become a shell of its former self, it's on the verge of bankruptcy. I bought my first computer there and expanded it until I could expand no more - Shugart drives, Centronics printer, expansion interface, 48K ram. My first word processing program was Scripsit. Also ran billing/accounting program for my business on it.

I was always in and out of RS for one thing or another. I saw their cordless phone when it first came in stock. I was so impressed I bought two. A little on the noisy side if you weren't in just the right location, but you put up with that kind of stuff on first generation items.

Now I go in maybe twice a year for soldering supplies or a connector for my digital multimeter. I don't know what happened, but RS used to be a pretty cool place.

[J_RaD]

TRASH 80! thats what we called them anyway.

its done and dead.

they transformed into.... what? a crappy cell phone store?

agree, used to be a great place.. picking up parts for projects etc.. now if you go in and ask for a resistor or chip they'll give you a funny look at send you back to the dark corner of the store.

they should have kept to their roots...whoever took the wheel was confused.

now they want to sell 50% of their store leases to sprint? sprint has going thru layoff after layoff with 1 mistake after another.... almost ironic, RS passing sprint more dead bodies.

[not2easy]

Same thing here, they didn't come to my small town until around 2005 but they had everything I needed at the time for parts, supplies, a router, specialized connectors and batteries. Last time I was there they had little in the way of anything if you didn't come in to top off your phone's card. A shame.

[tangor]

Sadly, the current generation isn't motivated (or smart enough) to tinker and experiment... RS changed because their customers changed (in part... the other part is the top dogs at RS chased pie in the sky and ruined what they had!)

Way back when (during my audio building days, and parts for the band) RS was the goto place just around the corner (there were three within 4 miles of the house) and they had a nice selection of early computing instruction books that were early bibles for me. :)

The delisting from the market is due to a failure to maintain value 30M for 30 days... currently at 24M...

[weeks]

Have you seen the reports that Amazon is looking to use many of the Radio Shack retail stores?
[bloombergview.com...]

I do not think this is going to happen. What the heck would that store look like? Then, again, you can never tell with Amazon–they are making movies and cellphones, which doesn't make sense to me either.

[ken_b]

Between product mix and a lack of product knowledge on the part of clerks it's amazing they made it this far.

[J_RaD]

Sadly, the current generation isn't motivated (or smart enough) to tinker and experiment

I think they could solve this by having workshops... how to use a raspberry pi..give them the spark.

If they had a 3d printer in every store, and let people come in and use it..that would be another huge draw.

Just stuff like that to pull people in and ignite something.

[LifeinAsia]

Great ideas, J_RaD! Since the "older" generation is (was) already their core market, classes to teach today's "new fangled" technology (like this new Internet thingee everyone's talking about) to them seems like it would be a great draw. On the other end of the customer spectrum, offer computer/technology classes for kids.

I haven't been inside a RS in years (went about 5 years ago because I needed some network cables- they had absolutely nothing related to home networking, so I drove another couple miles to Best Buy), so have no idea what, if anything they have. But along those lines, carry some of the "* for Dummies" books could be a good upsell after (or for) the classes.

[lawman]

Agreed, give people a reason to want to hang out there just like the old days. Too late now I suppose.

[J_RaD]

yep they filed today.

From the stories online, by ex employees, it sounds like RS was the worst place to work at EVER.