RadioShack set to close 500 stores nationwide

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K5MPH

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zzdiesel said:
I remember when radio Shack use to sell Direct T.V. satellite dish assemblies.
That's where I purchased one some 20 years ago(?) It was awhile ago, I know that.

Back then, you could assemble the dishes, install them, point them according to the instructions, if you had a compass, and then call them to get it activated.

Satellite dishes were a big thing for them back when Direct T.V. first came out....
And then Wal-Mart got to selling them too.

This is one of the under lining problems for them is Walmart and other stores like also bestbuy Walmart is killing everything, sooner or later Walmart is going to be only store you will shop at this is Walmart maine gole is to take over the hole retail market........
 

Keith_W7KEW

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The struggling U.S. electronics retailer RadioShack is set to close 500 stores as part of its restructuring effort.

RadioShack set to close 500 stores nationwide : BIZ TECH : Tech Times

Radio Shack needs to change their name or maybe merge with Best Buy or Target to become a computer electronics store. With Smart phones & tablets quickly replacing the Desktop computer along with smart TV's just around the corner they need a whole new image and name.

People don't buy many scanners, Hifi or CB's any more since they can now listen over the Internet.


It won't be long before Uniden is bought up or has a major change also.
 
V

VGSMC_8520

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It won't be long before Uniden is bought up or has a major change also.

While Uniden's revenue and income have fallen in recent years, "Uniden Corporation appears to have little financial risk as the company holds a substantial amount of cash on its books with little or no debt."

Their stock has held more or less steady since 2009, and I hope they'll see profits return in the coming years. I hope any "major change" for them is good.

source:
UNIDEN CORP (6815:Tokyo): Stock Quote & Company Profile - Businessweek

UNIDEN CORP (6815:Tokyo): Financial Statements - Businessweek
 

ladn

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More than ever, the farcical mottos:

"You've got questions. We've got cell phones," and "You've got questions. We haven't a clue," apply.

I, too used to be a regular customer for small parts like connectors and resistors. I didn't expect the employees to understand the parts, just tell me the location.
 

NUGEN

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It's funny how many people on these forums bash Radioshack. If you don't like it, don't shop there. If you think you can do better, open your own electronics store, that's the beauty of capitalism.
 

firerick100

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I miss the good old days back In the 80's when you would walk into the radio shack and they would have on a Shelf behind the counter with all kinds of models of base and mobile scanners and cbs along with the police call freq directories ( not needed anymore with radio reference being much better source for info). I saw an article today that said 4300 stores but they a,re only closing 500 so "the shack" by far is not out of business yet. But they are not what they used to be.my first scanner was the uniden pro 31 handheld.
 
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VGSMC_8520

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It's funny how many people on these forums bash Radioshack. If you don't like it, don't shop there. If you think you can do better, open your own electronics store, that's the beauty of capitalism.

Ha so true - Radio Shack is the low hanging fruit of these forums. If I can't find what I need at Fry's, I'll go to Radio Shack or I'll get it online. I've given Radio Shack plenty of my dollars over the years, and been satisfied with just about all my purchases there, yet I've never considered the store in its current form to be ideal or exactly what I needed. Much like the luxury organic market across town is going to have a wider and deeper selection of items compared to your nearby corner store, Radio Shacks fits (or used to fit) that segment with plentiful locations and stocking a few of the basic things I need. The luxury market (Fry's, the internet, etc) is always there for those things I couldn't find at Radio Shack.

Also, Radio Shack used to have excellent service, and maybe it was detrimental to them. I remember bringing in a radio past warranty, and they still shipped it off to their repair facility, fixed it, and sent it back within a week for no charge. And that was around 1999. Not sure if Radio Shack of 2014 is still like that though. Fry's has easy exchanges and returns, but I doubt they have the level of service Radio Shack has(had).
 
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KentFitzgerald

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Not surprising that they're trimming locations. There are 4 RS stores within 5 miles of me. Way too saturated for a specialty retailer. On the rare occasions when I go in, there are usually 2 employees and no other customers.
 

shew

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I missed the days around this time of the year....go into radio shack to see if the new POLICE CALL FREQUENCY BOOK came in yet.....sometimes it wouldn''t come in until march
 

blee1099

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Doesn't surprise me honestly about Radioshack. Went in there a few months back trying to find a 3.5mm to serial db9 cable for a Samsung large format display monitor that I needed to console into. Guy was saying no such cable exists. After fighting the stupidity of their employees, ended up buying a serial adapter and a 3.5mm stereo wire so I could build one myself.
 

firerick100

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I missed the days around this time of the year....go into radio shack to see if the new POLICE CALL FREQUENCY BOOK came in yet.....sometimes it wouldn''t come in until march

I can just imagine how big the book would be now,back 20 years ago there were no such things as talk groups on systems,they would have 20 freqs for 1 dept with a lot of repeats,radio reference is the way to go these days,
 

N9NRA

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Well, if the only Radio Shack here (which happens to be in a place that`s not easily accessible without a car) were to close i can say that i wouldn`t lose any sleep over it, back when i went there to get my HTX-202 and later my `404 HT`s it was a really good place to get stuff, then the staff basically started to go to hades in a handbasket, the way they treated customers started to slip (got really bad for one person i knew, she had to threaten to "lawyer up" to resolve her issue), then selection went south, and after that the whole thing more-or-less just fell onto the tracks and that was it for Rat Shack. I won`t even go there for batteries anymore, i can get `em at a place that`s way closer, and the staff treat me with WAY more respect than the "staff" at cellphone/satTV Shack...er...Radio Shack, ever did. N9NRA
 

zz0468

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I personally no NOBODY who dabbles in build-your-own stuff.

Then you're not paying attention, and you're not hanging out with the right people.

It's not popular anymore.

You're not helping...

Maybe in small circles of older generations, yeah, but I see no younger people doing it.

Then you have your eyes sewn shut. Open them up long enough to see what Jeri Ellsworth is showing off on youtube.

I keep bringing up the HRO stores I've been into in California, with the same old elderly crew chewing the fat while antennas and radios sit on the shelves and racks collecting dust.

Funny... I go to HRO, too. Yeah, I see the same old faces behind the counters. But I have yet to see dust on the shelves, and every time I've been there in the last few years, the place has been crowded, and people are buying stuff.

Face it: There of course IS a market for scanners and ham radio, but it most certainly won't save RS from the dustbin of history.

Ok, so RS is a lost cause. I get it, and I agree. But quit with the gloom and doom. I see things picking up. So, you can't run to the corner Radio Shack store an pick up the latest devices. It's better and easier now... you get on line and log into your Mouser account.

Surface mount got you down? Guess what...! It's easier than the old through-hole boards. No drilling into fiberglass! Bad eyesight got you down? Use an illuminated magnifier. The optical feedback between your hand and your brain works wonders with a magnifier.

Seriously... check out the maker movement, and then try to come back and tell me that young people aren't building things.
 

Darth_vader

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"The dreaming, hoping and wishing borders on insanity. I personally know NOBODY who dabbles in 'build-your-own' stuff. It's not popular anymore. Maybe in small circles of older generations, yeah, but I see no younger people doing it."

Correct. Like it or not, the so-called "maker 'movement'", is not a "movement" at all but merely a marketing/subculture fad gradually nearing its expiry date. Rat $hack would be as hopelessly naive as some of the posts/posters in this thread if they were to expect to gain any long-term profit from it.

Fairly liberal estimate, but I'd give the fad about another 1-1 1/2 years before it completely dies out.
 
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VGSMC_8520

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Fairly liberal estimate, but I'd give the fad about another 1-1 1/2 years before it completely dies out.

Nah, come on...don't be a wet blanket. There will always be the DIY people; the buzzword you use to describe it is the fad.
 

JMSuiter

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Well I think they are going to become basically computer stores now. They will stop selling parts. Say goodbye to radios at radio shack. This means no more parts such as connectors, coax etc. I think if anything they will just move as far away from radio as possible and focus on the latest electronic gizmos like computers, cell phones, tablets etc. This is my opinion on the direction they are headed. Radio stuff is no longer profitable.

Not even computers... It's all cell phones these days; it has been for about 10 years or so. I worked for RS in 2004 and I got maybe $25 for selling a pro-96 ($499 at the time). I'd then sell a cell phone for free (to the customer) and would get maybe $150 for it in commission and spiffs.
 

MTS2000des

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Not even computers... It's all cell phones these days; it has been for about 10 years or so. I worked for RS in 2004 and I got maybe $25 for selling a pro-96 ($499 at the time). I'd then sell a cell phone for free (to the customer) and would get maybe $150 for it in commission and spiffs.

And this is what it is about folks: money.

Scanners and hobbyists pale in comparison to what selling wireless devices with attachments (read: accessories, extended warranties and additional services) bring in for the company and the sales staff.

Let me say this, for those of you who want to dog RS employees: please stop. You sound like a bunch of elitist snobs or crabby old farts. It's really unseemly.

At least the RS sales associates and managers are working and contributing to the economy by generating sales taxes and paying income tax themselves. Which is more than I can say for so many in this country (including some on another sub-forum I won't mention) who sit on their butts eating up entitlements, "smoking cigarettes and watching Captain Kangaroo" and not doing anything productive.

If you don't like being offered cellphones or whatever the flavor of the day there is, DON'T SHOP THERE! RS of the past 10 years is not what it was when we were kids. GET OVER IT. They are a for profit company in business to make money. I mean, CVS and Walgreen's don't have soda jerks and sell malts but you all don't complain about them! They have changed with the demands of the marketplace. If RS selling cellphones or widgets is no longer profitable, then they will change with the trends or go out of business. That is far from the case these days and Wall Streeters know wireless is king. Everyone wants a piece of that pie.

It's called business in a capitalist marketplace.

But please stop bashing working people who are doing their jobs. Unlike many in this country who REFUSE to get off their butts and contribute, at least those RS folks are not sucking up the welfare rolls. They work hard for much less than many others who don't do anything get from our government to sit on their butts and waste our future away.

(and no, I don't work there nor own stock. I just get tired of all the bashing of working people who are at least doing something productive for our country rather than taking the easy way out and leeching off society)


They actually tried this during the 90's and were the first to jump out before the malaise hit the other big box electronic retailers. That you have to give them credit for being visionaries. Remember Icredible Universe?

Let's not forget Tech America. Radio Shack tried to do the whole parts express thing ala retail aimed at not hobbyists but commercial customers. It failed. They had both retail locations (less than Fry's) and a web presence back in 1998/1999. Tech America was trying to do what Fry's is doing but aimed at commercial accounts.

Tech America failed IMO because they did not invest in the right people. They had a tremendously wide inventory that ranged from component parts (way more than Radio Shack retail carried), cleaning supplies (De Oxit!), computer components, two way radios (LMR)- everything under the sun.

If you ever got to visit one of their locations, it was a huge big box store filled with stuff. The one in Doraville, GA (just down the road from HRO Atlanta) carried ham radio gear. But the problem was there was NEVER adequate help on staff. Associates were clearly pulled from RS Retail locations and did not have extensive training needed on the vast inventory.

Tech America died in a couple of years. Like Incredible Universe, it was a grand idea, probably ahead of it's time, but just did not work out for them.

I still have their first catalog which is about 400 pages somewhere around here.
 
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