Radio Shack Disappearing
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Vexer1
- Posts: 883
- Joined: December 31st, 1969, 7:00 pm
Radio Shack Disappearing
Home Depot and Lowe's both sell soldering supplies.
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NintendoPower1
- Posts: 7
- Joined: December 31st, 1969, 7:00 pm
Radio Shack Disappearing
[QUOTE=scotland17]A year ago we had this discussion, and now Radio Shack is filing chapter 11 now. The conversation definitely brought out some generational tensions about if the advance of technology comes at the loss of something too.
Radio Shack is sort of a symbol (for me) of tech from about 1975 to 1995, from the rise of home computers to the rise of the internet. Those 20 years were a time when tech was still a hobbyist venture, but also quite populist and attainable. It was the beginning of moving tech from the rarified world of massive machines with their spinning mag tape looked after by a team of slide ruler using white collar clean cut technicians, or one of unshaven blue collar repairmen in their basements with their soldering irons and volt meters, to being approachable, affordable, understandable...democratized really, for everyone with some disposable income and the willingness to learn. Everyone was invited to join in...but you still had to put in the effort to learn something of the craft, and that effort gave you a feeling of reward and accomplishment. You did not have to become an electronics guru or go to MIT, but you did have to struggle with some jargon, read some books, put in some time. You did not learn so much how to use a computer program, but you learned a computer programming language and wrote your own programs.
Just like Sears and the Sears Catalog represented something, so did Radio Shack. So did Kinkos. So did Polaroid or Kodak film. So do Office Depot and Zynga today represent businesses on the edge of yesterday.[/QUOTE]
Ironically Office Depot is being purchased by Staples now.
The problem with Radio Shack, among other companies like say Blockbuster, AOL, and Circuit City, is they didn't change with the times for the underlying purpose of their business. Blockbuster didn't invest into the kiosk business like Redbox or the streaming business like Netflix - when their business was to provide cinema to consumers. AOL didn't invest in broadband when their business was to provide internet to consumers.
When the medium to provide those goods or services become obsolete and there's not major foresight by corporate management to adjust to the change on the horizon, bad things happen.
Radio Shack is sort of a symbol (for me) of tech from about 1975 to 1995, from the rise of home computers to the rise of the internet. Those 20 years were a time when tech was still a hobbyist venture, but also quite populist and attainable. It was the beginning of moving tech from the rarified world of massive machines with their spinning mag tape looked after by a team of slide ruler using white collar clean cut technicians, or one of unshaven blue collar repairmen in their basements with their soldering irons and volt meters, to being approachable, affordable, understandable...democratized really, for everyone with some disposable income and the willingness to learn. Everyone was invited to join in...but you still had to put in the effort to learn something of the craft, and that effort gave you a feeling of reward and accomplishment. You did not have to become an electronics guru or go to MIT, but you did have to struggle with some jargon, read some books, put in some time. You did not learn so much how to use a computer program, but you learned a computer programming language and wrote your own programs.
Just like Sears and the Sears Catalog represented something, so did Radio Shack. So did Kinkos. So did Polaroid or Kodak film. So do Office Depot and Zynga today represent businesses on the edge of yesterday.[/QUOTE]
Ironically Office Depot is being purchased by Staples now.
The problem with Radio Shack, among other companies like say Blockbuster, AOL, and Circuit City, is they didn't change with the times for the underlying purpose of their business. Blockbuster didn't invest into the kiosk business like Redbox or the streaming business like Netflix - when their business was to provide cinema to consumers. AOL didn't invest in broadband when their business was to provide internet to consumers.
When the medium to provide those goods or services become obsolete and there's not major foresight by corporate management to adjust to the change on the horizon, bad things happen.
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sixam1
- Posts: 65
- Joined: December 31st, 1969, 7:00 pm
Radio Shack Disappearing
A proposed list of store closing has been posted on Radio Shack's corporate web site. It lists about 1,800 stores sorted into 3 waves of closings.
http://radioshackcorporation.com/pdfs/RS-Store-Closure-List_020415.pdf
This list was probably an exhibit in their bankruptcy filing, so it may not be the final list. Also, no dates are given for the 3 waves of closings. The list is sorted by store number, so it will be hard to find your local store on it.
http://radioshackcorporation.com/pdfs/RS-Store-Closure-List_020415.pdf
This list was probably an exhibit in their bankruptcy filing, so it may not be the final list. Also, no dates are given for the 3 waves of closings. The list is sorted by store number, so it will be hard to find your local store on it.
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