Ah RadioShack, the number of trips I made there as a kid – it was the only place to go for electronic parts…still is. This was long before cell phones and tablets, when the electronics giant store sold Tandy PCs, antennas (car and home), stereo amplifiers, pre-amps, receivers, and Optimus speakers. If you needed a capacitor, adapter, converter, wires of all sorts and batteries, you went to RadioShack. At Christmas, they would get in a bunch of really cool electronic toys and remote control cars – it was always a special time. As far as information goes, a RadioShack employee was as knowledgeable as you could find…the original geeks to help you solve the problems of how to go from one connector to another.
RadioShack opened its doors in Boston back in 1921, so it is with a heavy heart that I tell you that Wall Street Analysts are predicting an imminent bankruptcy reorganization is in their near future. RadioShack has been struggling for years, but with another quarterly loss, the latest totaling $137 million – twice what the analysts predicted – it looks like the end could be near for the once iconic store. RadioShack had plans to close about 1,100 of its 4,000 stores – all but 200 closures were blocked by their creditors, leaving the control of their destiny in someone else’s hands. Wall Street analyst, Michael Pachter said, “RadioShack’s operational decisions are now being vetted by creditors and equity investors are no longer relevant to management decisions–the creditors clearly are in control of the ship and, in our view, the ship is sinking.”
Back in the day, RadioShack was a thriving business, but the emergence of smartphones and tablets, as well as less consumers buying parts to fix an electronic gadget – we just throw them away and buy a new one – they have found themselves struggling for an identity. If consumers want to buy a smartphone, tablet or plan, they go to a carrier’s store, Best Buy or maybe a Walmart…nobody thinks of RadioShack, despite their many attempts to rebrand themselves.
The retailer is trying to update its image and get in new products to compete with the online sales and discount retailers, but RadioShack is not the first, or even fifth store, to pop into your head when you go shopping. It maybe too little, too late for the retailer to turn themselves around unless they can find an investor.
Hit us up on our Google+ Page and let us know if you shop at RadioShack or never set foot in the store…as always, we would love to hear from you.