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RadioShack Prepares Bankruptcy Filing

wsj.com

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Re: RadioShack Prepares Bankruptcy Filing

#151

Post by endgame »

gtjay wrote: post #88

Having moved to Australia in recent years, I was very happy to see that JayCar, their equivalent to Radio Shack, seemed to be doing quite well. This is judging by what I've seen of the stores in what is considered a fairly backwards part of Australia (Queensland). The difference seems to be two-fold. First, Jaycar didn't go through an insane expansion (there are only 12 or so locations per state). Second, they've gro…

Another thing that probably helped is that Dick Smith Electronics moved out of that space and became Yet Another Consumer Electronics Store.

Re: RadioShack Prepares Bankruptcy Filing

#152

Post by neovive »

DanBlake wrote: post #147

Nobody seems to have a good answer for what RS should become to avoid shutting down. The most common answer is to go back to its roots and embrace the maker market and stock up on things like 3d printers, breadboards and arduinos. I think this is the wrong idea, since the market is nowhere near large enough to support the vast amounts of stores RS has. I think if I was the CEO, I would focus on being a boutique shop…

That would be great! Maybe even combining maker items with the Kickstarter-type hardware. Another option is to offer electronics workshops to generate value from their physical space. Also, electronics/robotics parties for kids would be interesting.

Re: RadioShack Prepares Bankruptcy Filing

#153

Post by copsarebastards »

omni wrote: post #49
mhb wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A lot of people think RadioShack should have made the transition to internet sales Huh? Like http://www.radioshack.com/

Pretty sure parent was implying they should close down their massive brick-and-mortar retail presence.

Yes.

Re: RadioShack Prepares Bankruptcy Filing

#155

Post by neovive »

a3n wrote: post #127
copsarebastards wrote: post #30

A lot of people think RadioShack should have made the transition to internet sales, but I think that they actually started failing earlier, when they expanded into a non-technical market. In the 80s and 90s I could go into a Radio Shack and buy resistors, fuses, soldering equipment, breadboards, various controllers and sensors, hard drives, processors: everything I needed to assemble an electronics project, fix a com…

> The tragedy here is that this transition completed at about the same time the maker movement started to emerge a little after the turn of the millennium. Maybe it's simpler than that. For makers, maybe Radio Shack succeeded because there was no internet yet. Once the internet really took hold, there was absolutely no need for a Radio Shack (at least no what Radio Shack traditionally was). If that's the case, then R…

It's ironic that on a nearby block there was once a Radio Shack next door to Blockbuster. Both of them could not overcome the competition brought upon by the Internet.

Re: RadioShack Prepares Bankruptcy Filing

#156

Post by jostmey »

DanBlake wrote: post #147

Nobody seems to have a good answer for what RS should become to avoid shutting down. The most common answer is to go back to its roots and embrace the maker market and stock up on things like 3d printers, breadboards and arduinos. I think this is the wrong idea, since the market is nowhere near large enough to support the vast amounts of stores RS has. I think if I was the CEO, I would focus on being a boutique shop…

That could be the best move out of a bunch of bad choices. But I could just order any of the specialty items you listed online.

Re: RadioShack Prepares Bankruptcy Filing

#158

Post by DanBlake »

jostmey wrote: post #156
DanBlake wrote: post #147

Nobody seems to have a good answer for what RS should become to avoid shutting down. The most common answer is to go back to its roots and embrace the maker market and stock up on things like 3d printers, breadboards and arduinos. I think this is the wrong idea, since the market is nowhere near large enough to support the vast amounts of stores RS has. I think if I was the CEO, I would focus on being a boutique shop…

That could be the best move out of a bunch of bad choices. But I could just order any of the specialty items you listed online.

You definitely could- But that of course holds true for best buy as well. The draw is that walking into a Radio Shack could be 'cool' again. See the latest gear that just came out. If they really embraced it, it would have the same feeling as walking into a high end audio shop. RS needs to become a master of something in order to be trusted. Right now, they are focusing entirely on being a jack of all trades and failing at that

Re: RadioShack Prepares Bankruptcy Filing

#159

Post by shiftpgdn »

tommccabe wrote: post #93

How soon until Amazon buys the entire chain in order to get a distribution presence across the country?

As far as I know Radioshack doesn't own any of their stores so they're just leasing the retail space. Amazon would be better off opening new retail fronts.

Re: RadioShack Prepares Bankruptcy Filing

#160

Post by pkaye »

It was mentioned by someone here or on Reddit previously that there is a lot of financial bets going on on whether RadioShack survives or not. In many cases in the past those who are betting that they survive have given RadioShack a lifeline in terms of loans and financing in order for them to survive so that the investors win their bets. I'm sure this is still going on still and it is no longer a question of fundamentals for RadioShack and rather a high stakes power game in the financial markets.
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