Report: RadioShack to close all stores, sell half to Sprint

KTRS ^ | 2/2/15 | KTRS

[raccoonradio]

Radio Shack has been selling communication equipment since 1921, but according to Bloomberg, the retail chain will not be celebrating a 100th birthday. As part of a bankruptcy deal, RadioShack Corp. will be shutting down their entire chain of 7,000 tech stores, half of which will be reportedly sold to Sprint. According to the report, RadioShack locations that are sold to Sprint would operate under the wireless carrier’s name, meaning RadioShack would cease to exist as a stand-alone retailer. RadioShack received a rescue financing package from Standard General LP in October, and the hedge fund would serve as the lead bidder in a filing and provide debtor-in-possession financing after filing, said the people. That would allow the investment firm to recoup some of the costs of the $535 million loan. Liquidating the stores also would let RadioShack avoid a battle with lenders over control of the company.

[informavoracious]

A&P is still in business. Fewer stores, but they do still exist.

I guess it just wasn't realistic for Radio Shack to stay open.

[Inyo-Mono]

I used to argue or say no, but lately I just give a fake number like 111-111-1111 or fake zip like 11111 and then wait and see if they accuse me of making them up, which is great fun if they’re stupid enough to do that, because I then retort: “Are you calling me a liar?”.

LOL! I use "Hollywood" phone numbers. Decades ago, the film industry was allowed to use any phone number starting with 555 in films. No one in real life has a 555 number. So just make one up: 555-4950, etc.

[newfreep]

That looks like a "transmitting tube" being tested. Here's a tube amp using the huge 833 transmitting tube.

[Peter W. Kessler]

I’m surprised Radio Shack lasted this long.

[P-Marlowe]

Now where will I buy my resistors and capacitors?

Frys

[COBOL2Java]

Why does Radio Shack ask for your phone number when you buy batteries?

Back when I actually shopped there, I always gave them area code "424", then my phone number. "424" is the area code for Beverly Hills. If they asked for my zip code I gave them 90210.

[The Cajun]

Can't figure out what kept them going for the last 15 years.

[catfish1957]

More proof of this outstanding economy Obola kepps bragging about. /s

[Ciexyz]

I bought a cordless phone with ans machine recently to replace a model also bought there.

[Captainpaintball]

Is this business number 9867 to go down in the "recovery"?

I knew Radio Shack was dying in 1995, when their new CEO had his "grand vision" to remake it into a retail "finished product" store that sold cheap speakers and receivers and, later, cell phones.

They got rid of Archer, when DIY satellites, antennas and walkie talkies went out of style, they got rid of Realistic and Optimus speakers and receivers when home theater started talking over, and they brought in crappy chinese RCA garbage to take their place.

They stopped selling parts, which turned off their customers, and they didn't do a good enough job at attracting the new customers. And the internet was really the final nail in the coffin.

Maybe someone will take the name, and become a competitor to Parts Express. They do what RS used to do, but better, sorry to say. But then again, who needs yet another player in that crowded game?

Somewhere in washington, a kenyan commie and his iranian master smile at the fact that yet another institution gone the way of the informed citizen...

[OftheOhio]

Thanks for the memories guys. Sta-90 receiver, a classic. Many of the Radio Shack receivers were top notch. Some were built off laboratory standards and some of the speakers for the money couldn’t be beat. I still sport a pair of (lifetime) Op nines ( 5-way) from the early 70’s with 12” woofers. Yes, they were lifetime, mine anyways. I worked there while in college. I must of sold a ton of cb radios and phono cartridges. My manager would sometimes con these guys out of their gold Pickering cartridges for a Shure cartridge, lol. Yes, back when we had turntables and audiophiles. A whole era lost to us now. I remember so many Rube Goldberg (Brier Wire) projects I did. Creativity was born standing in that store. They make a little portable 9v motion detector all you should try to scarf up before they close.

[Sensei Ern]

After we get John Bonehead out odf office, he’ll need a job. He is good at resisting the wants of conservatives, and his capicity for bull crap and liquor is unrivaled

[SamAdams76]

Growing up in the 1970s, it seemed like no strip mall or indoor mall was complete without a Radio Shack. Walking into one as a 14-year-old boy was like walking into a candy store. All those transistor radios, the shortwave sets, the "build-it-yourself" electronic sets, cassette recorders, walkie-talkies, breadboards and those tiny plastic drawers crammed with electronic components of all kinds: resisters, capacitors, diodes, transistors, etc. I used to spend hours thumbing through their extensive catalogs and wishing I had money to burn.

During the 1980s, they started to lose their way. I think it started when they started requiring your name and mailing address everytime you bought something - even if it was just batteries. They would make you write it out on those carbon paper forms and then they would tear off the pink and yellow copies and file them who knows where and hand you back the top white copy.

Turns out they were putting your information on lists and then selling those lists to other companies. Not cool.

Still they had a great business going. They were among the first of the big chains to sell personal computers, VCR players, dual cassette decks (so you could dub), many of the products under their "Realistic" brand, which used to be known for being a quality product.

But as technology raced on, they had difficulty keeping up. Big-box electronic retailer upstarts like Circuit City and CompUSA ate their lunch - though even those chains eventually went under because they didn't move fast enough.

I think Radio Shack hung on so long because they were just so massive. I think they had 5,000 stores in the U.S. alone at one point.

Over the past 10-15 years, it's just been so sad to walk into one. Hardly anybody was ever in there and the 19-year-old kids at the counter were so desperate for you to buy something because that's how they made most of their money. Then the company decided to make cell phones their main business. Now the employees were pressured to sell "x" number of cell phone contracts a month in order to make their bonus. But towards the end, people would walk in there, have them give demos on every single one, and then walk out of the store to go buy the phone they wanted somewhere else. A sad ending to what used to be an iconic electronics retailer.

[HiTech RedNeck]

Alas, they truckin’ no more.

[TalBlack]

Ok, so ‘lessee: A tech/comm company that started out before the first third of the last century FAILD during a massive tech/comm boom? I’m going to guess some SERIOUSLY sclerotic upper management.

[MAKOTHEDOG]

I love that stuff and use it on every electrical connector I touch now. Especially on a weak connections. I don’t ever have to mess with them again once I use the cleaner. RS did make me mad when they stopped selling the small spray bottle combo kit with Power Booster and Pro Gold. Now I can only find it in the big expensive can. When our big RS closed years ago I got tons of Power Booster and Pro Gold pens for next to nothing but still miss the small cans.

The stuff is great and a hell of a lot better than the garbage from the auto stores, imho. It is more forgiving on the parts that don't need cleaning (insulation and plastic parts and such). I will need to try the other products you mentioned. I used DeOxit to clean all of the connections on my motorcycle last year. I also tightened up all the connectors as well. It is a mundane job but necessary. It will still be available online.

Cheers

[gogeo]

Fry’s is Radio Shack on steroids.

[minnesota_bound]

10 Best Electronics Suppliers
http://www.instructables.com/community/10-Best-Electronics-Suppliers/

Walmart is the place to be... : )
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Elenco-500-in-1-Electronic-Project-Lab/28420302?adid=22222222227019340671&wl0=&wl1=g&wl2=c&wl3=40335150872&wl4=&wl5=pla&wl6=78295357112&veh=sem

[HiTech RedNeck]

They tried to keep a hand in the DIY electronics business, in a nod to their roots. The internet marketplace killed them.

[Kickass Conservative]

>>>Why does Radio Shack ask for your phone number when you buy batteries?<<<

For the Background Check.

You might use those Batteries to make a WMD.