RadioShack Files for Bankruptcy
Dave Hein
Posts: 6,347
http://www.wsj.com/articles/radioshack-files-for-bankruptcy-1423175389
http://www.forbes.com/sites/antoinegara/2015/02/05/radioshack-cuts-the-cord-after-90-years-files-for-bankruptcy/
http://www.foxbusiness.com/technology/2015/02/05/radioshack-files-for-chapter-11-bankruptcy/?intcmp=bigtopmarketfeatures
http://www.forbes.com/sites/antoinegara/2015/02/05/radioshack-cuts-the-cord-after-90-years-files-for-bankruptcy/
http://www.foxbusiness.com/technology/2015/02/05/radioshack-files-for-chapter-11-bankruptcy/?intcmp=bigtopmarketfeatures
Comments
-Phil
Andy, where did you hear that they had filed for bankruptcy at the beginning of the week?
Where indeed! IIRC, we were all at Parallax HQ for the wild & crazy P2 launch party. Ken flew us all in, hotels, cars, booze and party girls were on Parallax. Sill stobering up. I'm not as think as you drunk I am, pister molice occiffer.
So where were you, at home reading newspapers all week?
Kiro news ran a story Wednesday stating Amazon was going to be buying up some of the locations. I will see if I can dig it up. I am pretty sure they said RS filed Monday but I could be wrong. (Might just be a Brian Williams moment!!!)
http://www.kirotv.com/ap/ap/business/hopes-of-a-radioshack-revival-fade-with-stock-to-b/nj4Xb/
Radio Shack was, by far, the most important store of my youth. I bought my first stereo there on layaway for $121.
I think they owe us (Parallax) some money, too. Good thing we didn't supply them with all those Arduinos I saw last time I was in there! Hopefully, we won't take too hard of a hit.
Most Tandy stores were franchise operations.
My first proper computer was a TRS-80, and I formed a popular users group for it - NATGUG - which is still going.
Maybe a couple will be able to make it, hopefully.
That parts drawer that I, and probably no one else looked at, was my personal drawer of odds and ends. To the clerks it was a mysterious box that a strange man would come in and poke around in. Only to come to the checkout with some item they didn't know they had, for a purpose they couldn't guess. They knew it was futile to say "can I help you?" because the contents of the parts drawer was an Eldridge mystery from a bygone era.
-Tor
And they even sold those things for the original price!
Sadly the shop was taken over by the husband of the youngest member of the original family, and that guy had no idea. He quickly dumped all of the old stuff, changed the shop to sell kitchenware, and promptly went out of business.
-Tor
Yes, they can come back and even go into Chapter 11 again and again. The American auto industry has done so. But the real question is wheter the Radio Shack brand has any value. Why bother coming back if your brandname is worthless? Heathkit has tried, but seems unable to do so.
I reallize that there are a lot of Radio Shack fans here that got started with them. But it may be time to let go. The real estate is likely to be picked over to pay creditors (including Parallax). And their business model seems no longer viable.
Yeah - The one closest to me had a big sign saying "Up to 70% off" but the salesperson said 25% off everything. It was really picked over...
I didn't get much - a phone line recording interface, Wisher breadboard and 500 pack resistor assortment.
There is no real estate. RS didn't own any of their corporate run stores. They even leased back their headquarters offices (they once owned it, but sold it years ago).
What RS has is leases, which they might be able to sell, depending on the location. Selling a lease doesn't necessarily provide them a profit, as there are many other costs associated with closing each store.
I've read the deal with Sprint allows some (up to about a third) of the RS stores to remain open, with half or more of each store area devoted to RS products. I think this is the Chapter 11 plan.
About 20% of RS stores are franchise owned, and not affected by the bankruptcy, though they are currently in limbo regarding purchasing new product.
I believe Amazon's interest in the stores doesn't equate to any win for RS shoppers. Amazon simply wants the locations for their own use.
Walking through the isles of electronics fired the imagination with all the possibilities that could be.
A few minutes of that, combined with making sure I got my free battery card filled and fooling with the CoCo display made for great memories. RS will be missed.
I was the in a second hand shop a couple weeks ago and simply couldn't pass up on a $3.00 Science Fair 150 in 1 electronics kit.
It's in near perfect condition, and I need to find it a good home with a young person who will us it.
Many years back we bought the assets and receivables of a company that did pretty much the same thing. They started off by purchasing the equipment and fancy office furnishings, then as they ran short of cash sold things to a leasing company for cash and leased it back. That only helped for a while.
Similar to what happened with RS here in Canada. They were bought by Bell and now operate as the Source. Mainly in mall locations with phones, TV's, laptops etc., and very little in the way of electronic parts. Sad really.
If the franchise owners want to stay in business they should look for alternate suppliers and expand their parts inventory. Getting together and operating as a single entity would also be a good move.
NTE components are always a good alternative to RS components.
And we know NTE will be in business for a wile.
My entire interest in electronics started when I would peruse the Radio Catalog back in the late 70s / early 80s. I got started with their various kits and notebooks written by Forrest Mims III. Despite the changes over the years since then I will always have those fond memories of my beginnings into electronics via Radio Shack.
Over there in Blighty in the 60's and 70's us kids had, well, nothing.
Some how as a teenager I was introduced to electronics, via HAM radio enthusiasts with their tube gear.
When us teenagers wanted actual transistors, 74 series logic, LEDs, etc we had to truck 70 miles to London and visit places like the Henry's Radio store on the Edgeware Road to get it.
It was kind of interesting as a teenager to visit Lisle Street in the middle of London. A small back street full of stores that were either selling war surplus electronics gear or were sex shops!
+1. The Shack and Forrest Mims' books led directly to me winning the Science Fair in 11th Grade (Light Beam Communications) and landing a design job at Mattel 30 years ago. Loved wandering through the stores (Battery of the Month Club!) and browsing the Shack catalogs, every bit as good as the old Sears Christmas wishbook catalogs. Even though the Shack got diluted by cell phones and such in recent years, it was still fun to go there and have ready access to the parts drawers that Martin_H (as he mentioned) and I had mostly had to ourselves. I will definitely miss the Shack.
The Shack's old catalogs will live online forever! A shoutout to Jim (Publison) for turning me onto these a while back. Looking at the catalog covers, it's easy to see that a large measure of the Shack's success in the 70's and 80's was from large audio-related products. Speakers, amps, Dolby cassettes & turntables. More recently, the public's preference for iPods and MP3 players didn't help their bottom line.
A notable quote from that page: In 1963, Charles Tandy purchased Radio Shack Corporation, a company
on the edge of bankruptcy, for a mere $300,000.
52 years later, history (bankruptcy) repeats itself. Could a modern visionary snatch it up and save the day?