patrick.net

JH said: Now kids get sold shit like this: snap circuits. wtf
You favor the springs and wires of ye olden times?

Yessir!! Unless you have silicon wafer etching capabilities (and even if)...

Capn says: "Some HiFi audiophile tube kits,.."

Many don't appreciate the sound from tubes.

Returning veterans from WWII, Korea and Cold War era conflicts provided the hifi and hobbyist electronics industries with a ready demographic that appreciated radios, sound equipment and were, more than any other generations before, electronics literate. Radio Shack, You Do It, and the great stereo manufacturers from the US and Japan would never have existed without them. Radio Shack's demise is as much a story about that population advancing age as it is about market dynamics of electronic goods.

jvolstad says

RIP Radio Shack.

It's survival of the fittest. If you cannot keep up with changing times you will go extinct. It's the Serengetti. How many of you would be willing to pay twice as much for a part, when you have Ebay and Amazon.
I always felt sorry for Kodak. A name brand that got flushed due to stupidity of its management.

How many multiples, do we pay for teachers, fireman, police, calpers, than would be price discovery on these occupations?

5ader5 says

Returning veterans from WWII, Korea and Cold War era conflicts provided the hifi and hobbyist electronics industries with a ready demographic that appreciated radios, sound equipment and were, more than any other generations before, electronics literate.

My Ham Radio Station when I was a teenager (late 1960's).

My first Heathkit transceiver (1970's).

Ham Radio today

http://youtu.be/ZrdlaAP2X9g

HeathKit!

indigenous says

Is this company a good candidate for putting?

If the stock ever gets high enough to put, yes.

Dan8267 says

The company died over 10 years ago when it became impractical to make anything by yourself that didn't look like shit compared to smart phones made by cheap Chinese labor.

Corrected:
The company died over 20 years ago

http://247wallst.com/retail/2015/01/15/radioshack-stock-moves-toward-zero/

RadioShack Stock Moves Toward Zero

Some investors bought shares of RadioShack Corp. (NYSE: RSH) at a 52-week high of $2.79. Others bought shares at $4.14 in May 2013. All those investors, and almost any others who bought RadioShack’s stock recently, are about to watch those shares go to zero.

It is rumored, but not confirmed, from an exclusive story in the Wall Street Journal, that RadioShack soon will file to go into bankruptcy. The company, at that point, may be stripped of its assets.

RadioShack’s shares will drop to zero, and a lot of investors will be burned.

RadioShack Corp. (RSH) -NYSE
0.28 Down 0.13(30.72%) 10:32AM EST

It's called radio shack, no different than typewriter shack. You can't operate 4000 retail stores based on 1970 concepts. There's not enough Jvolstad out there.

They should have switched gears a decade ago and call it cell phone shack. The same type of thing you see at Best Buy mobile stores today.

People are spending more money than ever on handheld radios (cell phones), and yet Radio Shack is going out of business. I bought recently an LG G3 and wanted one of the models that have FM radio built in; Radio Shack doesn't sell the model that I wanted (D855) and couldn't even tell me which of the models that they do sell contain an FM radio (possibly LS990).

SFace says

They should have switched gears a decade ago and call it cell phone shack. The same type of thing you see at Best Buy mobile stores today.

They tried that but failed. The problem is rank executive incompetence and a toxic corporate culture of abusing the retail employees. It's a pity really, while other companies rake in vast fortunes selling handheld radios, Radio Shack goes under.

BTW, I bought several Radio Shack antenna products recently, discounted for clearance, and was amazed at the combination of good ideas and bad execution. Some of them are too frustrating to use but at clearance prices too cheap to return. Any tinkerer who actually used the products could have told Radio Shack how to improve the designs and achieve real utility, but no, you can only talk with the retail staff and no executives listen to them. OTA HDTV is often better and always cheaper than cable/satellite, and it uses the same radio frequencies as the old Radio Shack products, but Radio Shack antenna products can't compete with what I find online or even at the Dollar Store.

As a kid, I'd hang out in the local Radio Shack and when nobody else was looking at it, the guys would let me type programs in and use this beauty:

Ah the memories of BASIC and a cassette recorder.

Vicente says

Ah the memories of BASIC

That's my first language! It's a bad way to learn programming though.

Vicente says

use this beauty

Have you played Alien Isolation. Beautiful, sturdy 1970s-style technology. Looks built to withstand an atomic blast.

zzyzzx says

Dan8267 says

The company died over 10 years ago when it became impractical to make anything by yourself that didn't look like shit compared to smart phones made by cheap Chinese labor.

Corrected:

The company died over 20 years ago

Took 20 years to bury a corpse.

SFace says

It's called radio shack, no different than typewriter shack. You can't operate 4000 retail stores based on 1970 concepts. There's not enough Jvolstad out there.

They should have switched gears a decade ago and call it cell phone shack. The same type of thing you see at Best Buy mobile stores today.

Even "cell phone shack" will be outdated some day. They should call it "Tech Shack" and sell hi tech stuff.

Strategist says

They should call it "Tech Shack" and sell hi tech stuff.

Or a sexier name like Tech Shag.

Peter P says

Strategist says

They should call it "Tech Shack" and sell hi tech stuff.

Or a sexier name like Tech Shag.

Sadly they screwed up. Now it's Shit Shack.

Heathkit is trying to make a comeback. Maybe they can take over some of the Radio Shack stores.

http://www.heathkit.com/

Radio shack is just a glorified phone store now.

If you ever needed a 4.9k resistor..they were always there..

SoftShell says

If you ever needed a 4.9k resistor..they were always there..

as long as you gave them your name and address

Call it Crazy says

I hope so, they made some good candy...

I love Heath candy bars. Very tasty.

"RadioShack negotiating to close half its stores, sell rest to Sprint"

I heard that Amazon.com might be buying some of the stores after RS declares bankruptcy.

So if Sprint buys half the stores, does that mean we should short Sprint?

NYSE has suspended trading in RSH shares!

Call it Crazy says

I hope so, they made some good candy...

No they are talking about Heath Kit, so I'm thinking it is some sort of a cross between a Heath Bar and a Kit Kat.

indigenous says

No they are talking about Heath Kit, so I'm thinking it is some sort of a cross between a Heath Bar and a Kit Kat.

Let's not forget Lollipop. 5.0.2 runs nicely on my Nexus 7.

:-)

The kid at my local Radio Shack is looking for a new job. He see's the handwriting on the wall.

Fix it here! He tells me they have had almost no customers for this service.

0.089/sh as of right now.

http://www.barchart.com/chart.php?sym=RSHC&t=BAR&size=M&v=1&g=1&p=I:20&d=M&qb=1&style=technical&template=

A little risk capitol.... (truest form, all in) @.06-.05 might be a fun card to lay down.

Question would it be better for a company to buy it up
prior to bankruptcy or aft. My 1st thought is buy it up and sell off
the top load where needed, otherwise they have to compete for
the locations they wanted.

Can you splain is plain english?

I agree with the demographic angle. For the generation that grew up in the 50's-60's, electronics was cutting edge stuff! Now there is hi-tech stuff everywhere, it's mass produced, the normal nature of things.
I remember radios and and other devices that had "solid state" posted on them...instant on! wow!
Imagine a smart phone in kit form? Now it's a 'throw away" device almost.
The market is saturated these days with technology gadgets, others with likely follow Radio Shack.

I was just about to post the same, RS filed BK. I see it as a sad story of mismanagement. People are spending more money than ever on handheld radios (mobile phones), Raspberry Pi kits include WiFi, Maker Faires are thriving, but Radio Shack mismanagement ran the company into the ground. Even where they had profitable leases they could sell, they failed to do that, e.g. when Trader Joe's wanted to add a location in San Francisco. To update an old adage, losing money one year while the industry is booming may be regarded as misfortune, losing two years begins to look like carelessness, and losing three years in a row seems like sabotage.

It is sad to see it go.

It's a great place for really uncommon things. If I ever need a transistor or a capacitor, or just a simple string it's nice.

They maybe able to reorganize and stay in bus. (odds ?)