'The Shack' downsizes, opens Bullseye Mobile kiosks in many Target stores
By Tim Stevens 
posted July 31st 2010 4:34PM
posted July 31st 2010 4:34PM
[Thanks, Breon]
posted July 31st 2010 4:34PM
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BAH! They need to pull the plug on their life support.
RS will go bankrupt in 2011 our get bought out and faded away. This is a last minute attempt for the failing company.
@cd5love96 Having worked there for several years when I was 18-20ish I can say... bankruptcy couldn't happen to a more deserving company.
That RadioShack R is so annoying... there's a reason very few logos nowadays use an almost Times New Roman serif font like that. Anything TNR is cheap and homemade. Sorry that's just my impression when I look at it. And the fact that it doesn't really look right, awkwardly sitting in that circle. It's just an annoying and bad logo.
@Wesscoast Apple user, right?
@Wesscoast
It's a PhotoShop. I can tell cuz of the pixels. Also, what in the world does the logo have to do with anything? I couldn't care less so as long as the products are decent and well priced.
Just die already for god sake. Its like watching a beached whale die. Someone put this thing out of its misery. Which BTW wouldn't have happened if they didn't migrate away from their core competencies years ago. Being able to find pretty much anything to fix or build something was a godsend. Now all they are, are clueless CSR's who want to sell you a phone, a charging cable, maybe a TV, and some overpriced A/V cables. DIE.
I too miss the "glory days" of Radio Shack. Wires, cables, resistors, TRS-80s... I loved it!
Oh well, no need to dwell on the past. I'm off to Record Town to pick up the new Split Enz album.
@Ninbrendo I still have a working TRS-80 Model 1. They were the shit back in the day.
I used to work there too when I was in high school about 6 years ago. I can't walk in there without someone trying to sell me batteries. CSRs don't know anything in the store. It used to be a place where you would find geeks and educated people working there.
You guys do know that the Shack is actually making money right. The only reason they will close is if they are bought out and phased away.
@Cheesey1423 Making money HOW?!? Seriously. 2 of the Shacks in my town have shut down in the last 4 years. The third that I have walked into twice and drive past every so often never have anyone inside other then the CSR. I smell a CompUSA in the making.
Oh great now I have to deal that when I'm trying to zone electronics
I currently work for RS, in a mall store. Sadly, we have been stripped of all our small parts, and reduced to nothing but cell phones, notebooks/ netbooks, and other standard yet overpriced electronics. Our accessories are over-priced, our batteries are over-priced, and our televisions are over-priced. It's funny to hear a customer's reply to "Hey, our microSD cards are on sale!" It is normally along the lines of "Your sales our others standard prices." Almost depressing, really.
All that being said, i'm a huge phone nerd, and consider myself literate in most of the topics brought to my attention on a daily basis. It's just awful to explain to a customer exactly what they need, and then having to direct them somewhere else to get it. There are a few Radio Shacks out there where the management actually teach and coach their employees in quality customer service, no matter what the question, be it cell phone, button cell battery, resistor, diode, ect...I'm just happy to have a job that I enjoy, and get to talk tech all day, especially in this economy. I simply wish they would shift their focus back to their returning customer's needs, and not so much phones out the ass.
@jpeterman0004 And don't take this a the wrong way. If you are a trained CSR, more power to you and thank you. But by and large most of the folks I have run across at R are clueless idiots. That said I could say the same about people I've run across at Best Buy.
@jpeterman0004 compare how many parts customers you get in a mall store per week with how long it takes to inventory parts drawers properly and put away a shipment every week - it's not worth it, sending customers to standalone stores is better for you and try and tell me you'd rather sell parts then get a cell phone spiff with boltons? (just sayin)
I always get good reception inside my shack, thank god I got my phone at Radio Shack! If it works there it works anywhere!
Last time I was at a shack it was the 90s
I just made that very same drive with the very same experience. I'm on AT&T though. Maybe location matters more than carrier and everyone buys into the competition hype?
I read the article fully, as a former Manager for Radio Shack I'm somewhat interested in the headline "RadioShack downsizes..." however I can find no mention of any kind of downsizing at all? the story is re-posted in thousands of places (just google "RadioShack downsizes" and you'll get the headline over adn over again linking to this article. Yet there seems no such news even here, I think the writer made that part up? what am I missing here???
@aeonjoey It's a kiosk and not a store! Downsizing! Get it? HAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Yeah, lame.
I used to go to Radio Shack all the time. There was one in the local mall, and I was always finding something neat to build a project out of. I don't know how many of their "P-Box" and other Science Fair kits I built in my youth. As I got older I bought countless tools and pieces of test equipment from there, most of which I still have and use.
At some point they changed from being a hobby store to a consumer electronics store to try to compete with stereo and TV stores, then computers, now cell phones. It's sad, but they may finally be on their way out.
I too would like to join in to the lament about Radio Shack. In fact, this whole "The Shack" thing shows just how out of touch management is with the company roots. Sure, selling electronic kits and parts probably doesn't have the appeal it did years ago. But what about appealing to the "Maker" folks? This is a huge movement. Proof again that they have not a clue.
Also long lost are some of the great house brand products. Sure, much of the RS brand stuff was modest. But there were a few gems sprinkled through the product line. Most people think Bose invented mini speakers. RS was selling something called the "Minimus 7" 25 years ago when Bose was still making speakers no smaller than a microwave. They sounded great, and a pair was about $100.
For all of those calling for The Shack's bankruptcy... might be helpful to look at their financials. They made $200mm net income last year on $4.2B of rev.
Don't want to let facts get in the way of your stories,... but someone's buying a sh#t-ton of phones from them.
http://bit.ly/bU13XC
It's not Best Buy or CarPhone Warehouse, but beat the hell out of a lot of other retailers.