RadioShack Said to Be in Talks to Sell Stores to Sprint

[JeffDTD]

I avoid the local Radio Shack(s) for the same reason I avoid Sprint stores.  

 

High prices on accessories and necessities, uninformed and/or careless employees, uncomfortable shopping environment. 

 

No one should expect 3 RS stores in your local area to translate into 3 sprint stores.  More corporate stores will always be better, but I still harbor ill will towards Sprint for closing our local corporate store almost 10 years ago, ultimately a result of cost cutting after the acquisition of Gulf Coast Wireless and the costs Sprint incurred rebuilding the area after Hurricane Katrina.   It was a very well run store with a seasoned staff and a great manager.  It was also always swamped.  Its just all about profit.... and when Best Buy is always price aggressive and more customers are online savvy, the store is more a place to window shop and get help than a sales destination. Profit or even just breaking even isn't easy. 

[marioc21]

So update on this today.  

 

(Bloomberg) -- RadioShack Corp. is preparing to shut down the almost-century-old electronics chain in a bankruptcy deal that would sell about half its stores to Sprint Corp. and close the rest, according to people with knowledge of the discussions.

 

 

The locations sold to Sprint would operate under the wireless carrier’s name, meaning RadioShack would cease to exist as a stand-alone retailer, said the people, who declined to be identified because the talks aren’t public.

 

 

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/radioshack-talks-sell-half-stores-182519858.html

[Rocket87]

I would like to see sprint use this as a way to expand the Corporate store channel and end some agreements of the crappier preferred retailers and sellers.

[Fraydog]

http://www.forbes.com/sites/bruceupbin/2012/07/25/heres-how-to-save-radio-shack/

 

Should have went the DIY route... At lest they would have been differentiated that way.

 

http://www.maximumpc.com/selling_out_sprint_would_be_fitting_end_radioshack_2015

[SeanK_]

I would like to see sprint use this as a way to expand the Corporate store channel and end some agreements of the crappier preferred retailers and sellers.

Please Sprint! Please do this!

[Mercurial1]

Unfortunately the article says Sprint is looking at cobranding which means dealers. But it doesnt say how many of them will be cobranded.

 

Sent from my SM-N910P using Tapatalk

[JossMan]

NYSE has suspended trading of RadioShack's stock, shares were at a new low of .14 cents.

[Scott]

Amazon and Brookstone apparently are also interested in buying some of the stores

 

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-02-03/amazon-said-to-mull-buying-radioshack-stores-in-retail-expansion

[marioc21]

Amazon and Brookstone apparently are also interested in buying some of the stores

 

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-02-03/amazon-said-to-mull-buying-radioshack-stores-in-retail-expansion

 

Pretty much only thing left is how the stores get carved up.  Looks like Sprint might take half and the other half may get split by the other two. 

[S4GRU]

Since Radio Shack has a lot of franchised locations, I imagine these deals are only related to their corporate owned stores. So this may be a significantly smaller scope than many think.

[WiWavelength]

Amazon and Brookstone apparently are also interested in buying some of the stores

 

Brookstone?  Who is next?  The Sharper Image?  Hammacher Schlemmer?

 

 

AJ

[ahecht]

Brookstone? Who is next? The Sharper Image? Hammacher Schlemmer?

 

 

AJ

Skymall

[Scott]

Since Radio Shack has a lot of franchised locations, I imagine these deals are only related to their corporate owned stores. So this may be a significantly smaller scope than many think.

According to the article linked below, which I happened to read yesterday, Radio Shack is down to fewer than 900 dealer stores (I assume that's what you're referring to when you say franchised locations) with 4,000 company-owned stores.

 

http://www.dallasnews.com/business/retail/20150131-radioshacks-small-town-strategy-ruled.ece

[plato2876]

Yeah, about 8 years ago I worked for Radio Shack running a town's worth of stores. Even then, dealer stores were on their way out. Practically all metropolitan RS stores are company-owned, as a rule of thumb, only the more rural ones were dealer owned, where they had product needs outside the corporate set. (Dealer stores could sell other products beyond a "normal" RS, which caused all kinds of customer confusion, but that's another story)

[kineticman]

I gotta ask - who's first computer was a Tandy from Radio Shack?

[dedub]

I gotta ask - who's first computer was a Tandy from Radio Shack?

 

mine!

 

my dad brough home a trs-80 model 1, model 4, model 100 (i think, the almost-laptop-thing with like 6 lines of text), I think we had a used model 12 or 16 too.

 

Oh the days of loading 'apps' via cassette tape.

[WiWavelength]

...who's first computer was a Tandy from Radio Shack?

 

THEN WHO WAS COMPUTER?

 

I guess this is new meme...

 

 

AJ

[bigmachine]

My first computer from Radio Shack was a 200-In-One electronics kit.

[PythonFanPA]

I gotta ask - who's first computer was a Tandy from Radio Shack?

 

My first was a CoCo II.   I remember when getting the companion floppy drive to go with it a year and a half or so later was a huge milestone.   Then I eventually migrated to the Commie 64 with drive/printer (and eventually a 300 baud modem) and thinking the transition from what I had before was like emerging from stone age by comparison.

[Conan Kudo]

I gotta ask - who's first computer was a Tandy from Radio Shack?

I had a Tandy 1000 HX and an IBM PC XT at around the same time. Got the Tandy from a Radio Shack throw out (that is, they were throwing out the overstock and didn't care who took them, since the computers had been discontinued for several years already). I remember being stumped about why I couldn't install applications to C:\. I didn't find out about DOS being on a ROM chip until much later.

 

My dad's IBM PC XT was from the university he worked for. Both machines were pretty interesting to mess around with...

[sbolen]

Rumors are floating around that Amazon is looking to pick up at least half of the stores. This makes a lot of sense for them - order online, ship to/pick up from the store. They'll save a mint on shipping, especially on the dreaded "smart post" transfer to local post offices.

[mozamcrew]

I had a Tandy 1000 HX and an IBM PC XT at around the same time. Got the Tandy from a Radio Shack throw out (that is, they were throwing out the overstock and didn't care who took them, since the computers had been discontinued for several years already). I remember being stumped about why I couldn't install applications to C:\. I didn't find out about DOS being on a ROM chip until much later.

 

My dad's IBM PC XT was from the university he worked for. Both machines were pretty interesting to mess around with...

The first computer in our house was an IBM PC XT that my father bought. I still have it, and last I checked, it still boots up into DOS 3.1 just fine.

[derrph]

I just walked into my local radioshack and it was depressing. They pretty much took away everything that wasn't radioshack branded and are only seeing their items. The flip side was I was able to get a 6+ case for $9. I asked if the store was going to be a sprint location and he told me that he wasn't too sure but he thinks that it will. 

[jamesinclair]

Rumors are floating around that Amazon is looking to pick up at least half of the stores. This makes a lot of sense for them - order online, ship to/pick up from the store. They'll save a mint on shipping, especially on the dreaded "smart post" transfer to local post offices.

 

Interesting rumor.

 

For all of Radioshacks issues, they have a very attractive distribution of stores. Good coverage in low income and high income areas. Unfortunately they do have quite a few locations inside dead malls, but their standalone or strip mall stores are well placed.

 

Amazon currently has the locker system, inside of 7-11s. I wonder how much rent they pay, and also how much it costs them in maintenence.

 

 

One thing Id like to see is Sprint to build a tower at every store. Pop up a nice 200 foot tower at every Radio Shack in the country and Sprint has the best coverage.

[grapkoski]

It's official - the Shack has filed. No details yet.

 

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-02-05/radioshack-files-for-bankruptcy-protection-as-losses-mount-i5spaw86