If all the people mourning the death of Radio Shack had started a year or two ago, maybe management might have awakened from its slumber.<\/p>\n
First of all, RS is in Chapter 11 bankruptcy, which means that someone could acquire them for next to nothing. I’ve seen numbers of $65 million for 7,000 stores. That’s dirt cheap.<\/p>\n
But, RS seems to have a problem with what to put in the stores. They haven’t moved into the digital age, which is sad, because there was some Marketing Myopia going on. I can remember buying a TRS-80 for my kids to play on, which they loved, and later upgraded to a Mac. This should have been a clue to roll with the digital age. RS would have been a natural haven for software and digital geeks to congregate, an early precurson of Apple stores.<\/p>\n
But, that was then; what about now? There are rumors that Google might buy them, and create a store concept to rival Apple stores; a rebranding as ‘Google Store’ is in order. The RS name is a little past its prime.<\/p>\n
Radio Shack also has a cadre of about 1,000 hardcore franchisees, and they should be listened to; franchisees, because their money is at stake, usually have good ideas.<\/p>\n
There’s another company here in Phoenix called MicroAge which could buy RS (which a little creative financing); the name is right, and the MicroAge stores have been a success. McKeever, give me a call.<\/p>\n
Bottom line, it seems to me that a lot of non-techies would like to go into a physical storefront and touch what they’re buying. I think that’s the central concept behind Apple Stores, and it works.<\/p>\n
So, maybe Radio Shack will live on.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
If all the people mourning the death of Radio Shack had started a year or two ago, maybe management might have awakened from its slumber. First of all, RS is in Chapter 11 bankruptcy, which means that someone could acquire … Continue reading