Radio Shack.

So when did Radio Shack complete its total transition to a toy store? You used to be able to buy actual electronic parts but now there are only a few drawers with actual electronics in them and the rest of the real estate is devoted to toys. When did the transition happen?

Originally posted by sonhouse
So when did Radio Shack complete its total transition to a toy store? You used to be able to buy actual electronic parts but now there are only a few drawers with actual electronics in them and the rest of the real estate is devoted to toys. When did the transition happen?

??
Last time I was in a Radio Shack it didn't have hardly any toys, just a bunch of vultures trying to sell you cell phone and internet service.
But yes, they don't have much anymore, no CB radios, electronic components, neat gadgets...all gone.
What surprised me it was last November when they have always been heavy on toys for the Xmas season, but there were almost none, no cars, kid project kits, nothing. .

Originally posted by sonhouse
So when did Radio Shack complete its total transition to a toy store? You used to be able to buy actual electronic parts but now there are only a few drawers with actual electronics in them and the rest of the real estate is devoted to toys. When did the transition happen?

"CEO résumé scandal"

"On February 20, 2006, the company announced that its CEO, David Edmondson, had resigned over questions raised about his résumé. The Fort Worth Star-Telegram discovered that he had not earned degrees in theology and psychology from Heartland Baptist Bible College as claimed on his résumé.[15] RadioShack's board of directors stood up for Edmondson, but Edmondson admitted to the errors, calling them "misstatements", and resigned.[16]

In wake of Edmondson's absence Claire Babrowski acted as CEO, chief operating officer and president for RadioShack. She had just joined several months prior, after spending 31 years employed with McDonald's Corporation, most recently as a vice president and Chief Restaurant Operations Officer. In 2006, Claire Babrowski left RadioShack, later to become CEO and Executive Vice President of Toys "R" Us.

RadioShack had also admitted that 2005 fourth-quarter earnings had fallen 62 percent after a switch in wireless providers led to an inventory write-down. The news sent the company's shares to an almost three-year low.

On July 7, 2006, RadioShack's board of directors announced it had chosen Julian Day, 54, to serve as chairman and chief executive officer of the company. Day had previously served in senior leadership positions at several large publicly traded retailing companies in the U.S. and had played a key role in revitalizing such companies as Safeway, Sears and Kmart. On September 26, 2012, Jim Gooch stepped down as CEO of the company and resigned his position on the Board.

New strategy: In the spring of 2006, RadioShack announced a strategy to increase average unit volume, lower overhead costs, and grow profitable square footage. In early to mid-2006, RadioShack closed nearly 500 locations. It was determined that some stores were too close to each other, causing them to compete with one another for the same customers. Most of the stores closed in 2006 brought in less than $350,000 in revenue each year." (wiki/radioshack)

"But even following this Apple-like business model may not be enough to save Best Buy. It’s possible that the forces of e-commerce and advancing technology are too great to effectively combat and that specialized superstores are no longer efficient. John Backus, a venture capitalist and managing partner of New Atlantic Ventures, seems to think this is the case. He wrote in a blog post earlier this year that we are entering “the death of retail 2.0.” The first permutation of the death of retail, Backus writes, included the failure of large media retailers like Borders, Blockbuster and Tower Records. The Internet proved to be a much more efficient medium for purveying media. The second wave of retail death will include sellers of electronics and other small specialty goods. According to Backus, stores from Radio Shack to Staples will find themselves in a severely diminished position, if not completely gone, in the next decade. As for Best Buy, forces beyond Amazon are making its core product lines unprofitable. Backus writes:

“Appliances are here to stay, but are not a frequent purchase. Video games are moving into the cloud. Home theatre is stagnant … we may continue to upgrade our main television screen at home every 3-5 years, but more and more we will consume movies and television on our desktops, tablets, and phones. So sales of second and third TVs are dying quickly. In-car electronics, standalone GPS, satellite radio, seatback DVD players and HD radio will quickly disappear, replaced only by the smartphone powering a dumb screen on the dashboard.”

This integration of devices is another force that will hit electronics retailers the hardest. If one device is completing many of our tasks, electronics retailers can’t move the volume of goods needed to justify huge overhead costs like sales forces and brick-and-mortar stores. But not all big-box retail will go the way of the dodo. Retailers that offer a broad spectrum of goods will be able to fend off e-commerce by providing staple products like groceries and other items that aren’t easily shipped. For that reason, Backus sees Walmart and Target surviving the latest wave of retail death."

Read more: http://business.time.com/2012/05/24/are-we-witnessing-the-death-of-the-big-box-store/#ixzz2VdaHEmmv
http://business.time.com/2012/05/24/are-we-witnessing-the-death-of-the-big-box-store/

1990-1995 I worked for Radio Shack, it was a fun job because they had the coolest stuff, electronic gadgets you didn't see anywhere else, plus they owned a large share of the budding personal computer market. During Xmas they got a ton of toys for both kids and adults (OK, adult men) that almost nobody else carried. It was great.
In 2000 I ended up moving and took a job again at Radio Shack, and it was at that time I saw the company transition to it's new store and market mix format, I was involved in redoing several stores. Everybody at the store level instantly knew the company was hosing itself, and after 2002 it has never been the same.
Ugh.

I imagine that business schools around the world have the radio shack case study for self-immolation, just one step away from self-destruction.

The more interesting questions to me are (1) why is it still in business? and (2) can it retool and renew and return? THAT would be an amazing sequel.

I, however, make no critical judgments on those who have taken the helm and faltered, or failed (well, except for falsifying the resume - pretty darn lame that is). What would I (or you) have done I the same circumstances? The errors of the chosen path and the much clearer better paths are so easy to see when illuminated by 15 or so years of subsequent historical knowledge of economics, technological development and the competitive environments. I'd have trillions of dollars and stacks of Nobel prizes if I could read the news 15 years ahead of time.

Originally posted by coquette
I imagine that business schools around the world have the radio shack case study for self-immolation, just one step away from self-destruction.

The more interesting questions to me are (1) why is it still in business? and (2) can it retool and renew and return? THAT would be an amazing sequel.

I, however, make no critical judgments on those who have t ...[text shortened]... rillions of dollars and stacks of Nobel prizes if I could read the news 15 years ahead of time.

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Originally posted by KilgoreTrout15
1990-1995 I worked for Radio Shack, it was a fun job because they had the coolest stuff, electronic gadgets you didn't see anywhere else, plus they owned a large share of the budding personal computer market. During Xmas they got a ton of toys for both kids and adults (OK, adult men) that almost nobody else carried. It was great.
In 2000 I ended up nstantly knew the company was hosing itself, and after 2002 it has never been the same.
Ugh.

In the 1980's I worked for the Johnson family, they own radio shack, and they had a little hobby company where they were in the business of those computerized restaurant table assignment jobs. One of the granddaughters, I forget her name now, was given $250,000 I think for graduating from either HS or college, she was a nice kid, a bit over her head but she liked her little hobby company. That was in the Phoenix area, when I lived in Scottsdale. I was a tech there building the next gen box for the restaurant seating gig.

Weird, I just looked up the shack on wiki and don't see any reference to any Johnson's. Wonder why I was told that back in the day. Looks like they started out as one store in Boston in 1921 and grew very large but like Coquette says, why are they still in business at all? Fortunately there are pure electronics stores left, but hardly thriving. One I go to a lot for projects at work is Greenbrook Electronics on route 22 in New Jersey. They have a LOT of electronics there. No ham gear though. Lots of kids kits too.

Could the Johnsons have been the franchisees in Phoenix? Owning a number of valuable franchises could have been enough to make the story fit the facts.

Originally posted by sonhouse
In the 1980's I worked for the Johnson family, they own radio shack, and they had a little hobby company where they were in the business of those computerized restaurant table assignment jobs. One of the granddaughters, I forget her name now, was given $250,000 I think for graduating from either HS or college, she was a nice kid, a bit over her head but she New Jersey. They have a LOT of electronics there. No ham gear though. Lots of kids kits too.

They might have owned some local franchise stores in the 80's, but Charles Tandy owned Radio Shack outright until it became a corporation, he then became it's president/CEO/chairman of the board or whatever until his death.
That's why the first Radio Shack computer of the 80's was called the TRS-80, for Tandy Radio Shack. The stock was called Tandy on the NY Stock exchange for many years.