RadioShack dying, Amazon buying?!
RadioShack is not just on Death's door, they're opening it and stepping in briskly. The New York Stock Exchange has delisted them, their stock was trading at 24 CENTS per share the other day, and they can't some up with $50,000,000 to stave off the inevitable.
This makes me very sad. Radio Shack was a major part of my childhood. I bought a lot of stuff from them: even if most of their consumer electronics were crap, they were one of the few places where you could easily buy individual electronic components. In fact, I went to our local store last night to buy a new audio cable for my car (I have to replace it once or twice a year, it shorts out and makes it had to listen to podcasts).
In fact, I bought my first computer from RadioShack in the early '80s: a TRS-80 Model 100. It was one of the first portable computers ever made, it was powered by 4xAA batteries that would power it for ages, had an 8 line by 40 character display, and 24k of non-volatile memory. You could hook up two different kinds of disk drives (both 3.5" and 5.25"), an external monitor, optical bar code reader, cassette tape recorder if you didn't have the disk drive, etc. Built-in BASIC programming language, built-in text editor, etc. Amazingly capable computer: not only do I still have it, but it still works. I power it on occasionally for amusement. It also had a fantastic keyboard.
Even though this computer is 30+ years old, it's very popular among marine researchers: you can put it in a 2 lb Ziploc and take it out on a boat.
Here's a lamentation from Wired:
http://www.wired.com/2015/02/dear-radioshack-adored-love-wired/
And here's the Wired article saying that Amazon might buy them:
http://www.wired.com/2015/02/amazon-radioshack/
This would be a good move for Amazon. They'd get A LOT of stores for very cheap, they're spread around major cities and have presences in many smaller ones, like here. It lets them show off their own line of Kindle electronics and would provide space for drop-shipping items. I would certainly use a drop-ship and drive two miles from work to the nearest RS/Amazon store if it saved money and got my stuff to me quicker.
But apparently the Amazon/RS talks are for a limited number of stores, not the whole chain. Sprint is also in talks to acquire the stores, so I expect they'll end up busting up the chain and selling it off piece by piece.
This makes me very sad. Radio Shack was a major part of my childhood. I bought a lot of stuff from them: even if most of their consumer electronics were crap, they were one of the few places where you could easily buy individual electronic components. In fact, I went to our local store last night to buy a new audio cable for my car (I have to replace it once or twice a year, it shorts out and makes it had to listen to podcasts).
In fact, I bought my first computer from RadioShack in the early '80s: a TRS-80 Model 100. It was one of the first portable computers ever made, it was powered by 4xAA batteries that would power it for ages, had an 8 line by 40 character display, and 24k of non-volatile memory. You could hook up two different kinds of disk drives (both 3.5" and 5.25"), an external monitor, optical bar code reader, cassette tape recorder if you didn't have the disk drive, etc. Built-in BASIC programming language, built-in text editor, etc. Amazingly capable computer: not only do I still have it, but it still works. I power it on occasionally for amusement. It also had a fantastic keyboard.
Even though this computer is 30+ years old, it's very popular among marine researchers: you can put it in a 2 lb Ziploc and take it out on a boat.
Here's a lamentation from Wired:
http://www.wired.com/2015/02/dear-radioshack-adored-love-wired/
And here's the Wired article saying that Amazon might buy them:
http://www.wired.com/2015/02/amazon-radioshack/
This would be a good move for Amazon. They'd get A LOT of stores for very cheap, they're spread around major cities and have presences in many smaller ones, like here. It lets them show off their own line of Kindle electronics and would provide space for drop-shipping items. I would certainly use a drop-ship and drive two miles from work to the nearest RS/Amazon store if it saved money and got my stuff to me quicker.
But apparently the Amazon/RS talks are for a limited number of stores, not the whole chain. Sprint is also in talks to acquire the stores, so I expect they'll end up busting up the chain and selling it off piece by piece.