Oh, Radio Shack. What a beautiful place you once were, a commercial haven for those seeking RC cars, resistors, and universal remotes. Then, the downfall, as you veered away from your origins, only to lead to an ultimate collapse. More recently, the brand was supposed to return to new heights online… only to fall afoul of the Securities and Exchange Commission. (via Yahoo Finance, Bloomberg)
The Radio Shack brand was picked up a few years ago by a company known as Retail Ecommerce Ventures (REV). The company’s modus operandi was to take well-known but beleaguered brands and relaunch them as online-only operations. Beyond Radio Shack, REV also owned a number of other notable brand names, like Pier 1, Modell’s Sporting Goods, and Dress Barn.
Unfortunately, the Radio Shack rebirth probably won’t reach the stellar heights of the past. Namely, because REV has been accused of operating a Ponzi-like scheme by the SEC. Despite huge boasts allegedly made to investors, none of REV’s portfolio of brands were actually making profits, and the SEC has charged that the company was paying investor returns with cash raised from other investors — unsustainable, and a major no-no, legally speaking. In any case, the SEC charges apply directly to REV. The RadioShack brand has since been acquired by Unicomer Group, which operates the current online business, and has no ties to REV or its former operators.
We were cautiously optimistic when we heard about the REV buyout back in 2020, but at this point, it’s probably best to come to terms with the fact that Radio Shack won’t be returning to its former glory. The name will linger in our hearts for some time to come, but the business we knew is long gone. Sometimes it’s better to look to the future than to try and recreate the magic of the past, especially if you’re doing inappropriate things with other people’s money in the process.
Oof, too bad.
Not like the relaunched RS would even have anything going for it except nostalgia…
Pretty much. Things have changed too much, and even more so with recent events.
RS is something different!
Also in the UK we had Maplin, that did the same thing, and flushed themselves down the pan.
Not entirely gone. If you know where to look* on the Mass Pike, you can see an 80s Radio Shack ad, painted on what I believe was their Commonwealth Ave warehouse.
*just east of the Comm Ave bridge, on the north side of the Pike, it’s at the top of a white wall.
Shouldn’t post before coffee. Map link here…if you squint, you can actuially see the lettering
https://maps.app.goo.gl/FVk6RUitbHipivdY9
I just go to my local Radio Shack at Mall of the Americas… hehe
Sorry, not Comm Ave., it’s the Brookline Ave bridge.
If the point was competing with Temu or Banggood, then SEC was right, it was a ponzi thing. I am guessing ENRON has to be repeated again and again.
For things to happen, US would have to bring all the production back, factories, industries, ENGINEERS, WORKERS, etc etc. I do not see anything of a kind happening any time soon, because it is not just one industry or few dozen shops that should be returned, but gazillions mom-and-pop little garages and shops powering the industries, The Main Street that used to be the backbone of the US industries. Japan managed to keep some theirs intact (after resisting the US-management “lessons” it didn’t need, btw), Canada (to a degree), too, so I am afraid we are stuck “feeding starving banksters” (2008 term) who can only invent ponzi schemes – so-called “fractional banking” IS a ponzi schema invented and implemented by the UK banks – who actually copied that from Netherlands, but I digress; only “selected/anointed few” are allowed to run ponzi schemas, and not anyone else.
If DEV would be serious, they’d approach this with a different mindset – let’s start with micro-financing, instead of riding the 30% APR gravy train (credit cards), let’s issue credits (not cards) for 3% financing, flat percentage, no gotchas, simple and straightforward. Finances thus realized go DIRECTLY into building local factories, all 50 states, no exception, again NO EXCEPTION, so that production stays LOCAL, instate. Again, not managers’ salaries, and not stocks, direct investment into things that make things, buildings, machines, hiring and training ENGINEERS, etc etc. Robots-shmobots, AI-Shmei-ai, those are all tactical details left to the local implementations, how, when, where and why.
I am willing to sell you veeeeeery expensive factory equipment and then maybe meet you in Emirates with some diamonds as a gift for your lady or something if you catch my drift.
What you need is worker-owned cooperatives that wouldn’t take my offer.
Cooperatives became a no-word in the US. Literally. There one near, but it is a tiny food-reselling coop, the variety that does not threaten the industries in any way, so it was left alone long time ago.
Entire Rust Belt, PA, NY, parts of NJ, is full of discarded/disused factory equipment STILL. I can score decent lathes and drill presses and whatnots, though, usually the analog kind, ie, hand-operated, which require some learning curve (the kinds I’ve used in my youth whilst being educated for the mechanical engineering major). The question is “what are these good for?” since humans knowing how to productively use these are rather few and between – everyone now wants AI-controlled shiny toys with as few buttons as possible, so any middle-aged manager can push these without much thinking.
Regardless, worker-owned coops is the word, but I digress. Radio Shack could be planned to be one, but judging by what’s in the article, it was just another Grundig (which is no longer german electronics maker; the label was bought by some no-name turkish owner, who slaps “Grundig” on chinese-made fakes and charges two prices for the label – he must as well buy SAAB and Holden and resell Yugos, the result will be the same, money-making reselling nostalgia).
‘The question is “what are these good for?” since humans knowing how to productively use these are rather few and between’
Surely we haven’t all forgotten how to learn.
Could coops make affordable easy-to-repair small cars?
… humans knowing how to productively use these are rather few and between WHERE I LIVE – northern Delaware.
I know how to use most of these, done reasonably useful work way back in the 1980s and early 1990s, but for now don’t see any tangible money-making opportunities near. Myself working alone vs hundreds of small shops being part of the same supply chains, you get the idea. I won’t amount to much.
Affordable easy-to-repair cars exist, but in niches, US has some shops (that I am personally aware) tricking out road-certified kit cars, and close to me there used to be a garage (literally, two rooms) where they were doing nifty things, like adding EI (electronic ignition) to vintage carburetor cars, and some/limited bodywork, even fixing truck frames (!!), so the potential is definitely there, just not on a scale large enough to repeat Henry Ford’s factory.
I dearly wish, though, Jeeps (not the new badge – the original company), Bantams, ow that I think of it, I wish Tucker would resurface from the ashes and drive Tesla into shade, but no : [
“I do not see anything of a kind happening any time soon, because it is not just one industry or few dozen shops that should be returned, but gazillions mom-and-pop little garages and shops powering the industries, The Main Street that used to be the backbone of the US industries.”
This plays right into an idea I’ve had rattling around in my brain for a few years now, and the Radio Shack brand would be perfectly suited for the task. Within the worldwide Amateur Radio community there are hundreds of small businesses operated by hobbyists who built a product to fit a niche within the hobby, and sell those products using a larger online storefront (Etsy being an example). As these hobbyists either retire, pass or decide to close up these unique product designs disappear unless the business is sold. What if a larger radio-oriented company was in the business of buying out small shops that have a small and steady customer base, absorbing the operation into their manufacturing, marketing and warehousing system?
What if that concept could scale up to buy out companies like MFJ Industries? When the owner retired and closed the business we lost not only MFJ products, but Cushcraft Antenna, Ameritron amplifiers, and several more well known brands.
Not every product could be a consistent seller, so when a company with multiple products is taken over some lines would have to be discontinued for profitability, but the rights to manufacture them would be retained. If enough interest was out there for a discontinued product perhaps a skunk works division could handle the manufacturing of a special run.
Yep, sounds like a plausible thought.
That’s the thing, the patents are a bit of a doozie, if production is closed, but the patent remains, then not even non-profit can use it.
Coops are a bit of a border line between for-profit and non-profit, and, in all fairness, should be kept permanently non-profit (or even better, public trust), so that it won’t be encroached by the for-profit steamrolling/lawyering. Non-profits can (and regularly) build things NEEDED, not just what sells for profit, so there, filling the gaps left by the closed for-profits operations.
Not really looking for a long fight here but I think some of your premises are flawed.
Requiring something like a 3% interest rate to encourage development doesn’t really work. Prime is currently 4%. In order to actually make money and still pay for things like diligence, processing, etc., much less keep the doors open, lenders need to lend at rates above what they can borrow from the Fed. The Fed typically only lends to solid gold borrowers. Borrowers only want to lend at lower rates (5% to 7%) if they have collateral, security and/or guarantees. That’s who credit cards are 20%+ — they’re unsecured loans dischargeable in bankruptcy. There’s recent history of using your idea — the “all Americans should own a home” of the 2000’s. Borrowed didn’t need jobs, income or assets to borrow at or near prime — the results were not pretty.
Also, Ponzi is not shorthand for “fraud” — Enron was not Ponzi it was an entirely different kind of accounting fraud.
Good points.
The mentioned 3% was taken out of the air, as the lowest possible financing that may work with the proverbial 5-year plans (unrelated to the USSR) so loved by the investors. It can be 5%, but the point was get it rolling faster, and avoid falling under the megamonster “financial institutions” domain. Coops should be financing themselves, and thus, getting out of the for-profit-banking control; micro-credits (almost a curse word in the US) are like that, lending for short time for small APR, where lenders know the borrowers, and doing so will actually remove distant/unknown lenders from the equation, thus, lessening the risks of defaulting.
” Ponzi is not shorthand for “fraud” ”
It absolutely is fraud. It is simply paying early investors with income from subsequent investors’ share purchases rather than legitimate business operations since there is too little income derived from those operations to meet promised profits.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ponzi_scheme
Maybe RS Components could buy up the name now so you could have two RS names under one umbrella.
I don’t know what you guys are talking about, my local Radio Shack is alive and well!
https://secure.hostdepot.com/06/014/RSStorefront.jpg
https://secure.hostdepot.com/06/014/RSBusinessCard.jpg
https://secure.hostdepot.com/06/014/RSBins.jpg
There are (or as of the early-2020s, were) a few Radio Shack stores around the country. Who owns the Radio Shack name that these stores use?
Probably independent stores operating under franchise agreements with the original Radio Shack. Ownership of the name is likely a sticky issue.
Yep, there’s one in tiny Woodstock, Virginia, right off interstate 81. I happened upon it a year or two ago. Lots and lots and LOTS of small parts/components, a better selection than any old-school Radio Shack from my childhood. It brought tears to my eyes. I had to buy something I didn’t need, just so I could carry it out in a brand-new Radio Shack bag.
If only it weren’t 200-odd miles from my house…
You’re going to love this: https://bendblockbuster.com/
It’s in Bend, OR. I’ve been there and it’s more branded merch than you can imagine (plus a few DVDs/tapes etc)
To be expected. You don’t need the name if you are going to be running a real business. If your business is actually good, a bit of targeted advertising is all you need to kick start a new brand.
The old name recognition is only useful for scams of if you want to extract the last bit of value left. Same with Commodore brand.
Generally I agree – it’s always sad to me when a venerable old name like “Singer” gets bought and used to sell $15 crappy handheld “sewing machines.”
I don’t know why people do this — I saw that someone just bought the “Fyre Festival” name and IP — I really cannot imagine why, other than being hipster “ironic” but not my money.
Commodore actually seems to be trying something interesting. Not sure if they’ll succeed but it doesn’t look too scammy — more like kickstarter-scammy.
Others have succeeded — in spite of initial misgivings and horror, Atari seems to be trying to capitalize on retro and has real properties and offerings.
I never understood the concepts of brands and why customers don’t differenciate more.
A brand says little about the actual company itself and the people working there.
An “Atari” of the 70s was different to an Atari of the 80s or early 90s.
People came and went, it was a different company “under the hood” each time.
Apparently HobbyTown [some? all??] has a partnership or franchise or something… The physical stores have a couple aisles of RadioShack branded parts and they sell the same through their website.
[Googles]
Started with 100 stores in 2018 – https://www.cnbc.com/2018/07/26/radioshack-partners-with-hobbytown-to-sell-its-electronics-post-bankru.html
I don’t know, with Digi-Key a couple days shipping away and Amazon selling all manner of arduino doodads I’m not sure how an upstart even with a reminiscent name could make a place. Maybe if they tried to enter the Adafruit/Sparkfun space and sold on Amazon they might be able to eke out a small profit.
Aliexpress is the current Radio Shack.