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Radio Shack rebranding

wgliradio said:
It appears Radio Shack will be re-branding its stores to just "The Shack".

The stores really haven't been about radios since they dropped the Realistic name in the late 90's.

http://www.dealerscope.com/article/...-all-its-stores-known-the-shack-410667_1.html
Click to expand...

How true! Radio Shack is a former shell of itself and far from what I remember as a child or even when I worked at one long ago, back in my teens.

In related news, Pizza Hut is rebranding its stores to just "The Hut" as its pizza, well ... I won't say as this is a family web site :D


http://newtech.aurum3.com/brand/pizza-hut-rebranded-as-the-hut/
 
Many years ago Radio Shack threatened The Ham Shack in Evansville with a lawsuit because of infringement. They became The Ham Station.

I went in to buy a stereo quarter inch plug and the 20 year old manager had no clue initially saying "we don't carry those". I told her they did and said "bins" and she went and looked. "no we're out." She went to sell an overpriced cell phone and in the bin next to where it should have been I found it.

A month ago I asked for an IC socket and had to explain what this was. Different store different town.

Radio Shack, You've got questions, we have absolutely no clue.
 
"The Shack" is already the name of a few good bars. The Shack In Hawaii Kai comes to mind first. I think they are actually in the same shopping complex as a Radio Shack! Sounds like a big problem in the making!
 
If it happens it's just another example of RS trying to dis it's heritage. Appearently they haven't went far enough down hill for the upper management yet. Charles Tandy has to be spinning like a dryer cycle in his grave about now. First they changed the parent corporate name (from Tandy to Radio Shack) and now they pull this. Oh Brother.
 
Surprised they didn't go to Phone Shack, as suggested on this board some years ago.
 
Eng.Mike said:
"The Shack" is already the name of a few good bars. The Shack In Hawaii Kai comes to mind first. I think they are actually in the same shopping complex as a Radio Shack! Sounds like a big problem in the making!
Click to expand...

Yeah! I have heard (only heard mind you) of another local.....er, 'establishment' named The Shack. The ladies are not gonna like this infringement on their good name.
 
PTBoardOp94 said:
Surprised they didn't go to Phone Shack, as suggested on this board some years ago.
Click to expand...

I know a few engineers to laughingly refer to it as "Crap Shack" as there's very little in the store an engineer would ever want.

How I long for the return of Lafayette Radio!
 
I don't use this term often.....but thank god there is a Fry's Electronics nearby. I never have to go to The Crap Shack again. ;D
 
They should rebrand it as "Worthless Shack." What a laugh that place is, especially compared to what it once was.

Lucky for me, our town has a REAL electronics store, independantly owned and operated. It's stocked full of project boxes, components, cabling, connectors, tools, etc. Everything you'd need for projects. The staff is knowledgeable and the prices are competitive. In fact, most radio and TV engineers shop there regularly.
 
I must say the older Realistic brand is pretty good. I still use an alarm clock radio my grandmother gave me for my birthday the year I started college, and that was more than 30 years ago. Still works like brand new, including the unmistakable, unquenchable sound of a foghorn blast. I mean, that thing is LOUD
 
As for Pizza Hut:

Who are you kidding?

This is like GE calling itself “Electric.”

Or GM calling itself “motors.com”

You guys have a failing product and are marketing idiots.

Nobody will call it “The Hut.”
 
Rat Sha....I mean "The Shack" quit selling XLR's plugs and that can be bad when you need one in a pinch.

I applied at Radio Shack three years ago. The on-line application process included a 105 question "Personality Test". Question 93, "Do you know how to read?". The job interview was handled by the store manager. He confessed his last job was as a hospital orderly. During the interview I casually mentioned installation of my parent's HDTV. He chastised me for using regular cables instead of Monster Cable. He later explained why VCR beat Beta. His explanation was George Lucas released "Star Wars" on VCR only and Beta never recovered. I pointed out JVC, the patent holder of VHS was much more liberal selling their license than Sony and their Beta format so more VHS machines were on the market. He replied, "That might be true, but Geroge Lucas releasing "Star Wars" on VCR was a factor." He called a few days later offering me an assistant manager position. I turned him down for his stupidity and the $7/hour plus commission on cell phone sales. He still manages that store today.
 
The amazing part of all of that was the last line. He's still there. That into itself is truely amazing. They churn help so fast it'll make your eyes swim.
 
Used to be a store manager for RadioShack about 10 years ago - not surprised at all at this. When I parted company with them, I thought the place was living on borrowed time. I will be amazed if "The Shack" makes it another couple of years. Poor selection of merchandise - poor stock of the selection that they do have, uncompetitive pricing, and weasely managers and sales people who have drank the company Kool-Aid, and don't care about you unless you want to buy a Cell Pone, and won't leave you alone about buying a phone when you came in for a pack of fuses.
 
I too also worked at Radio Shack, but back in the 70's when I was a teen. The difference was the store I worked at was a franchise dealer, so while the owner sold some Radio Shack product, she sold much more CB radio and car stereo equipment (remember, this was the 70's when CB made its boom).

I did alot of the CB and car radio installations during my weekends and Summer vacations. The owner also gave me a very nice discount on my first computer, a TRS-80 Model 1. Imagine that, Radio Shack actually had their own computers!

radiorob2.0 said:
The on-line application process included a 105 question "Personality Test". Question 93, "Do you know how to read?". The job interview was handled by the store manager. He confessed his last job was as a hospital orderly.
Click to expand...

I think you answered a lot of questions here. You were probably too smart for Radio Shack! As for the guy who is still there, he must be really be a go-getter!

I dread going into a Rat Shack now, as I always catch myself about to correct a salesperson's dissemination of misinformation they are giving to another customer. Once in a great while I found somebody helpful there, but that was only when I did all the legwork ahead of time and handed them a piece of paper with a SKU number and said "I need two of those." Of course, the one time I did this and it took the guy 15 minutes to figure out he didn't know where to look I just walked out.

Thank goodness there are still a few real electronics stores left.
 
ChiefEngineer said:
Many years ago Radio Shack threatened The Ham Shack in Evansville with a lawsuit because of infringement. They became The Ham Station.

I went in to buy a stereo quarter inch plug and the 20 year old manager had no clue initially saying "we don't carry those". I told her they did and said "bins" and she went and looked. "no we're out." She went to sell an overpriced cell phone and in the bin next to where it should have been I found it.

A month ago I asked for an IC socket and had to explain what this was. Different store different town.

Radio Shack, You've got questions, we have absolutely no clue.
Click to expand...
Back when Shack staffers had at least some idea what electronic parts are, it was fun to call them & ask if they had a 1000 ohm, 1/2 watt capacitor in stock. They'd look & say they were out of that one & offer to order it.
 
Radio Shack---you've got questions, we've got batteries.
 
I've actually bought XLR's and banana's there very recently, but you have to know where to look and not expect much stock. It was a desperation moment when I didn't have time to go to the real electronics store here in Melmfus.
 
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