[Coco] More poor news for Radio Shack

[Nick Marentes]

On 11/12/2014 2:34 PM, John Guin wrote:
> Their CEO remains hopeful, and I suppose it is good news that the remodeled/updated stores (I don't know that I have seen one in the Seattle area) are doing better:
> http://money.cnn.com/2014/12/11/investing/radioshack-earnings/index.html?hpt=hp_t2
>
>
>

Now that I am visiting the US, I have been noticing the Radio Shack 
stores... something we in Australia haven't seen for at least 15 years 
(as Tandy stores).

I thought the stores themselves weren't so bad but they are clearly a 
step behind the Best Buys and the Fryer stores.

My prediction is that they won't last. This is a company scraping the 
lid of it's grave.

They have 2 options.

Go all out to at least match Best Buy. People are familiar with Radio 
Shack and may support them if they appear to be just like one of the 
"big boys".

But they have too many stores. They can't be big AND have this number of 
stores.

OR

Go small and cater for the more specialized "tech/nerd" market.

Either way, it will involve store closures and downsizing to survive. 
The wave of the electronics boom that they successfully rode in the 70's 
and 80's is over. That wave has changed and they need to adapt.

They need to find a new area of specialization. Maybe "invent" the next 
big thing in consumer electronics and become a leader... something like 
what they did in the 70's with CB radio and later the personal computer.

I'm not holding my breath though.

Nick