Radioshack Celebrates One Year Anniversary Of Closing 500 Stores By Closing 500 More

Zero Hedge ^ | 02/04/2014 | Tyler Durden

[SeekAndFind]

If it seems like it was exactly a year ago that turmoiling retailer Radioshack shut down 500 stores due to lack of consumer interest in its wares (and or consumer disposable cash), it is because it was. So how does Radioshack demonstrate its morbid sense of humor on the one year anniversary of said announcement? Well, by closing another 500, or about 12% of the retailer's total 4500 outlets currently in existence.

The WSJ reports that the company which once was the butt of all LBO-rumor jokes (and still is, only this time in the context of an M&A-rumor with JCPenney and/or the Joseph A. Wearhouse joint venture), is "planning to close around 500 stores in the coming months as the electronics retailer continues working with advisers to restructure the company."

RSH's pre-bankruptcy operation problems are well-documented. And funded - "in October, RadioShack secured $835 million in loans to refinance about $625 million of debt. Those funds, from a group led by GE Capital, also freed up cash for RadioShack's overhaul." Of course, when said overhaul fails, the loans rolls into a DIP loan which funds the company's bankruptcy.

As was well-documented during the Super Bowl, the Fort Worth, Texas, retail chain has been working on transforming its image from an old-school electronics store into a destination for shoppers looking for entertainment gadgets, like headphones and smartphone cases. Sadly, it appears to not be working.

The retailer has struggled to reverse a string of losses deepened by a sales strategy focused around smartphones, which failed to improve revenue over the past two years.

 

RadioShack executives last year suggested the company would resist downsizing its store footprint as they focused most of their attention on reinventing the brand's image. Stores might close in one section of a neighborhood to set up shop in more highly trafficked locales, but the number of outlets would stay the same, they had previously said.

 

"I think we're a 4,000-plus network," RadioShack Chief Executive Joe Magnacca said in a November interview. "My job is to make sure that we've got the market covered."

That, or a '0-precisely network.' And while the Shack struggles to find just what market it is that it covers, if any, the population will enjoy how it spends several months of cash flow on amusing Super Bowl gimmick ads such as this one which is a fitting - and hilarious - epitaph of what happens to every retailer that stop adapting to its current environment.

 

CLICK ABOVE LINK FOR THE VIDEO

 

Finally, while the ultimate fate of Radioshack is quite clear to most, a far more important topic is what happens to all the commercial real estate secuiritizations and/or malls that currently have a RSH location which is about to shutter. Then again, this is the new normal, and things such a fundamentals and cash flows are merely an irrelevant footnote.

[the OlLine Rebel]

Exactly! I liked the commercial. Not many of the others....

RadioShack used to be a good place for DIY electronics. Not as much anymore.

But I did just buy an old-fashioned tape recorder for my son there. Can’t believe they still exist.

[dragnet2]

it might take several thousands of dollars of equipment to find it

And it might not...It might be something painfully simple to spot, with no test equipment at all.

[sten]

we barely do software any more. go into your local bookstore. software books use to be 3 or 4 isles. down to 1 in most book stores.

as for hardware, prototyping supplies are simply gone from retail. the last great store I saw that had loads of supplies was fryes in CA.

[GeronL]

That recovery is going so awesome, isn’t it??

All we will be able to afford in this country is rice and beans soon. And we will still be told we are in recovery.

[GeronL]

That recovery is going so awesome, isn’t it??

All we will be able to afford in this country is rice and beans soon. And we will still be told we are in recovery.

[GeronL]

That recovery is going so awesome, isn’t it??

All we will be able to afford in this country is rice and beans soon. And we will still be told we are in recovery.

[GeronL]

That recovery is going so awesome, isn’t it??

All we will be able to afford in this country is rice and beans soon. And we will still be told we are in recovery.

[nascarnation]

When the markets start to puke up the fake money and entitlements fade, we’ll see what our country really looks like.

[GeronL]

That recovery is going so awesome, isn’t it??

All we will be able to afford in this country is rice and beans soon. And we will still be told we are in recovery.

[GeronL]

That recovery is going so awesome, isn’t it??

All we will be able to afford in this country is rice and beans soon. And we will still be told we are in recovery.

[GeronL]

That recovery is going so awesome, isn’t it??

All we will be able to afford in this country is rice and beans soon. And we will still be told we are in recovery.

[Bobalu]

I do the BGA rework stuff and have a fridge full of solder paste.

Radio Shack is pretty much useless nowadays.

I buy lots of stuff from http://www.taydaelectronics.com

They are in Thailand but they ship fast and reasonable and as for prices... knobs for .22 - 1n4007 .02 - PN2222 .05 condenser mics .25 - ceramic disc caps .01 - trimpots .06 - 8pin DIP sockets .03 - DC power jacks .13

You can get 10 small 2-sided pc boards for just 9.90 at http://imall.iteadstudio.com/open-pcb/pcb-prototyping.html

[MeshugeMikey]

its a rolling recovery....however ....where its rolling at the moment... no one seems to know!

[Bobalu]

You can say that again.

[BfloGuy]

so I shop online where possible

That's it in a nutshell, isn't it.

The grocery store, the gas station, and the smoke shop [on the reservation] are the only brick-and-mortar stores I go to. Oh, once in a blue moon, I may drive 15 miles to the nearest WalMart for something because it's raining and I'm bored, but that's about it.

We're seeing a truly revolutionary change in retailing take place before our very eyes.

[familyop]

It was due to a lack of men interested in or capable of paying for electronics parts for projects long ago. Then Radio Shack started using politically correct advertising and selling more finished electronics items in an effort to sell more to women. Meanwhile, smaller parts with different mounting technologies were used to make smaller appliances/gadgets.

[Steely Tom]

You know, I actually thought of going to Radio Shack today. I wanted to buy a joystick controller for Flight Simulator.

But when I thought of going through the hassle of declining go give my name and address to the salesperson, I decided to go to Best Buy instead.

Got it for $28.

[Some Fat Guy in L.A.]

I really don’t see much reason for Radio Shack to exist anymore as brick-and-mortar locations.

Having said that, I am in the process of digitizing my old cassette tape collection, most of which were recorded in the 70’s and are thus at or near 40 years old. The tapes that have held up the best over the years? Radio Shack Supertapes.

[The Antiyuppie]

I’m an old fart and I still wire-wrap 1960-70’s designs so that they can be period authentic, but I did design and build one single surface mount project (it needed to be small) just to prove to myself that I could do it!