RadioShack by its very name is a throwback to the 20th century, a time period fading further and further into the past as future generations look elsewhere for their high-tech gizmos.
That may be at the heart of why the store fell off the radar of so many adults. Heck, the common reaction seems to be, “RadioShack? What, they’re still around?”
Not good news at all for a chain of stores in its 8th straight quarter of losses.
What exactly is to the blame for how far down hill RadioShack has rolled?
Some say the inability to connect is due to the traditional “brick and mortar” setting of their stores. Sites like Amazon are cleaning up when it comes to virtual purchases, as more and more people are opting to buy their electronics online.
Still, chains like Walmart and Best Buy read the writing on the wall and have done their utmost to make tech items available online as well as in their stores, staying “relevant” in the eyes of consumers.
And this is where RadioShack seems to have dropped the ball. Big time.
Somehow, the company just assumed that with “Radio” at the front of its name, it would magically continue to be relevant to kids who download music off the internet rather than record them off live radio via cassette tapes.
By the time the chain realized this would not be the case, it was already already losing billions of dollars each year.
Everything On This 1991 RadioShack Flyer Was Made Obsolete By The Smartphone http://t.co/NWivRkgbAP
— Mark Nielsen (@manielse) March 5, 2014
Go ahead and snicker at Radio Shack. It’s still the only place you can get odd plugs, cables, etc. Hoping they survive.
— Dan Kennedy (@dankennedy_nu) March 5, 2014
I didn't realize they were still going. >> RadioShack to close 1,100 stores due to mounting losses
http://t.co/d4RZeSSztT
— Quoodle (@quoodle) March 5, 2014
Determined to reverse the trend, the company splashed cash on a Superbowl Ad featuring 1980s icons. However, while the throwback to times gone by is good for temporary buzz, the world is marching forward, not backward.
Also, I don’t want to be the one to say this but the generation that matters A.K.A. the kids who ask their parents for the money they spend on things like smartphones and tablets…likely didn’t get any of the references.
Oops.
Morris Ajzenman, an analyst at Griffen Securities Inc., had very little in the way of optimism to offer RadioShack.
He said, “RadioShack’s time has passed. It is a dinosaur. Ultimately, I think it’ll go out of business.”
RadioShack hopes that downsizing will help it stay afloat long enough to find a way back. There are reports of 1,100 stores set to be closed. There is no word from the company regarding which stores will be closed or whether employees will be let go or sent to other locations.
Image via Wikimedia Commons
