And now for something completely.. er.. Different?

[CeaSaR]

I actually walked into the local "Shack" today and talked with the lone salesman (it was a male!)
and his comment on the whole name change is that the name on the stores, nametags and other
sundries will stay as Radio Shack, never to change due to brand name recognition. Only the sales
fliers and advertisements etc. will be changed to "The Shack". He even had a decent conversation
with me as to why they don't have much of what they had in the past due to the specialization of
consumer electronics (I need chip #XYZPDQ from manufacturer BlahBlah not just a new 2N3055.
Sorry, we don't carry that.) and the shrinking number of true hobbyists along with the mail order
houses that can beat their prices by a country mile. He even pointed out that they don't even have
radios or even a stereo or surround system, let alone any speakers for them (Mach 1's anyone?).

As for the components I was looking for, they have 15 packs of 2N3906's for $2.59 but only singles
of 2N3904's at $0.79 a pop! The only NPN's they have in a multipack is 2N2222A's (15). Disgusting.

I asked when they were going to start selling bicycles and he just laughed.

What fun.

CeaSar

PS, he knows of N&V and is glad you are still around.

[goingjag]

From my perspective (aside from parts for those of us sticking things together) their brand equity was in products that no longer require that equity. You would hear older or younger people coming in for advice on wireless phones, antennas, computer connections and "stereos". All of those are now covered by big box throw away stuff. I can remember the local manager many moons ago being elated after coming back from the yearly meeting. The future was in satellite dishes and they were going to make a killing with them.

Sadly what little they had left the last time I was there could not meet my requirements (and that was hard to determine because the spec sheets are down to nearly zero info). I had to order the parts from Mouser.

Long gone is the great pastime of wondering over to my local electronics store, picking up my free copy of Nuts & Volts, maybe a copy of Motorolla's xref and wandering around dreaming of buying a Collins and buying a few transistors to fix an output section of an amp.

The Shack can't make their stores bigger at this point, and they simply won't be able to compete. At best they will become a web only store, but more likely will simply follow Circuit City and Comp USA. It will be a sad day, but most tears have already been shed.