A very good friend of mine, Don Porter (W9LXI), purchased a Radio Shack
franchise to put a store in Eddyville Kentucky which would serve a 40 mile
radius around the Eddyville area. Well within that franchise territory is
Princeton Kentucky. The franchise contract stipulated that Radio Shack would
not allow or establish any other Radio Shack store within that defined
geographic territory. My friend shelled out a very, very substantial amount
of money for the franchise, the store facility, inventory, staffing, etc.
Within five years, Radio Shack established a corporate owned store in
Princeton. They ran special promotions, with substantially reduced prices
and drove my friend out of business. Don explored his legal options and was
told that Radio Shack would fight him in court and drag the proceedings out
so long with its cadre of attorneys that he would go bankrupt before he ever
saw one single penny from Radio Shack. So, Don sold off his inventory and
building, and took his losses. Did I hear someone say: "illegal,"
"unscrupulous?"
Ron, K8HSY
-----Original Message-----
From: Pat Byrne [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Thursday, February 05, 2015 8:47 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: It looks like bye-bye for Radio Shack.
Results were very store dependent. The store in our suburb has been
terrible for years. On the other hand, there was a franchise store in
downtown Chicago owned by the former head of Allied Radio ki8ts division.
John had some of everything and a staff that was on top of all of it. I was
so sad when that store closed.
Pat, K9JAuAt 08:38 AM 2/5/2015, you wrote:
>The big thing I noticed about Radio Shack is their lack of product
>knowledge. They used to hire a lot of hams and people quite
>knowledgeable in electronics. I used to be able to go in and tell them
>I was looking for a small, chassis mount, double pole, double throw
>switch, and they would walk over and pick out two or three different
>choices, explain the pros and cons of each one, and you would make your
>choice based on your needs. In recent years, they are not likely to
>even have a double pole, double throw switch, and if they did, the
>store clerk would have absolutely no idea what you were asking about.
>You had to have someone with you that could see to help you look for it
>yourself. A few years ago I went in to purchase a really small, table
>top TV set, which they had advertised. When I got to the store, the
>clerk had no idea such a TV set was being promoted; then, when my wife
>and I found the one in the store advertised as on special sale, the
>clerk couldn't tell us anything about it. He picked up the tag and read
>information off the tag, but when I told him we had already read the
>tag, but I needed to know some information that was not on the tag,
>like what kind and how many batteries did it take, did it come with an
>AC adapter, etc. These were very simple questions, but the clerk
>couldn't answer any of them. It irritated me so much that I left the
>store without purchasing the TV, and we ended up going to Best Buys and
>purchasing one. It wasn't on sale, but the floor sales person knew all
about the products he was selling, and what he didn't know, he made the
effort to find out for us.
>
>Ron, K8HSY
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: For blind ham radio operators
>[mailto:[log in to unmask]]
>On Behalf Of Matthew Chao
>Sent: Wednesday, February 04, 2015 2:44 PM
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: It looks like bye-bye for Radio Shack.
>
>Have often noticed that either no one was there, or only a few (four or
>five if you were lucky) I considered a crowd there.--Matt, N1IBB.
>
>At 12:31 PM 2/4/2015 -0500, you wrote:
> >I can't say I had that problem but I haven't bought that stuff from
> >them in almost 20 years now. I used to like the place but they sure
> >went down hill and did it fast and I've had a problem in most of the
> >local ones so stopped going. I do know though you never notice anyone
> >in
>them when you go by.
> >----- Original Message -----
> >From: "Matthew Chao" <[log in to unmask]>
> >To: <[log in to unmask]>
> >Sent: Wednesday, February 04, 2015 11:21 AM
> >Subject: Re: It looks like bye-bye for Radio Shack.
> >
> >
> > >I used to call them Radio Scraps, because when I bought parts (SUCH
> > >AS JACKS AND ADAPTERS), some of them would fall apart shortly
> > >afterwords.--Matt, N1IBB.
> > >
> > > At 08:49 AM 2/4/2015 -0500, you wrote:
> > >>I'm surprised they lasted this long.
> > >>----- Original Message -----
> > >>From: "Matthew Chao" <[log in to unmask]>
> > >>To: <[log in to unmask]>
> > >>Sent: Wednesday, February 04, 2015 8:37 AM
> > >>Subject: Re: It looks like bye-bye for Radio Shack.
> > >>
> > >>
> > >> > Interesting. It's bad enough that their selection isn't the
> > >> > greatest. The link sort of explains all that.--Matt, N1IBB.
> > >> >
> > >> > At 02:41 PM 2/3/2015 -0500, you wrote:
> > >> >>Forwarded message:
> > >> >>
> > >> >>I was just sent the following link about Radio Shack:
> > >> >>http://www.arrl.org/news/radioshack-s-long-slow-downward-slide-
> > >> >>ne
> > >> >>a
> > >> rs-the-end
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