It’s kind of funny to read all the ham angst about the demise of Radio Shack. There are the ones who bemoan it and then there are the ones who say “high time, good riddance.” Somewhere in the middle is the truth; the little corner electronics store that decided to be first and foremost a cell phone store selling service for the third- or fourth-ranked cellular network in the US really pulled a doozy of a fuckup when it made that decision, and then couldn’t bear to admit it and pull back to its core business and competencies when it became clear that they were being taken to the woodshed by the competition.
Thing is, even with a cellular sideline, Radio Shack as an electronics store would probably still be in business if the business plan wasn’t (apparently) to have a store on every other corner. Too much real estate, too many poorly-trained employees, and in the end the really bad and seemingly-irrevocable choice to be a cell phone store that happened to have electronic parts and gimmicks in the back, rather than being an electronics store that would sell you a cell phone if you wanted one, is what did them in.
A business plan that had only a few stores per metro area would have been a lot more agile and able to change and adapt to the times. A city like Indy could probably have gotten by with three or four at most, and instead, if you look at the list of store closings, had twice that or more — not to mention the ones in nearby suburbs. Unfortunately the good ship Radio Shack got too big to change course quickly enough, even if there had been any corporate will to do so. Because of that lack, the good ship is headed to the bottom. Requiescat in pace.