http://www.thestar.com/Business/article/197187

InterTan's owner, Circuit City Stores Inc., announced yesterday the Canadian operations are under review, and possibly for sale, amid wider cost-cutting measures. Circuit City bought InterTan in 2004 for $284 million (U.S.)

No surprise here really. Radio Shack Canada lost their way years ago. They alienated their core clientelle, tried to make a quick buck selling crappy plastic electronics nobody wanted, and now they are suffering for it.

Maybe it's time for a new player in the field.

Good thing, too. :D

Radio Shack used to be fun to grope around for arcane parts and such with helpful electronics freaks. Source/Circuit City killed all that. Now it is all about off-brand junk and snarly employees not sharp enough to get a job at McD's.... Karma does its thing! :clap:

Good riddance. I hate those fscking stores. Most of what they sell is cheap CRAP.

Cheap expensive crap. Usually the worst deal in town. You can buy it cheaper at Loblaws.

And what a great name. "The Source by Circuit City" really rolls off the tongue.

Good thing, too. :D

Radio Shack used to be fun to grope around for arcane parts and such with helpful electronics freaks. Source/Circuit City killed all that. Now it is all about off-brand junk and snarly employees not sharp enough to get a job at McD's.... Karma does its thing! :clap:
Not true. Not in Western Canada for sure. Many Source stores are locally owned and have been in many cases the only electronics source to small communities for many years. Such is the case with our tiny store here. I still go there often for bits and pieces I could find no where else without a lot of trouble. The kid that works in our store is the son of a neighbour and he is kind and polite and helpful.

SINC: Radio Shack always had a curious mix of franchise stores and affiliate stores--the kind most often found outside of major urban centres. Experiences can be markedly different depending on which type of store is visited.

That's why I replied in the first place. There are many very small towns here in the west that rely on those stores and are staffed by friendly locals. All is not as it appears in urban centres. ;)

I found Radio Shack to be the Home Hardware of electronics, they always had the piece I was looking for, and quite helpful, unlike the big box stores. Too bad they're both going down the crapper. Just another step in the Wal-Martization of Canada.

The Source's problem was they lost sight on their role and then change to compete against Future Shop/Best Buy etc in carrying a range of products that you can buy anywhere...typically for much less and better quality. I used to shop a fair bit at Radio Shack but after the change there's no incentive given the higher cost for questionalbe product lines. I can understand them working in smaller towns where the competition isn't there but in an urban environment you're not going to make it without some advantage...be it price, quality and or service...and frankly they lost on all three fronts.

Circuit City is a terrible operator... just read this: Bloomberg.com: Worldwide (http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a85hPB7db_6c&refer=home)

Circuit City Stores Inc., the second-largest U.S. electronics retailer, will fire 3,400 of its highest-paid sales people and hire replacements willing to work for less.

They should fire their CEO, who was paid $8.52 million last year.

They should fire their CEO, who was paid $8.52 million last year.Christ, where do I sign up for one of these jobs? I'm going to start putting CEO after my name and maybe my company will feel compelled to increase my wage. :D

Circuit City is a terrible operator... just read this: Bloomberg.com: Worldwide (http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a85hPB7db_6c&refer=home)
They should fire their CEO, who was paid $8.52 million last year.
Christ, where do I sign up for one of these jobs? I'm going to start putting CEO after my name and maybe my company will feel compelled to increase my wage. :D
Put CEO after your name and you might just get fired... ;)

So, The Source will go from being the place where "sales people try to scrape out a living by selling a lot of crap" to "sub-intelligent monkeys, who don't know the difference between composite and component video, sell less stuff for the company". This is SOLID business planning.

Circuit City Stores Inc., the second-largest U.S. electronics retailer after Best Buy Co., fired 3,400 of its highest-paid hourly workers and will hire replacements willing to work for less.

Heck, why even have sales people! Just have a greeter and cashiers like Wal-Mart. It's not like 99% of The Source employees these days are helpful anyway.

Occasionally I pop into our local The Source to see if there are any good deals on (there rarely are, I don't know why I bother). I cannot believe how blatently incompetent the staff are. The number of times I've overheard them giving poor and/or incorrect advice is apalling.

Good riddance... businesses like this don't deserve to stay afloat.

"Circuit City also said it would cut 3,400 higher paid employees of its U.S. stores and replace them with lower paid ones. The U.S. locations, which are large superstores, operate under the name Circuit City.

The decision to replace more than 8 per cent of its U.S. store staff is part of "a wage-management initiative," the company said yesterday. The associates were paid "well above" market rates, the company said." http://www.thestar.com/Business/article/197187

This disgusting and stupid management group was on the U.S. news this morning, and even the American announcers expressed dismay.
One worker interviewed said he was fired from his 12 dollar an hour CC job, told he could re-apply in 11 weeks, but that the job available to him then would pay 8 dollars an hour.

Some other quotes:
"It's definitely going to have some cost-savings, but I think the bigger impact could be seen in weaker, poor service," said Timothy Allen, an analyst with Jefferies & Co. "I have a feeling the people they're letting go have probably been there longer, have more experience, more product knowledge."

Steven Rash, 24, said he was one of 11 workers fired at a Circuit City in Asheville, N.C. The store manager broke the news during a meeting at 8:15 a.m. and escorted them out of the store. Rash said he has worked for the retailer for seven years and was one of the most junior members of the affected group.

He said he earned $11.59 an hour and worked from 15 to 20 hours a week. He received four weeks of severance pay."
Please see: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/28/AR2007032802185.html

Another:
"I'm ticked off that they can just come at you from one day to another, no warning, and oh, you're gone," he said. "I dedicated seven years to them. Loyalty gets you nothing."

Shares closed yesterday at $19.23, up 31 cents, or 2 percent.
Please see: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/28/AR2007032802185_2.html

I noticed an immediate decline in stock value following the takeover of Radio Shack by "The Source by CC".
I had just rediscovered Radio Shack and was very happy with their staff and stock and their returns policy.
When the store became "The Source by Cicuit City", I couldn't find something as simple as a mini-plug to RCA adapter, and other simple cables came only in ridiculously over-priced brands like "Monster" (yeah, "Monster" prices!)
My visits to the store steadily declined over the year.
Hmmm, and now that there will be only inexperienced, underpaid staff to help me, I wonder if that will get me back into the store?!

Plus, who here would ever in a million years say to a buddy, "Hey, dude, let's go to "The Source by Circuit City"!"

This explains the appalling service that my friend is currently experiencing with her Acer laptop. :mad:

My local TSCC doesn't stock IDE/ATA/66 data cables or SATA power cables...

I found Radio Shack to be the Home Hardware of electronics

My sentiments. They were very handy (I was dismayed to see that downtown Ottawa lost its Canadian Tire). But, realistically, that's maybe $20 per year ($100 when moving in) where they have just what I need.

That is a tough business model to keep up. I'd like it to continue (especially the one on the way to my local grocery store), but can understand how it ain't easy. "Niche" sounds good on paper but is tough to pull off. I would not buy the higher end items from my local store (TVs etc.) but would buy the little bits and pieces.

That's not enough for some locations and that's fair enough.

I always found Radio shack way more expensive than Sony and other decent name brands and CC's stuff was crappier. The small stuff (parts) was always nice to get but even in the last 10 years I have very rarely shopped at thier stores at all because of prices and some real idiots that work there....

I was talking with friends the other day about the good ole days of Radio Shack. Walls of electronic components, project boxes, cb/ham radios and other goodies. We realized there was no real reason to go to these stores anymore.

Sayal Electronics is better anyways. Oooooh I just noticed they carry Mindstorms NXT stuff.

No one's taken a jab at those annoying commercials yet.

Anyway, I'll wander into the local The Source while Christmas shopping, looking for gifts I may not find elsewhere, but that's about it. I'm with Sinc on this one, though: growing up in a smallish town, Radio Shack was the only place for odd bits of electronic stuff. Things were overpriced then, too, but they were there.

I remember, too, when Radio Shack was the only place you could buy motherboard batteries other than by mail order. Again, we paid too much, but we didn't have to wait for weeks, either.

Radio Shack used to be about convenience. Because there is one just around the corner, it was easy to get the cables, video and audio tapes, components, power bars, and all that little stuff you just needed right then and there.

Now they are a hodge-podge of crappy electronic gizmos not a lot of people NEED to grab immediately (air filters?). Their relationship with Rogers pushed them to focus heavily on cell phones. It created an environment where sales people pushed for cell phone commissions, and didn't care about helping customers with other issues.

Radio Shack used to be about convenience. Because there is one just around the corner, it was easy to get the cables, video and audio tapes, components, power bars, and all that little stuff you just needed right then and there.

Now they are a hodge-podge of crappy electronic gizmos not a lot of people NEED to grab immediately (air filters?). Their relationship with Rogers pushed them to focus heavily on cell phones. It created an environment where sales people pushed for cell phone commissions, and didn't care about helping customers with other issues.


first off. 'radio shack' was a upfront retail chain based out of the US and run as a SBU of the Tandy corporation. this is the main reason you could find anything electro orientated gizmo device within the store. smart people know, tandy was there for the early apple years, hence the crossover parts to mac.

here in canada, the tandy corp, licensed the radio shack name, and originally it went big... but the licenses were franchise agreements with a strong parts network. but the main focus and marketing build were the batteries, and so called bulk, or obscure cheap parts.

when the internet came along, that demand for obscure parts and batteries diminished, and then it interests were sold off. those franchises left here in canada, were then bought out by CC, after many years of trying to sellcrap, with no supply line.. the stores and supply line diminished

apple actually played a big role in the sale, when they screwed HP for their distro supply line( all across the board)
when hp branded the iPod+hp, radioshack was one of those 'who to sell to peeps', and when the distro and demand was there, gave radioshack a push in marketing, which then boosted sales for radioshack, which then CC saw something and bought it all, along with mall rental agreements

I use to work at a Radio Shack in Iqaluit. It was small town. I'd miss that store (if I still lived there), as for the cluttered one with the blind, deaf and dumb staff in my current town, not so much, although I still end up there every once in a while in the parts section, mostly to pick up any things on clearance. I am glad they no longer ask me my name and address, and then explain they have to do it when I protest.

I use to work at a Radio Shack in Iqaluit. It was small town. I'd miss that store (if I still lived there), as for the cluttered one with the blind, deaf and dumb staff in my current town, not so much, although I still end up there every once in a while in the parts section, mostly to pick up any things on clearance. I am glad they no longer ask me my name and address, and then explain they have to do it when I protest.

That is precisely what I was talking about earlier bronzejolene.

Urban folks have no sense of just how much those stores meant to smaller towns located all across Canada. And I bet you knew most of the people who bought items in that store, just like they do in small prairie towns with populations under 1,000 that still have the stores. They are still needed in those towns and are run with a whole different set of values than stores in Toronto.

You can't begin to intelligently comment on the whole chain when you live in a metro area because you've only experienced the bad, not the good that still exists. I've seen both and there is a world of difference in rural franchises.

You are correct SINC. I used to work at "The Shack" for many years. I've been to a couple of those rural locations where the use the name, have access to the merchandise, but offer a lot more. The owners actually seem to know and care about how to run a business. The urban store managers / staff generally view it as a paycheque.

As for djstp comments, I have no idea where he is coming from. I worked for Radio Shack for over 10 years, finally leaving in 2004. I have friends who continue to work for "The Source".

Radio Shack was never Mac / Apple friendly in all my years.

The core business was batteries and parts, as well as GOOD quality electronics. Tape decks, stereos, CB radios, and more. Around the time I came onboard, Radio Shack started to make the transition from hi-margin private label electronics to lower margin name brand merchandise.

Over the years they migrated to cheap plastic electronics, poor inventory levels, slow supply chain, all in an effort to "save a few bucks" here and there.

The iPod was generally inconsequential to the sale of InterTan. It was the private label, cheap electronic gizmos that InterTan had that Circuit City wanted. The purchase of InterTan was a quick way of grabbing it all.

I certainly won't shed a tear for the Source... I liked the old Radio Shacks a lot, and I hope the few remaining affiliate stores run by people who actually know something about electronics, and/or give a damn about customers get a chance to stay open under some new branding. But I rather doubt they will. I expect the whole lot will be gobbled up by some transnational. And for the majority of the stores, it's long overdue.

Cheers

Not true. Not in Western Canada for sure. Many Source stores are locally owned and have been in many cases the only electronics source to small communities for many years. Such is the case with our tiny store here. I still go there often for bits and pieces I could find no where else without a lot of trouble. The kid that works in our store is the son of a neighbour and he is kind and polite and helpful.

I too live in a small western town and agree with this. Still "The Source..." has nothing special to recommend it over any other electronics store.

$88 5 mega pixel digital camera on sale only today at source

http://www.thesourcecc.com/estore/circuitbreaker.aspx?ref=1010&language=en-CA

$88 5 mega pixel digital camera on sale only today at source

http://www.thesourcecc.com/estore/circuitbreaker.aspx?ref=1010&language=en-CA

This is the type of crap that defines "The Source", and why they are going out of business.