) writes:
Show of hands..

Is this a good thing?
...a bad thing?

Will "Circuit-City" pretty much strip away
anything and everything that was good about Radio Shack?

Opinions please..
For those just joining us, RadioShack.Ca will cease to
exist on or about July 1, 2005.

Colin -


You're completely misreading the situation.

Radio Shack in Canada has been independent of Radio Shack/Tandy
in the US since the mid-eighties.

While I'm not sure when Circuit City bought Intertan (which is
the company that's been running Radio Shacks in Canada since
the spin-off) it's been a few years.

This change that has to take place at the end of the month is
a result of a court case. The court case was a reaction to
Intertan being bought by what amounts to a competitor of
Radio Shack.

While things may change, this is a cosmetic change, because
of the court ruling. It does not mark Circuit City taking over
Radio Shack in Canada, it marks the end result of that takeover,
a few years down the line.

Note that this ultimately is not a sudden change. Whether Circuit
City was anticipating this sort of ruling, or was trying to
be independent, fewer and fewer Radio Shack items were available
in Radio Shack stores in Canada. Over the past few years, we've seen
the rise of new housebrands, "Centrios" and "Nexxtech",and a major
introduction of Well Known Brands to the Radio Shack flyers. There was a
time when the only things you could buy at Radio Shack (unless they were one
of those weird franchise stores that were mixed in with a local
repair shop) were Radio Shack brands. Increasingly in recent
years, the only items that were housebrands here in Canada were
the small items. You could get Casio watches, Panasonic hi-fi's, Fuji
cameras, just the sort of thing you could get anywhere else.

Take note that some years back, I think it might have been 2001,
Radio Shack was clearing out the parts. I noticed one of the
stores near here was selling them at a "buy 1, get 2 free" deal.
At first, I thought it might be specific stores, but they parts
disappeared from the flyers too. I've not seen a catalog in
years, though I have no idea whether they've still been publishing
them. The parts did return slowly, though maybe not in as
higha quantity and maybe the stores were selective about whether
they'd carry parts.

The fact that Radio Shack can no longer call itself Radio Shack is
just that. They've had time to change, they've done some changing,
and there may be changes still. But this name change is not a signal
of a completely different path, because the company turned onto
that path some years back.

Michael