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Author Topic: I miss Radio Shack  (Read 1446 times)

W1VT

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Re: I miss Radio Shack
« Reply #45 on: March 15, 2023, 06:03:32 PM »

The only example I know of a big nationwide retailer that managed to  adapt to a major change is Woolworths.  They had to close down their stores when their customers stopped shopping in cities like Hartford, CT.  There is zero retail left in Hartford.  When I first came to CT you could go Christmas shopping in Hartford at stores like G Fox.  They tried discount stores but they couldn't compete against companies that sold stuff at lower cost.
Fortunately they were able to sell shoes.  A lot of shoes.  In 2021 Footlocker sold 9 billion dollars worth of shoes.  Little specialty shoe shops in malls.
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VE3WGO

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Re: I miss Radio Shack
« Reply #46 on: March 16, 2023, 06:36:21 AM »

we can't lay all of the blame on these retail stores....  we helped in their demise. 

Online shopping enabled a world where the goods are made somewhere else, warehoused somewhere else by mega-corporations (Amazon, Costco, Alibaba, etc), and shipped from lands far away so they contribute nothing to the local economy.  No local storefront or employees are needed at all.  It has almost completely replaced the local product development, manufacturing, distribution, and retail economies.  So yea, maybe your "downtown" will disappear soon.  No wonder the younger generation is so depressed.

Somebody else is doing the interesting stuff, while we sit on our fat keisters and tap our touchscreens to spend our borrowed money...

Reminds me of lyrics from the song "Don't Look Now" by CCR:

Who will make the shoes for your feet?
Who will make the clothes that you wear?
Who'll take the promise that you don't have to keep?
Don't look now, it ain't you or me.
Don't look now, someone's done your starvin';
Don't look now, someone's done your prayin' too.
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K1FBI

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Re: I miss Radio Shack
« Reply #47 on: March 16, 2023, 10:02:11 AM »

The only example I know of a big nationwide retailer that managed to  adapt to a major change is Woolworths.  They had to close down their stores when their customers stopped shopping in cities like Hartford, CT.  There is zero retail left in Hartford.  When I first came to CT you could go Christmas shopping in Hartford at stores like G Fox.  They tried discount stores but they couldn't compete against companies that sold stuff at lower cost.
Fortunately they were able to sell shoes.  A lot of shoes.  In 2021 Footlocker sold 9 billion dollars worth of shoes.  Little specialty shoe shops in malls.
The majority of that City's population has a thing for sneakers. When I was a kid my Mother took me shopping at all the great stores in Bridgeport and New Haven. Now you try your best not to even pass through those Cities.

As far as Radio Shack goes, last weekend I was running around everywhere trying to find 16 gauge wire. My Wife said to me: Don't you wish there was still Radio Shack...
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W1BR

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Re: I miss Radio Shack
« Reply #48 on: March 16, 2023, 12:11:50 PM »

When I was a kid we had G Fox on Mainstreet in Hartford....  Kresge's across the street...  G Fox was known for their 12th floor Christmas display for kids!  Model trains running... toys galore.  Those days and memories are long gone.  Fox even had a mezzanine that catered to coin and stamp collectors.  As a very young kid I could ride the train or buses between Windsor Locks and Hartford to visit all of those great stores.  Would not dare do that today!!
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N4MJG

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Re: I miss Radio Shack
« Reply #49 on: March 16, 2023, 12:30:31 PM »

Do we all miss them too ? me too miss them as well !


73
Jackie
N4MJG
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JACKIE GREEN
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