The Source in Canada is the equivalent to a Radio Shack here in the USA. I never knew that it was CC that owned it. Oh well, they were over priced and while their customer service was moderately better, you still could not pay me enough to enter their stores.

What happened in Canada was that the USA Radio Shack corporation gave a Canadian company a license to use the name. So while all the stores were named Radio Shack they were actually owned as a franchise from a Canadian company and had nothing to do with the USA Radio Shack.

Circuit City came in and bought up the Canadian franchise thus buying up all the stores. Of course Radio Shack USA didn't like a competitor owning their name in Canada. They revoked the franchise's use of the name Radio Shack. Literally overnight every Radio Shack in Canada had to change to "The Source by Circuit City"

From Circuit City's own FAQ document:

Are you also shutting down your operations in Canada?
• No, our Canadian operations will continue. They are not affected by the
liquidation of Circuit City's U.S. operations. The Canadian operations
employ approximately 3,000 associates.

WHOOPS!

I think The Source would be a successful franchise again - if they returned control of each store back to the local manager. I read one manager's account that head office imposed an automated stocking system that would automatically send new inventory when an item was depleted. Trouble is, inventory would be sent with no input from the manager, often resulting in the store stocking stuff that would rarely or never sell. How many TV antennas are you going to sell if you manage a store in downtown with office towers and affluent high rise condos? Or how many DSL filters will you sell in a store that is located 100 miles from the nearest DSL service territory?

@MacGyver: I've seen that type of system in use elsewhere (ie, different retail chain), and it does work for the most part, though that may be in part because managers could email the head office and get the auto replenish numbers adjusted or flat out turned off for products that don't sell well.

The Source here is pretty successful, in my city at least, I can't speak for the rest of Canada. Thank you for posting this Ben, I've been waiting with baited breath for news. My husband works for The Source/Rogers and we don't get any real info from the company until its a signed deal, reading your updates has helped us stay ahead of the loop.

I went to the source a few months ago to buy a simple audio cable to connect an old pair of speakers to my mom's computer. $20 for a 6 foot piece of wire...no thank you.

"But its gold plated!!" The salesperson exclaimed as I looked on in shock.

Needless to say, I went to the (evil i know) wal-mart and got Mom a new pair of speakers for $15. So long The Source!

I've never had anything but good luck and decent prices at those Source stores. I don't often buy stuff there, but when you need that weird adaptor or plug, it sure comes in handy (and where else are you going to find a better selection of cheap remote control vehicles for xmas?).

If Best Buy purchases them, I wonder how it will change their inventory? Some of these stores are miniscule.

The Source is just Radio Shack. It still sucks. I don't know anyone that actually goes to The Source specifically to find anything. If I go it's usually because I've run out of options.

@Kogenta:

It works if your store has very average sales. I had to deal with ridiculous overstock in a store that had no storage space. Usually it's a sign that they have given up on properly training store managers.

The Source is good if you want something out of the ordinary and you don't want to want for it to be shipped.

Well, this isn't a loss. "You've got questions, we've got blank stares" turned into "You've got questions, we have trashy products. And we even got rid of the last select few electronics parts we once had."

@BustangBetty: AMEN! The Source, or Radio Shack... however you call it, it is still sub-par, over priced shit, sold by people who don't KNOW SHIT, and can't help you if you have even a modicum of knowledge about what you are looking for. If you DO know anything about the technology you are shopping for however, going there becomes irrelevant, since it hits all your red flags re: any given product they carry. Headphones? Shlock. Computers? Bullshit. Toys? Batteries? ANYTHING. It is all crap and I for one cannot wait to see the end of those moneytraps in every mall forever. I must give credit though, whoever owns them is turning shit into GOLD for as long as they can push their crap on any unsuspecting passer-by.

I worked for The Source for 1.5 year (mostly when it was still Radio Shack and then a few months as The Source).

As former employee, I really hope The Source survives. The stores are mainly filled with young, hard working people and I think it would be a real shame to see them go down. And our only options left would be Best Buy or Future Shop.

One thing I always prided myself when working for The Source was product knowledge, that was something we felt we had a clear edge over the big box stores, we knew out products inside and out, at least half the guys in the store were total a/v, audiophile, electronics nerds who knew exactly what kind of cable, adapter, led, fuse, connector anything needed. The Source was the store that people came to when they needed an actual answer.

Anyways, I hope The Source survives. They employ a LOT of people.

And I'm not saying this as someone with a huge love for the organization, I always got paid minimum wage there, luckily I was an excellent sales person in a very busy store and I was in the top 5% of sales in my region, so my commision bonus was pretty decent, but still.

If people just want no options but big box stores where the people have almost zero clue on product knowledge except for LCD tv's, Vaio laptops, blu ray players and DVD's and pretty much sweet fuck all of anything technical, then hope for the demise of The Source.

@KStrike155: I could be missing something super obvious, but the title says "Circuit City Puts The Source Up For Sale" as in, they are trying to sell the business. Not shut it down.

@shepd: I've always had good luck finding that random thing from Radio Shack.... and the employees were surprisingly knowledgable as long as it wasn't the guy whose only job is selling cell phones.

In Canada the Source are mainly small converted old Radio Shack stores, not anything large like Future Shop, Best Buy, ect. At least that's all I've ever seen here in Alberta. They occupy a strange niche of the market which I don't really see there is a demand for, that's why Radio shack went under here and they just occupied the same store model which basically failed. I never go to the Source, prices are high and the broad selection is low due to the size of the store but you can still find some specialty items there which I couldn't find at Best Buy such as a converter for my Sennheisers.

@Elijah Perez:

Indeed. I worked for a U.S. Radio Shack over the summer. It was by far my worst work experience EVER. Between people coming in asking idiotic questions, then leaving without buying anything, and pissed off people paying their phone bills, it was hell. It's sad as well because I had fond childhood memories of Radio Shack.

@Telekinesis123: Canadian Radioshack stores didn't go under, they just changed names after being sold to another company.

@adaminc:

Yeah well I remember they were doing poorly for years so thats why they were sold, at least thats what I heard back then.

They're selling The Source? Imagine what I could do with the One Power... oh wait, not The TRUE Source. My bad.

The Source is still one of the best places to get niche products and electronics. Sure its not as cheap as most places, and buying online is usually much cheaper, but they are one of a few places still left that sells raw cabling and plugs/switches etc. I hope they survive too..