Radio Shacks Rebrands As "The Shack"
Radio Shack will soon be known as "The Shack," because not many people are tinkering with electronic parts to make experimental hobbyist radios anymore. But shacks themselves are still hot, it seems. [Engadget] (Thanks to William!) (Photo: The Joy Of The Mundane)
Post a comment
Comments:
"The Shack" is still better than "The Hut".
At least the SciFi people didn't get a vote...we'd have "The Rydyo Shyck".
Somewhere there is a KMart executive wondering if 'The Mart' would be a great way to rebrand.
Well, it worked for Circuit City. Oh wait...no it didn't.
Next stop, bankruptcy!
The Shack? "I bought it at the Shack" sounds like it's something illicit like the trunk of a car.
This doesn't sound like a very good idea.
I'm going to start an office pool on which box store will rebrand itself with "The+Part Of Old Name". The Hutt. The Shack. The Mart? The Buy?
Unless and until "The Shack" gets back to its roots and becomes the premiere parts house it was, it is doomed to fail. And good riddance.
Wow. My brain connects the word "shack" with "outhouse". I will struggle to not go into their "shacks" and leave a prize.
Love shack, baby, love shack
Okay, I get why Federal Express changed their name to FedEx, because EVERYONE called it that. Radio Shack is claiming the same kind of thing for their name change, but as an electronics enthusiast, I rarely hear "The Shack". I've heard Rat Shack or Radio Shat frequently, but I don't think that would market as well.
This has the beginnings of fail.
I love these rebrandings where you can almost taste the thick and unfocused desperation. 'The Shack,' really? I go into a Radio Shack store maybe twice a year, and giving it a tired 90s-esque moniker isn't going to change that number.
...yet another brilliant move by moronic marketeers who have no idea what goes on in the real world.
People know what "Radio Shack" is, what products and services they provide, etc.
"The Shack" provides not even a clue about what products or services you'll find there, but it does imply an ambiguous amount of redneckery and Deliverance...which is probalby enough to keep pretty much everyone out. Some idiot probably thinks it sounds hip - it sounds like a white trash trailer-park hangout.
Bankruptcy or buyout in a year.
I went into a Shit Shack about 2 weeks ago, because my wife was buying clothes and I was bored. Still the same junk, same indifference by poorly trained employees, and overall crappy attitude. It's gonna be another 3 years before I go into one again.
I don't get why companies do this. The name Radio Shack is associated with the Radio Shack stores. People don't think of tinkering with hobbyist radios when they hear that name. It's become more like a part of people's vocabulary. It's be like if Albertson's changed its name to Grocery Store, because they aren't associated with Joe Albertson anymore and don't want people to think they are. (Sorry that was a stretch but I had to use some kind of analogy....)
There's a porn store in Atlanta called "The Shack".
I wonder if they sell cell phones there, too.
so, pizza hut is now "the hut" radio shack is now "the shack"
coming soon: walmart becomes "the wall," kroger becomes "The GRRRR" and New York rebrands as "The York".
Ben-Gay is now simply..."The Gay"
I remember when Radio Shack was nice. Go in and get stereo/computer parts, etc. I went in for a part a few months ago, and they had absolutely nothing but cheap tvs, crappy phones, and cheap toys.
Generally speaking, "re-branding" of this type is what a company does when it's desperate to keep operating as it has, rather than implement changes needed to improve quality so as to bring customers in.
Radio Shack used to cater to the ham radio enthusiast offering complete radios, circuit board components, wiring and antennas. Now they have largely turned their back on this market and have tried to become more mainstream with TVs, stereos, electronic games and cell phones. This makes them more or less indistinguishable from Best Buy, Circuit City, etc.
That. Is. Awesome.
You win the internet. I salute you, sir or madam, as the case may be.
I thought this was an Onion story... /facepalm for RS
The Chad
The Hut...The Shack...what's another crappy enterprise that needs some rebranding?
You have questions. We have blank stares.
You'll be hearing from Mr. O'Neil's Lawyers
The shack...
You have questions... We have blank stares.
@nwaasob: This. That rebrand (which i insist on pronouncing "CY-fee") is the most retarded one in a while.
Shadio Rack.. er the Jap Shack.. I mean Radio Shack has not (seriously) catered to the hobby electronics and amateur radio market in, probably two decades (they do still sell an insignificant selection of electronics components and, until recently, had a little bit of ham radio equipment for sale). The problem isn't a lack of radio and electronics hobbyists -- it's the fact that there are a ton of local and mail-order electronics suppliers that are a whole lot cheaper and easier to deal with than the folks at Radio Shack.
Ham Radio is alive and well and many people are still very active. Same story with hobby electronics... do a google search for arduino and picaxe and you'll be amazed.
@Sarge1985: The last time I went into the one in my home town, they had this big drawer that had all their individual components. It was maybe about 4 feet tall and 3 feet wide, and tucked all the way in the back, and they had nothing that I actually needed. Other than crap electronics and overpriced RCA cables, I don't even know what they really sell anymore.
@reynwrap582: Mine is plenty stocked. Capacitor? $5. Resistor? $5. '10 of project wire? 5$. Blue LED? $5.
I can build a whole freakin' radio with parts ordered and shipped online for $5.
@Airstream25: And Frys recognized that the new tinkerer was a computer geek (a market RS used to own) & every weekend they line up to buy processors, RAM, drives while The Shack sits empty.
@Eleanor Ramilly: oh, i dunno. sometimes visiting the shack is like visiting the hutts. ever get slammed with their cell phone spiel? it's pretty close to falling into a sarlacc pit.
plus, the manager of the shack down the road from me has like 4 chins & garbles his words. totally a hutt.
@reynwrap582: watch batteries at a 5500% markup.
but srsly, radioshack, the shack, w/e, won't be going away anytime soon. they have a strong cash position, a decade of cell phone residuals, a bunch of real estate nationwide & (while we may disagree), a great business model. they make TONS of money off their off-brand junk.
I think they're doing this because of some kind of inside lingo where all the executives and employees trying to be 'hip' call it "the Shack" and have convinced themselves that other people call it the Shack also.
The Shack is the worst house to get in a game of MASH!
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MASH_(game)