RadioShack

Yesterday I did something I may never do again.  I went and bought a battery at RadioShack.  As you may have heard, my old work place is changing it’s name to The Source (by Circuit City).  Circuit City bought RadioShack’s mother company, InterTan, last year.  Ongoing disagreements with the American RadioShack led to a court battle, which eventually ruled in favour of RadioShack USA, allowing them to end their license with RadioShack in Canada.  That means that the stores can no longer use the RadioShack name.

Started in 1921, the store in modern days was distinct because it has smaller stores but more of them, in order to be convenient.  And although I’m sure we’ve all had bad experiences, generally speaking their staff was far better trained on a variety of electronics topics than those in other electronics stores.  I know, I had to go through the training!

From the sounds of it, Circuit City is insisting in vague terms that you’ll be able to find the same products at the store that you always have.  On the other hand, they’re talking about adding “unique Asian products” and more “electronics hardware”.  Of course, we all know that if they become just another electronics store, they’re headed for trouble.  So we shall see…