Monday, August 03, 2009

Isn't "The Shack" a Big Religious Best-Seller?

RadioShack Finally Dropping 'Radio' From Branding (RSH): "RadioShack (RSH) is going to start branding itself as 'The Shack,' in an effort to focus on its current business selling cellphones and consumer electronics, and to distance itself from its geeky past as an electronics parts store.

Hard to see 'The Shack' as an upscale brand, but perhaps it makes sense, as fewer of the company's customers going forward will have ever owned a radio."

7 comments:

jj solari said...

i can think of lots of better names for that outfit to change to.

Todd Mason said...

Ramshackle, for one?

Certainly the Tandy kits of my youth were usually full of dead or dying parts.

And a cell phone is, of course, a radio.

Brent McKee said...

The Canadian Radio Shack stores were sold to Circuit City several years ago and rebranded as "The Source by Circuit City". After Circuit City gave up the ghost (and from what I've heard they were as bad as Rat Shack in some ways) the stores were acquired by Rogers Communications, probably to sell their cell phones and satellite dishes. Still the signs on every one of their stores around here still says "The Source by Circuit City."

Brent McKee said...

Oops. It's Bell Canada that owns "The Source" not Rogers.

Thomas Miller said...

Sigh...back in the late '70s there were more Radio Shack stores in the U.S. than there were McDonald's. My first stereo was their house brand - Realistic. I bought it on layaway (the youngsters are saying "What's that?).

Dan said...

I thought "Shack" was a basketball star?

Todd Mason said...

Actually, Thomas Miller, not only has the current economy meant an uptick for K-Mart, K-Mart has also reintroduced layaway...and certainly others will consider following suit.

"Realistic" always was a great brand name...your realistic budget requirements demand you settle for the Radio Shack brand...