America's Technology Store

While cleaning-out some stuff, from when I was a kid, we found this little flashback from my youth. It even had some records in it; as in the 33 & 1/3 long playing records - Mickey Mouse Disco, Puff the Magic Dragon, etc...

 

In the early 1990's Radio Shack was trying to re-invent themselves & their image to the public. They wanted to streamline the shopping experience for the customer, making it easier to locate products in their stores, while calling attention to 'high value' merchandise. Gone were the old yellow or beige peg boards systems of the 1970's & 1980's. The new look would be a light gray background & blue trim, with new sleek product management systems. Long continuous shelving systems would make way for shorter, more manageable systems. High-profile products would be displayed on free-standing displays, in an effort to focus the customer's attention on our new & innovative product line. Items such as our new transportable cellular telephones & laptop computers, would be just some of the new items prominently displayed

 

It was a concept to be sure, and for a time, it did give the stores a fresh look. However, to use a phrase my grandmother once said, "Window-dressing alone is just a facade, if you don't take care of what real counts (behind the scenes)." She was right on the mark with that one. Radio Shack has gone through many iterations; some would even be considered an extreme makeover for retail, unfortunately they just seemed to be coming up short. At one time they had a niche in the Hobbyist, Electronics, & DIY market. Sadly, they shifted their interest in a direction, which lead to direct competition with the large retail giants like Best Buy, Target, Walmart, etc... Unfortunately, Radio Shack failed to realize that this was not the path, to a successfully future for them. Combine this with a chain that grew too big (+5000 stores at one time), some poorly trained sales staff, and products that were not competitively priced, and it spelled disaster. The Radio Shack of today is a shadow of its former self. Entire markets, which in years past had several successful stores now have one, if they're lucky.

 

The Greater Rockford Area had 7 Corporately-owned Stores at one time!

 

- Machesney Park Store (originally located in the Machesney Park Mall, later moved to the IL Rt. 173 corridor in front of Target, before closure)

- North Alpine Store (later moved to East Riverside Blvd near the defunct Eagle Grocery Store, before closure)

- South Alpine Store (originally located in the Alpine Village Shopping Mall, before closure)

- North Towne Mall Store (later moved to Walmart Shopping Center on West Riverside, before closure)

- East State Street Store (originally located west of Alpine Road, later moved east of Mulford Road in front of Target, before closure)

- Sandy Hollow Store (still in operation as of July of 2016)

- Cherryvale Mall Store (originally located on the upper level near Bergner's, before closure)

 

It’s hard to believe how things have changed so dramatically, for company that has seen over 90 years of being in business (founded in 1921!).

Done