In tangential news, Sears expresses doubt about staying a "going concern". Another lost dinosaur that has taken years to spend-off its old fat.
BTW, Sears sold Craftsman Tools to B&D.
In the 1970s, either when I worked in the RS warehouse or hung around RS stores, I was told that most RS items were bought for 40% of their retail price. ($20 radio came in at $8.) Probably more for the bubblepacks, a bit less for the few Brand Name items. The warehouse job was huge, minimum-wage, but not unpleasant.
BTW, Sears sold Craftsman Tools to B&D.
In the 1970s, either when I worked in the RS warehouse or hung around RS stores, I was told that most RS items were bought for 40% of their retail price. ($20 radio came in at $8.) Probably more for the bubblepacks, a bit less for the few Brand Name items. The warehouse job was huge, minimum-wage, but not unpleasant.
40% gross margin at retail is what you aim for, if you are fortunate enough to do so. After rent, wages, electric, shrink, taxes et al most retail establishments net an EBITDA margin of under 10%
as a supplier to retailers, nothing is more comforting than getting an order from a healthy customer.
> 40% gross margin at retail
Yes; but I was told the cost was 40% of the retail--- 60% gross margin?? (I am not a retail accountant.)
At a bike shop we still sold brake-bolts and other small bits for around 25 cents. I was told the formula was "double it and add a nickle". So 10 cents out of the crate would be 25 cents to the customer.
Yes; but I was told the cost was 40% of the retail--- 60% gross margin?? (I am not a retail accountant.)
At a bike shop we still sold brake-bolts and other small bits for around 25 cents. I was told the formula was "double it and add a nickle". So 10 cents out of the crate would be 25 cents to the customer.
Unit margin which is sales price per unit minus cost per unit.
Gross margin is: Unit margin/selling price *100%
Which works out to be 60% gross margin as you remarked.
I actually did the books in the local store and there were many small parts with margins of 700% (sale price/cost) and higher, including the ridiculous tensor light bulb I related in an earlier post which had the highest gross margin of anything in the entire store. (Something close to a gross margin of 95%)
Margins on the house brand audio gear was much less than 50% in many cases but was certainly worth while.
Gross margin is: Unit margin/selling price *100%
Which works out to be 60% gross margin as you remarked.
I actually did the books in the local store and there were many small parts with margins of 700% (sale price/cost) and higher, including the ridiculous tensor light bulb I related in an earlier post which had the highest gross margin of anything in the entire store. (Something close to a gross margin of 95%)
Margins on the house brand audio gear was much less than 50% in many cases but was certainly worth while.
Radio Shack in Canada was sold by InterTan (the Tandy holding company) to Circuit City, in 2004, who in due course renamed the stores to The Source by Circuit City. CC never had the US style stores (that competed with Best Buy) in Canada and by and large divorced itself from the RS and Tandy names although the holding company in Canada owned by CC was still called InterTan Canada!
In 2007, CC sold off a huge number of underperforming stores. And then in 2008 CC went into bankruptcy protection and as a part of the break up sold The Source By CC to Bell Canada Enterprises and rebranded ... the company is now Bell Canada Electronics and its retail outlets are known as The Source.
Much of the components etc are gone. They're an outlet for Bell Mobility (cellular service)
In 2007, CC sold off a huge number of underperforming stores. And then in 2008 CC went into bankruptcy protection and as a part of the break up sold The Source By CC to Bell Canada Enterprises and rebranded ... the company is now Bell Canada Electronics and its retail outlets are known as The Source.
Much of the components etc are gone. They're an outlet for Bell Mobility (cellular service)
As opposed to net margin which takes into account cost of doing business (salaries, shipping, rent, heat, light, plastic bags, spoilage)
Got an Shack advert in my Facebook feed today, tell me to head over to a store as parts and components are 90% off. 500 more stores closing. I think all the stores in my area have already consolidated.
Ahhh the confusion between percentage profit and profit margin!
If you buy something for $8 and sell for 8 it's 0% profit
If you buy for $8 and sell for 16 that's 100% profit or 50% margin
So buy for 8 and sell for 20 is 12/8 = 150% profit or 60% margin
Note how the profit goes up but the margin doesn't follow the same curve!
My location is staying open fortunately. I don't know what I'd do if I lost Radio Shack. I almost exclusively use them for parts bin, cables, interconnects, and solder supplies. Yeah they charge a bit more but if I'm working on a project and need something now, do I order online and wait a week (and be charged shipping on top of small order fees unless I buy bulk parts) or pay Radioshack $4 for a 50c part and have use of it immediately?
If I go the eBay route, prices with shipping are comparable to RadioShack but I have to wait 1 week for US seller, 3-4 weeks for China or Southeast Asia. Even some sellers with a US address ship out of Hong Kong and it takes 3-4 weeks in those instances.
If I go the eBay route, prices with shipping are comparable to RadioShack but I have to wait 1 week for US seller, 3-4 weeks for China or Southeast Asia. Even some sellers with a US address ship out of Hong Kong and it takes 3-4 weeks in those instances.
Last edited:
DigiKey + USPS First Class shipping ($6.99) gets parts to me 3 days after I click "confirm". I also bought the "Joe knows electronics" kit from Amazon, which enables me to do a one-off experiment, immediately. Then I top off the most common ("E6") values by ordering 100 pcs @ 4 cents each, from DigiKey: (link)
I went to their store finder app and found that there are only two radio shacks left in the twin cities. There are a bunch in outstate mn, but often they are not called radio shack any more. I wonder if some operators have gone independent?
https://www.radioshack.com/apps/store-locator
https://www.radioshack.com/apps/store-locator
Attachments
The Radio Shack chain was taken over by Sprint. The store in this town put up a large Sprint banner outside the store last year right after the acquisition.
They were in a strip mall that already has a Verizon store and a Cricket Wireless (uses ATT and Verizon towers) store. The Sprint Shack store was open for about two weeks during which time they offered zero discount on Radio Shack stuff, so I wished them luck and walked out. Sprint has zero cellular coverage in this area, so they didn't sell much, and disappeared almost overnight.
The store locator map shows a store about 10 miles away. I think Sprint might have coverage there. Google Earth photos from about 2 years ago shows it to be a rather large store, so I may check it out if I get up that way before it vanishes, if it hasn't already.
They were in a strip mall that already has a Verizon store and a Cricket Wireless (uses ATT and Verizon towers) store. The Sprint Shack store was open for about two weeks during which time they offered zero discount on Radio Shack stuff, so I wished them luck and walked out. Sprint has zero cellular coverage in this area, so they didn't sell much, and disappeared almost overnight.
The store locator map shows a store about 10 miles away. I think Sprint might have coverage there. Google Earth photos from about 2 years ago shows it to be a rather large store, so I may check it out if I get up that way before it vanishes, if it hasn't already.
I noticed your location states West Virginia. Do you happen to live near the RF exclusion zone?
Did Sprint really buyout Radioshack, or just your local store?
They've been Sprint for awhile. Makes sense, you couldn't get help or buy a part in there because the poor staff were so busy trying to sell phone plans.
We are pretty far from the RF exclusion zone. However we are about two miles from a small town and down in a "holler", a valley surrounded by ridges or hills on three sides. We are two ridges east of the Ohio River. Sticking an antenna on a 3 GHz spectrum analyzer at ground level reveals very few RF signals. There are 4 or 5 FM radio signals, a couple of AM radio stations, and a few signals in the VHF, UHF and 800 MHz public safety bands. No TV or cell phone signals.
I can get cell phone coverage with 1 bar from AT&T in a couple of spots in the house, upstairs....sometimes. Verizon is about the same. No Sprint or T-mobile. There are two TV stations north of us, one 12 miles away, and another 25 miles away, both VHF. They can not be received anywhere on the property with a hand held TV, but the signals can be seen on a spectrum analyzer with its antenna on a 20 foot pole. Unfortunately I have yet to find a single place where both TV channels, and a decent cell phone signal on both bands can be found.
Spring grabbed the Radio Shack's retail stores in a pre-bankrupcy deal over a year ago and operated them under the company name General Wireless. They intended to convert some of them to Sprint stores and some would stay Radio Shack, but concentrate on selling Sprint phones.
The last time I went into the local Radio Shack store I was looking for a glass fuse, one of the small ones that are common in European electronics. After some digging the sales kid found one that was the right physical size and closer to the right current rating than the aluminum foil that I had wrapped the dead fuse in. He asked what I needed the fuse for, and I replied it went in a Tektronix oscilloscope. I tried to explain what that was, but........
Last September I walked into a Radio Shack store in Venice Florida looking for parts needed to install an outdoor TV antenna. I was told by the sales kid to try Home Depot. The kid was right.
Last edited:
- Status
- Not open for further replies.