When I read that Radio Shack had remodelled 39 stores, I had to go see what they had done.
Eight of the remodels are in the San Jose Bay Area. Radio Shack has 5,200 nationwide and 2,000 outside the U.S. and Canada.
Here is a company that is nearly 80 years old that has gone from ham radios to home stereo to portable computers to cell phones and survived.
By Spring of this year there was little evidence that Radio Shack could survive. A week ago the share price had dropped below $.70 from a high four years ago of $24. The ratings agency listed it as 'near bankruptcy'.
Thanks to sheer good luck, a week ago Friday, I went to see the remodel. The remodel is aimed at the fifteen year old ‘makers’ market of people who love robots and 3D printers. I have followed the 'makers' since they became visible in my circles in San Francisco in the early 1990's.
The remodelled stores hit the market exactly and the eight local stores are in the global center of the ‘makers’ world that is becoming global.
It remains to be seen if ‘makers’ buy everything online. If they pick up an occasional necessary part that they need in a hurry at Radio Shack the business will have found a new market.
Over the weekend I bought this ‘penny stock’ and the order executed on Monday morning. I wasn’t the only one who saw the stock, RSH, as a wild flier. On Monday a couple of million shares traded. By Thursday the daily trading was 50 million shares and my stock had more than doubled.
Absurd luck. And funny to me.