RadioShack Name Change. Why?

by Rich Menga on Aug 5, 2009 | 43 comments

So if you haven’t heard, RadioShack will be changing its name to simply, "The Shack". This change will either increase brand awareness and breathe new life into the company, or go over like a lead zeppelin and do nothing for the company whatsoever.

When a company makes the huge decision to change its name, the public either accepts it or vehemently rejects it.

Two examples of this are Burger King and Kentucky Fried Chicken. Yes, different type of business entirely, but both these companies tried to change their names and ultimately fell back. Burger King was briefly shortened to BK; Kentucky Fried Chicken to KFC.

The only thing either of the name changes did was make for good domain name acquisitions. However KFC.com still says "Kentucky" right on the home page; they were never able to shake the original full name. BK.com, same deal.

Both companies must have lost a bundle and then some trying to convince people to call them by their shorter "cutesy" names. But it was all for nothing, particularly with Burger King. Nobody calls that place "BK". Ever. And nobody ever will. That’s what we call a complete marketing failure, because the market refused to accept it.

RadioShack in its decision to change the name to The Shack doesn’t exactly warm me over with confidence in the brand.

If I ask you, the PCMech audience, why do you go to RadioShack in the first place, what would your answer be?

Go ahead and comment with your answer, but I’m going to take a guess as to what you’d say:

"Best place to buy and set up a cell phone."
"I go there when I need a specialized battery for my watch/motherboard/hearing aid/etc."
"I only go there whenever Wal-Mart didn’t have the electronic whatever-it-is I needed."

Am I right? Let me know. Post a comment on that.

Now let me ask you a second question. Does a name like The Shack sound like somewhere you’d go for electronics merchandise?

This name change may do more harm than good.

Over the years, RadioShack tried diligently to convince the public that it is not a electronics hobbyist’s store (which it was originally). That took years to do. And for all intents and purposes, RadioShack did it. They shifted the merchandise around, changed the store format a bunch of times until they found one that worked and more or less established themselves as an "upper" electronics store.

Here’s the problem with The Shack:

It denotes that old-time electronic hobbyist store feel. But isn’t this exactly what RadioShack has been trying to avoid with all these years of rebranding? Anybody who has been in a RadioShack recently knows this, especially if you know how they used to be.

The Shack doesn’t say, "quality electronics" whatsoever. In fact, it screams one word: Cheap. RadioShack, you’re not Wal-Mart and your patrons don’t want you to be.

RadioShack should have gone with simply RS. While KFC and BK didn’t work, RS as a shortened name for RadioShack would have. In fact it would have worked wonders. This is a brand that absolutely, totally would have worked as a replacement for RadioShack. And if RS wasn’t available, RS Outlet would have worked just as well. It’s not "radio" that RadioShack needs to drop, it’s "shack".

What do you think?

Will you be shopping at "The Shack"? Or will you always call it RadioShack like it’s always been?

I call it, "that place that charges $36 for a f***ing FireWire cable." That’s not a joke, by the way.

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BobHereYo
Rich you are so right here. Some names you can see because us the customers created those names to make it easier on us….FedEx…ATT….J&J (who still goes by Johnson and Johnson) but to change your name for I am supposing the reason to get into that brand level just does not make sense to me. It is in the customer’s eyes that needs to be scene and I will always refer to “The Shack” as RadioShack. Crazy.
All I know is that I am a cost management consultant and I am just imagining what they will be paying to change over all their store signage, advertising, web pages, etc…..$$$$$Millions$$$$$….for what type of return? Not to mention that they have to heavily market and advertise the reasoning for this change in print, web and TV ads too…yikes….Millions More!
I go to RadioShack to buy unique electronics and wires that I cannot get anywhere else and they always seem to have.

http://www.menga.net Rich Menga
This name change gamble by RadioShack had better work else it could spell the end for the company, per the reasons you said.

Larry Thompson
I remember the good old days when Radio Shack was Radio Shack a Tandy corporation AKA Tandy Leather the days of Realistic CB’s , P box kits, Archer antennas and Tandy computers . as a teenager in the 70′s Citizen Band era and later becoming a Ham operator . The local Radio Shack was the place to go for all of your electronic and kit building needs . In Canada Radio Shack stores where run for years buy Intertan Canada until they where bought out by The Circuit City and renamed the Source buy Circuit City. And now that Circuit City is gone They are now owned buy Bell . Check out this site http://www.radioshackcatalogs.com/history.html and you will find that Radio Shack was originally started as an Amateur Radio Supply store where you could find supplies for your Radio Shack AKA Ham Shack.
Larry Thompson
VE7LGT

http://www.menga.net Rich Menga
That’s part of the reason my father (KB1VM) took us there so often, because it *was* a ham op’s favorite store to go to. When it was Tandy Corporation, i.e. TC, it was a better company, no question.
It was also the first store I remember seeing real live home PCs in. That place had the home PC market nailed for a good long time. This was when RS stores used to be significantly larger and have several PCs set up for display and so on. These days there are no PCs at all!

Larry Thompson
The days of Radio Shack are gone There where also other similar stores like Heath kit , Lafayette and Allied Radio
Back in the days when building meant more than plugging assembled cards into PCI slots . You used a soldering iron and assembled a kit or better yet built from scratch !!

http://kkomp.com Sharron Field
Those were the days! I remember assembling projects from Heath Kit back in the 1970s with my Antex X25 soldering iron here in the UK. I used to buy them by mail order from Practical Electronics and Electronics Today International magazines. Even they’ve gone out of print. I think Everyday Electronics managed to hold on until the 1980s, but even that magazine’s disappeared. All the electronics supply stores seem to have disappeared from British High Streets. – All Brits seem to do these days is get drunk and take drugs. There’s no brains in Britain anymore; they’ve all been stoned, damaged, and sozzled.
More on track with this article; there used to be a company called radio Spares which advertised in the abovementioned electronics magazines in the 70s. They changed their name from Radio spares to RS Components, and are now one of the leading mail-order electronic component suppliers in the UK; so it apparently worked for them.
Back in the 1980s, maybe even the early 1990s, there were departments of Tandy’s dotted around the UK in major commercial locations such as cities, but they vanished too from the UK as the basic intellect of the general populus started to be washed away by alcohol-fuelled all-night binges. I used to go there to buy components, even though the choice was limited: Everything was either individually packaged inside enough cardboard to constitute what was once a small tree, with a plastic cover and inflated price, or sold in batches: – Such as if I needed a 27 kilohm resistor I’d have to buy a pack of 100 assorted values with a few 27K resistors included in it.
The great has vanished out of Great Britain. It’s now Drunken Britain; all behaving like the assholes they’ve become. Really this nation should be totally ashamed of itself! I’d swap back to a nation of pissheads for a nation of budding electronics engineers anyday; but the intellectuality of the boozed-up-Brits has gone now.
It’s nice to reminisce on how things used to be nevertheless. It also gives me a chance to get the frustrations of this waste-of-life nation off my chest too.
This Friday Moan was written and presented by Sharron Field. – ‘Blog linked above.

http://kkomp.com Sharron Field
“I’d swap back to a nation of pissheads for a nation of budding electronics engineers anyday; but the intellectuality of the boozed-up-Brits has gone now.”
Somehow I managed to write that all arse-about-face: I meant that I’d swap back to a nation of budding electronics engineers from a nation of drunken idiots anyday.
DOS_equis
Geez Sharon, tell us what you really think about the UK!!! Maybe you should come over here to the states to get warm and cuddly with socialism. At least that’s where I feel we’re headed. The bad thing is I voted for him so I can’t really complain much. All I can do is just watch all of the “change” happen.

http://stafford-pmc.com capex99
Larry
I had the same intro to Radio Shack about 20 or so years earlier. Radio Shack in the mid 50′s sold mostly small components, resistors, capacitors, transformers and some war surplus from Ft. Worth probably before even Tandy was around. The customers were mostly hams which I suggest was the origin of the Radio Shack name. They published a monthly newsletter like weekend Staples, Office Depot and expanded from there to LP records. What parts or homebrew projects that you couldn’t cannibalize or scavenge, you went to Radio Shack and then to Burstein Applebee in Kansas City of Allied in Chicago for major brand name components.
Now I only go into Radio Shack as a last resort as their line is overpriced, service reps marginally knowledgeable, not really customer service oriented.
capex99 formerly W5CIG.

Edson
I go to Radio Shack when I want an item immediately, that I know, or I am fairly certain, that Best Buy or Walmart does not carry.
Jeffrey Puuri
In my opinion, The Shack is a name that doesn’t intuitively indicate an electronics retailer. If I didn’t know any better, that name would provide me with the image of a casual, rustic restaurant where I could go to eat a big, sloppy burger, and wash it down with a cold beer. I can only imagine how much that FireWire cable will cost once they have gone through this very costly exercise.
Johnny Crab
I too remember going to Radio Shack in New Orleans instead of making the 10 mile trip downtown to William B Allen(great electronics store of days gone by) to get supplies in the 1970′s. Although Radio Shack has changed a lot over the years, last week the Victoria, Texas Radio Shack supplied me with a replacement soldering iron, heat shrink, and some connectors I needed. Dusty electronics stores are no more around here.
This name change is going to be looked back at as a “What were you thinking!!??” event.
DOS_equis
Rich, you might be wrong in the statement “But it was all for nothing, particularly with Burger King. Nobody calls that place “BK”. Ever.”. I did call Burger King BK way back in the day (late 80′s to early 90′s) when we skateboarded around town. We actually called it “The BK lounge” because we would just hang out in there for hours getting free refills and such after cruising around in the heat for awhile on or boards. I still refer to it as BK or the BK lounge with my kids sometimes just out of habit. Yeah go ahead and call me a goof or whatever for calling it that but you have “officially” met one of a few guys on Earth who called Burger King, BK.
Also, I think RadioShack changing their name to “The Shack” in this economy is complete suicide. I agree with BobHereYo on the fact that it will waste millions of $$ and accomplish very little. I’m sure that they are struggling like every other retailer and this will put an end to them for sure.
R.I.P. RadioShack

Larry Thompson
Hey it beats the name The source http://www.thesource.ca/estore/default.aspx?language=en-CA&swlang=true
http://www.menga.net Rich Menga
You’re officially the first person I’ve ever known to call Burger Thing, err, I mean King, BK.

DOS_equis
Cool. Now I’m famous… Yeah right.

Kidd
I thought BK stood for British Knights?!?!? I miss those……
Seriously, tho, I went to a MEGA-40,000-square-feet-electronics-store and asked for a rocker switch. ‘a what?’ a rocker switch. this was after the 10 minute search for an employee to help me. I shall call this store ‘BB’. When I finally found an associate, he was only familiar with digital cameras and iPODs. He led me to a very knowledgeable employee who laughed at my request. ‘I’m sorry, man, we don’t sell rocker switches. you have to go to RS for that kinda thing.’ So I went to RS, and as soon as I walk through the door, someone asks me how they can be of assistance. ‘I need a rocker switch’. ‘ok, what size? color? do you want it to light up? take your pick.’ Since then, I try to go back as often as possible for small electronics. With a store that is so customer oriented (the two that I use in Tucson are), I’m proud to pay an extra buck to (hopefully) keep them around. Another Example? go to a hardware megastore and check the knowledge level of the floor workers (especially if the plumbing guy wanders into landscaping…. HE’S LOST!). Try Ace. same scenario, I was looking for a bolt and a washer, and i was told by HD to go to Ace. And the guy knew his stuff, knew his store.

matt kuhar
can you send me a link to the mega electronics store please
my email is matt.kuhar@yahoo.com

Kidd
lets call the store ‘BB’…… no? Rhymes with ‘Pest Guy’. No? Big yellow tag? Employees with Blue shirts?

Larry Thompson
Thats the trouble with Big box stores they Hire anyone and throw them into a department that they know nothing about . I should know I have worked in a big box store for the last 9 years . Lets face it when you are young and making minimum wage and just started yesterday and may not be there next week because of the high turnover rate . What would you expect
matt kuhar
radio shack will still be called radio shack. changing the name will be bad for the business. the shack could mean anything. one website i went to said online it might get confused with Shaq which i believe. its just going to be a stupid thing to do. they may actually lose business. have fun at “Radio Sha.. i mean “The Shack”
P.S. i think the new name sucks
matt kuhar
matt.kuhar@yahoo.com
http://patscompservices.blogspot.com PatrickDickey
To me, the name change doesn’t matter. It’s all in the customer service — as Kidd mentioned. However, since the question is about the name, I think they should call themselves either “RS” or “Electronics Shack” or something along those lines. I’d even go for “Radio & Electronics Shack” (RES for short).
If they can bring the prices down a bit (not so much to the “Wal-mart level” but a bit lower than they are now), and push the advertising about them being a quality store for eveything from the ham hobbyist to the mom and dad looking for their cell phone or computer (and parts), I think that “The Shack” will work out though.
“Satisfy ALL of your electronic needs at The Shack”. It does have a decent ring to it.
Have a great day:)
Patrick.
Rock M
Over the years I have been going to RS to buy high tech products, but now they are trying to be more. Well as I see in the brand has turned into a mix of what they are not.
I used to buy Radios and TV’s from the stores but when you go in now they do not carry what you need.
Also there prices have climbed to a level that I can not afford to pay. So like others I go to where I can afford to buy the products that I want.
To me RS needs to go back to there roots and carry what they are branded to carry. Like when I went to buy another shortwave radio to replace the one I had bought a few years ago that had failed from use.
The stores in my area did not even have the radios that I wanted and that they had always carried.
They only carried very cheap made radios that did not even come close to the products they had in the past.
As I see it if they miss step one more time they are gone as we know them, it is hard for me to understand what happened to the store as we new it in the past. For the brand to go down so fast there has to be huge issues in the management that seem to be unresolved still to this day.
I will say that there is no way we can we can know what is going on in the company ,but I think that if people look back at what was and what the company is now they will see what I and others see. A company that is on the brink. And it maybe nothing more than the company has outlived what it was and is unable to cope with the change and what is going on in today’s world.
David W. Tompkins
“The Shack” does nothing for me. The sound of the name makes it sound like a place that would either have “junk” or knick knacks that might appeal to someone. So “No” I wouldn’t shop there.
In the past I had purchased my first computer there and, as you pointed out, electronics but have since pulled my business and started going elsewhere.
John
I’m old school and count on Radio Shack to be the place where the hard to find splitter or jack or other electronic doo dad will be found. My first Radio Shack memories were of my grandfather taking me there to get his free battery once a month. Later, I remember the guy at Radio Shack helping me sketch out a wiring diagram for a launcher for my model rocket. I still count on that type of knowledge and compentence. I realize, in order to survive they need to add the crap, but I will miss the back side of the store where bits and pieces of electronic gizmos waited to be made into something new or better. The name change is stupid. Obviously some marketing guru convinced someone that they needed to make this change because (insert fear reasoning here). Don’t change a working thing. In addition to the examples above, don’t forget the Coke formula change of the 80′s.
Perry Adams
I’ll just call it Rat Shack like always
David
It was never called that here in the UK. It was always Tandy. Long gone but we do have a multiple outlet called Maplin Electronics http://www.maplin.co.uk/ which pretty well does what Tandy used to do and more. (I have no connection with them!)
Ted Harding
Radio Shack was, I think, always known in the UK as Tandy until they closed all their stores some years ago.
RS is probably the largest electronic components supplier in the UK – mainly catalogue and ‘mail’ order. It too comes from the ham radio era as it was initially Radio Spares.
Anyway, it wouldn’t matter very much what name they use in USA but, of course, RS may be registered internationally.
Ted Harding, Northampton, UK
David
In Australia we went from Radio Shack to tandy to Dick Smith Electronics! they carry a fair range of parts as well as computers, hifi and mobile phones.. Dick Smith by the way was a hobbyist who started a small shop selling parts and installing car radios in the 1960′s. he sold out for millions a few years ago and is now a well known philanthropist in Australia.
Steve Stone
Radio Shack. Positive memories of the past. Sales people who knew what they sold. A place to purchase components, CB’s, GRE scanners, ham gear, early computers with unusual memory chip requirements, battery cards, neat tape recorders, eagerly awaiting the new annual catalog. It started going downhill when they started asking for your phone number at every sale, even cash sales, when they started charging for the annual catalog, when the parts sections got smaller and smaller footage, when they tried to force feed every customer a new cellphone plan during every sale, when toys and RC cars were given more space than any other product, getting burned when purchasing products offered as new but actually were returns with missing parts or damage. When I go to the local RS the majority of the customers are there for batteries or reloading cellphone minutes. I walk out of the local RS empty handed more often than not because what I want is not available, the wait time at the cash register too long, or whatever I want is two or three times the going price on ebay (including shipping). I’ve never been a mainstream consumer and RS has been trying to pull in the mindless mainstream for the last 20 years. I doubt if changing the name will do the trick.. just like buying Allied and calling themselves Allied-Radio Shack didn’t help a lick.
Sadams
I have been calling Burger King, the “BK Louge” for a while (Dane Cook Joke). Also, I have almost always referred to KFC as… KFC. So I wouldn’t say that ‘Nobody’ uses those names. It might be a low percentile but clearly not “NO-ONE”.

Larry Thompson
why not shorten it to Radshack

David M
I only go to Radio Shack when driving to Fry’s Electronics is too much of a hassle. RS is 5 minutes away and Fry’s is 35 minutes away.
I usually only get electrical adapters or electrical components of some sort like resistors or whatever. I never buy anything over $50 bucks from there because I can get lower prices on more expensive items elsewhere.
Its a big waste of money to change their name. Changing a name does not change an image. An image change comes from changing actual things that matter like service or inventory.
David M
I only go to Radio Shack when driving to Fry’s Electronics is too much of a hassle. RS is 5 minutes away and Fry’s is 35 minutes away.
I usually only get electrical adapters or electrical components of some sort like resistors or whatever. I never buy anything over $50 bucks from there because I can get lower prices on more expensive items elsewhere.
Its a big waste of money to change their name. Changing a name does not change an image. An image change comes from changing actual things that matter like service, prices or inventory. In my experience the service if fair to poor, the prices are a little high, the quality of merchandise is fair to poor and the inventory could be a lot better.
They need to change those things if they want to make an actual image change. As I said, changing the name does not change the image.

Larry Thompson
Frys sounds like my type of a store but unfortunately it requires a passport and a 2 hour drive to Seattle

Stu
They are going to sponsor Lance Armstrong and his new team:
http://www.velonews.com/article/96367/get-ready-for–shack–attack

BobHereYo
They could call it TheRadioPit or Anything Else as long as they sponsor Lance’s Team he wont care. I wonder how many millions they paid to an advertising or marketing company to come up with the brilliance of “The Shack”???

Larry Thompson
Can you say BIG K mart now there must have been a Genius behind that one

lindowl
In Aus, the shack is somewhere to go for the weekend ,chill out and have a few tinnies with the family or a few friends. Its got nothing to do with electronics etc.
http://none Bill
This is the worst marketing idea since changing the taste of Coke and keeping the same name for Coke. Radio Shack began as a parts service for amateur radio operators. Parts of all kinds were actually laid out on tables or in containers. The operators kept their home-built radios in a “shack” often in their back yards. The word Shack had a meaning that connected to the word Radio. Yes, Radio Shack is a very old name. That is good. Good brand names are very old and very well known by millions and millions of people. Guess what, these millions and millions of people know what Radio Shack sells NOW. These people are not stupid.
JT
You ARE aware that this is only a marketing campaign, right? Radio Shack is not ACTUALLY being renamed to “The Shack”. Instead, this is simply a phrase their marketing team(s) coined to make them seem more modern. A re-branding, yes; a name change, no. You took the time to write this entire article, and you couldn’t even do something as simple as a web search for the official statement from the company?