 donoreoPremium
join:2002-05-30
North York, ON | reply to corster
Re: Radio Shack in Canada no more? The funny thing about all this is that back in the early 90's then President and CEO Robert Keto was trying to do this very thing! They started changing the names of products, they started larger stores and test stores. GenEXXA was the name, they had them at Sherway Gardens, Eaton Centre, Fairview (Kitchener), Georgian Mall (Barrie). There may have been more. They were not like a Shack at all. At the time InterTan had stores in Europe and the UK and Australia. They wanted one name for them all. Shortly after they closed continental Europe and he was let go by the board of directors. They later sold of Tandy Stores UK and just a couple of years ago they sold of Tandy Stores in Australia.
Maybe Keto was on to something at the time?
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I cannot deny anything I did not say |
| I worked for Radio Shack Canada for about 7 years. My first year was spent working in a GenEXXA location in the corporate home town of Barrie, ON. The purpose behind the GenEXXA store was not necessarily to change the brand names of products, although this happened in some instances. At the time, the purpose was to bring in more Branded products (i.e. Sony, Panasonic, Cerwin Vega, Klipsch, non Tandy branded computer products etc.) which was not allowed in a standard Radio Shack store (by the company Board and old school following). Robert Keto, then President & CEO of InterTAN, developed the idea to get around the inflexibility of Radio Shack's no-branded products issue and to prove that these products would sell very well in a Radio Shack-like environment. He was right. They sold extremely well. Eventually the GenEXXA project was scrapped and all Radio Shacks were allowed to carry these products. Radio Shacks hey day appeared to be during the eighties and early nineties. Their decision not to follow the mega store trend won them a loyal following among hobbyists and customers who needed more personal attention. In Canada, they strived to have the most knowledgable sales people and highest quality customer service. Their downfall was that they could not compete in the price game with Future Shop and the like. |
