 corsterPremium
join:2002-02-23
Gatineau, QC
 ·TekSavvy Cable
| reply to Warez_Zealot
Re: Futureshop/Bestbuy abruptly shut down a dozen stores said by Warez_Zealot:said by Guspaz:said by TLS2000:Ya, we'll exclude the fact that they actually have expensive stores to build, operate and maintain. And what does that have to do with anything? If you have an item with a $100 profit margin, and you sell 10 units, or you have an item with a $20 profit margin, and you sell 100 units, which is making you more money? NCIX also has stores, and they don't seem to have issues with profitability. I knew Best Buy was doomed to failure when they started giving their employees their stupid store credit cards and encouraging them to get indebted to them. Anyhow, I'll be happy when Best Buy finally folds up completely.  The only reason every Best Buy/Future Shop employee has their credit card is because Best Buy passes on the processing fee when an employee uses their employee discount and pay with a credit card. The BB/FS credit cards didn't have to pay the upcharge. |
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| reply to elwoodblues
said by elwoodblues:said by milnoc:Do remember that Radio Shack in the US and Canada were originally two entirely different companies that shared both business models and brands until Circuit City bought out the Canadian company and changed the name to "The Source by Circuit City".
Later, Bell bought out the chain, and renamed it simply "The Source".
As for the fall of the electronic components department, that's not surprising. Today's consumer electronics are made with tiny SMT components that are close to impossible to service without highly specialized equipment. These aren't your granddad's resistors, capacitors and transistors we're talking about here. Heck, I rarely ever saw anyone browse through those sections before they were pulled.
They were and they weren't. Tandy, who owns the Radio Shack name, spun off all their international holdings into a company called Intertan, which they took public. Slowly but surely all international holdings, except for Canada were shut down or liquidated (always liked getting Foreign catalogues). When Circuit City bought Intertan, Tandy pulled the license to use the Radio Shack Name, after all, you don't want your biggest rival in the US using your corporate name in a different country, thus the name change. interesting note, in the early 90s i used to always get the american and canadian catalogs, i was always amazed at how products with the same cat no. could be labeled with different brands. A re-branded pioneer 6 disk player in the states was labeled "optimus" and in canada was "genexxa" same box, same cat. no. |
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| reply to LazMan
said by LazMan: Circuit City ran it pretty much into the ground; and Bell took it over for pennies on the dollar, mostly to:
a) take away a big part of Rogers distribution chain (at the time, InterTan was in bed with Rogers)
and
b) increase Bell's retail presence almost instantaneously...
in quebec they were also probably the second biggest videotron distributor outside of videotron stores, videotron recently lost Brault and Martineau as well as a distributor |
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corsterPremium
join:2002-02-23
Gatineau, QC Reviews:
·TekSavvy Cable
| said by telco_mtl:said by LazMan: Circuit City ran it pretty much into the ground; and Bell took it over for pennies on the dollar, mostly to:
a) take away a big part of Rogers distribution chain (at the time, InterTan was in bed with Rogers)
and
b) increase Bell's retail presence almost instantaneously...
in quebec they were also probably the second biggest videotron distributor outside of videotron stores, videotron recently lost Brault and Martineau as well as a distributor Back in 2005 when Bell bought them, RadioShack/The Source was Rogers Wireless' single largest source of activations. |
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| said by corster:said by telco_mtl:said by LazMan: Circuit City ran it pretty much into the ground; and Bell took it over for pennies on the dollar, mostly to:
a) take away a big part of Rogers distribution chain (at the time, InterTan was in bed with Rogers)
and
b) increase Bell's retail presence almost instantaneously...
in quebec they were also probably the second biggest videotron distributor outside of videotron stores, videotron recently lost Brault and Martineau as well as a distributor Back in 2005 when Bell bought them, RadioShack/The Source was Rogers Wireless' single largest source of activations. yup if the compettition cant sell their product because you own the store... |
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Reviews:
·Shaw
| reply to Gone
said by Gone:When one considers all the additional back-end infrastructure and freight/courier costs involved to run an operation like Amazon, and that the actual stores are capital costs that are eventually paid off, I would expect that the costs wouldn't be as different as everyone automatically assumes.
Costs would be higher for a B&M and a slight increase in price can be justified by someone who wants something right away, but those costs are certainly not so high as to justify some of the obscene price differences between the two. It is for this reason why people showroom. If they were smart, they'd turn that into an opportunity rather than something to rant about.
To be fair the price differences between future shop/best buy and Amazon.ca (or any other Canadian online retailers) is minimal.
It's when you compare any Canadian retailer to a US retailer that that price difference is obscene.
I do think that B&M's have higher overhead. More staff, more expensive physical location, higher property taxes, more infrastructure, etc... |
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 elwoodbluesElwood BluesPremium
join:2006-08-30
HarperLand
 ·Cybersurf Intern..
| reply to telco_mtl
said by telco_mtl:interesting note, in the early 90s i used to always get the american and canadian catalogs, i was always amazed at how products with the same cat no. could be labeled with different brands. A re-branded pioneer 6 disk player in the states was labeled "optimus" and in canada was "genexxa" same box, same cat. no.
They were moving way from the Tandy owned brands, if it had taken off, Radio Shack would have become genexxa here in Canada, they had 2 stores, one in the Eaton centre, and one in Square one.
Never went anywhere.
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No, I didn't. Honest... I ran out of gas. I... I had a flat tire. I didn't have enough money for cab fare. My tux didn't come back from the cleaners. An old friend came in from out of town. Someone stole my car. There was an earthquake....... |
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| said by elwoodblues:said by telco_mtl:interesting note, in the early 90s i used to always get the american and canadian catalogs, i was always amazed at how products with the same cat no. could be labeled with different brands. A re-branded pioneer 6 disk player in the states was labeled "optimus" and in canada was "genexxa" same box, same cat. no.
They were moving way from the Tandy owned brands, if it had taken off, Radio Shack would have become genexxa here in Canada, they had 2 stores, one in the Eaton centre, and one in Square one. Never went anywhere. there were some good deals to be had if you knew who made the products, The RCA branded stuff at RS in the states is all pioneer these days
i miss realistic, archer and tandy lol i even have a TRS-80 coco still in its box |
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corsterPremium
join:2002-02-23
Gatineau, QC Reviews:
·TekSavvy Cable
2 edits | reply to elwoodblues
said by elwoodblues:said by telco_mtl:interesting note, in the early 90s i used to always get the american and canadian catalogs, i was always amazed at how products with the same cat no. could be labeled with different brands. A re-branded pioneer 6 disk player in the states was labeled "optimus" and in canada was "genexxa" same box, same cat. no.
They were moving way from the Tandy owned brands, if it had taken off, Radio Shack would have become genexxa here in Canada, they had 2 stores, one in the Eaton centre, and one in Square one. Back around 2005 they had a concept store at Vaughan Mills and Eaton Centre called "THS Studio" focused on Televisions, MP3 Players, and Mobile Phones. It would not have surprised me if they were testing it for when their RadioShack trademark license expired in 2010 (became a moot point when they lost it in 2005 and rebranded as The Source). |
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 donoreoPremium
join:2002-05-30
North York, ON | reply to elwoodblues
said by elwoodblues:said by telco_mtl:interesting note, in the early 90s i used to always get the american and canadian catalogs, i was always amazed at how products with the same cat no. could be labeled with different brands. A re-branded pioneer 6 disk player in the states was labeled "optimus" and in canada was "genexxa" same box, same cat. no.
They were moving way from the Tandy owned brands, if it had taken off, Radio Shack would have become genexxa here in Canada, they had 2 stores, one in the Eaton centre, and one in Square one. Never went anywhere. 4, Georgian Mall and Fairview in Kitchener as well. That was a Keto thing. It got him ousted as President by the board of directors.
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The irony of common sense, it is not that common.
I cannot deny anything I did not say.
A kitten dies every time someone uses "then" and "than" incorrectly.
I mock people who give their children odd spelling of names. |
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| reply to Guspaz
dang, I never even know the FS at the Forum shut down.
The last time I was there, mid December, I bought a router.
Friendly English speaking staff, very near to where I live.
Now the closest location is by The Bay.
I completely missed the media announcing the shut downs.
Nov 2011 I bought my current computer at FS/Forum.
Radio Shack / The Source was always overpriced. They were in Alexis Nihon - no idea if The Source is still there.
This area seems to be the death knell for retail outlets - long ago Wendy's and Burger King died, Dunkin Donuts shut down, Zellers is now gone with Target replacing them end of the year. |
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elwoodbluesElwood BluesPremium
join:2006-08-30
HarperLand Reviews:
·Cybersurf Intern..
| reply to telco_mtl
said by telco_mtl:said by elwoodblues:said by telco_mtl:interesting note, in the early 90s i used to always get the american and canadian catalogs, i was always amazed at how products with the same cat no. could be labeled with different brands. A re-branded pioneer 6 disk player in the states was labeled "optimus" and in canada was "genexxa" same box, same cat. no.
They were moving way from the Tandy owned brands, if it had taken off, Radio Shack would have become genexxa here in Canada, they had 2 stores, one in the Eaton centre, and one in Square one. Never went anywhere. there were some good deals to be had if you knew who made the products, The RCA branded stuff at RS in the states is all pioneer these days i miss realistic, archer and tandy lol i even have a TRS-80 coco still in its box Holy shit, that brings back memories.
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No, I didn't. Honest... I ran out of gas. I... I had a flat tire. I didn't have enough money for cab fare. My tux didn't come back from the cleaners. An old friend came in from out of town. Someone stole my car. There was an earthquake....... |
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 GuspazGuspazPremium,MVM
join:2001-11-05
Montreal, QC
kudos:20 | reply to cognizantt
The Source is still there (I work in one of the Alexis Nihon office towers). I don't shop at them, because every time I've ever tried to buy something there, they didn't have it, and whenever I've checked their prices online, they're insanely high.
The other day, I wanted to buy the new Star Trek: TNG blurays. I asked in The Source. They don't sell blurays. I asked friends and co-workers if they knew of any place where you could buy DVDs or blurays. Nope. I had to pay $5 in metro tickets to go to the centreville futureshop to buy them.
I'm very hopeful for the new Target they're building. It's not an electronics store, but I'm hoping it can replace much of what I used to get at Futureshop.
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Latest version of CapSavvy systray usage checker: »CapSavvy v4.2 released! |
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df909
join:2013-03-05
Canada | said by Guspaz:The other day, I wanted to buy the new Star Trek: TNG blurays. I asked in The Source. They don't sell blurays. I asked friends and co-workers if they knew of any place where you could buy DVDs or blurays. Nope. I had to pay $5 in metro tickets to go to the centreville futureshop to buy them.
Have you tried iNetVideo.ca in the carrefour industrielle alliance at Peel metro? Selection is just as good as futureshop from what I've noticed plus it's walking distance to atwater (well, atleast in the summer). |
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GuspazGuspazPremium,MVM
join:2001-11-05
Montreal, QC
kudos:20 | reply to Guspaz
Well, it's slightly closer, but that's still a 45 minute round trip by foot, so it's not exactly convenient compared to the future shop thirty seconds from work or seven minutes from home
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Latest version of CapSavvy systray usage checker: »CapSavvy v4.2 released! |
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| reply to df909
said by df909:said by Guspaz:The other day, I wanted to buy the new Star Trek: TNG blurays. I asked in The Source. They don't sell blurays. I asked friends and co-workers if they knew of any place where you could buy DVDs or blurays. Nope. I had to pay $5 in metro tickets to go to the centreville futureshop to buy them.
Have you tried iNetVideo.ca in the carrefour industrielle alliance at Peel metro? Selection is just as good as futureshop from what I've noticed plus it's walking distance to atwater (well, atleast in the summer). im old enough to still call it simpsons lol |
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Reviews:
·Cogeco Cable
| reply to Guspaz
There's a rumour that the Niagara Falls location won't be sticking around and we're going back to one location in all of Niagara, rather than two Future Shops and one Best Buy...
... although in Niagara, there's always rumours that never pan out so we'll see. I hate spreading rumours but I've heard this more than once from people that work at the various stores in the area. |
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 GonePremium
join:2011-01-24
Fort Erie, ON
kudos:3 | There was a "rumour" that the Staples in Fort Erie was closing, then that rumour turned into employees unofficially saying it was true, and then it turned into a large "Store Closing" sign outside this week.
So sometimes it is true. |
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Reviews:
·Cogeco Cable
| I had no idea they were closing... the only other type of store that I've seen in Fort Erie that carried office supplies was Beatties and they were horribly overpriced on everything so I figured Staples would give people what they were driving out of town for and a better price, so I'd expect them to have enough business to sustain them. Was it a graveyard? |
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GonePremium
join:2011-01-24
Fort Erie, ON
kudos:3 Reviews:
·Start Communicat..
| It was dead for a while a year or two ago but the more recent times I've been in there there's been a decent number of customers in the store. It could be deeper corporate restructuring at Staples that's causing the closure, who knows. The one in Port Colborne closed a while ago.
And yeah, I refuse to shop at Beatties for reasons beyond just price. I'll drive to Staples in Niagara Falls before I ever set foot in there. |
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