Staples - Death Watch... closing 225 Stores.

[lupi]

Both could go out of business for all I care. Nearest staples is about an hour away and the shack around here are nothing but glorified mobile phone kiosk.

 

[nageov3t]

if it's that critical, you should have spares on hand.

I mean... define critical?

a couple years ago I had an incident where I was working from home because my office was closed for its yearly maintenance (don't ask me what they do, but one Sunday/year, the company that runs the tower where my office is closes up completely for maintenance) when my mouse just up and died on me.

while I'd have preferred buying a new mouse on Amazon, my only recourse that day was to run out to the nearest brick and mortar store to buy a new one so that I could complete my work (as, no... I don't keep spare mice, keyboards, and computer components on-hand for the odd day that I end up doing work from home)

 

[JManInPhoenix]

Now compare this to the way that businesses treat you in America. Go to Best Buy and if you don't know shit about computers you are out of luck. I was looking at laptops and no one helped me. All the little snot faced POS were all talking to each other. I didn't need the help anyway, but imagine if I was a mother looking to purchase a laptop for her son. Technology is quite imitating for most people. How about Walmart? I hate that place. The people who greet you are a joke. Fat slobs with 3 teeth. That makes me want to shop there.

Sadly, this is the norm for American retail. An American consumer needs to do their homework on what they need, etc before they ever set foot in any retail establishment. Most of the people that work in retail don't know shit about what they are selling anymore.

When I was a kid (40+ years ago), I remember going with my dad to a hard ware store and the people there knew everything about what they were selling. Those days are gone.

 

[Markbnj]

no local computer stores?

There actually is one left, but they don't carry much in the way of parts. I was able to find a quick replacement IDE CD-ROM there a few years ago.

I'm a software developer. I have more than one machine, but I don't usually have the exact same environment replicated everywhere. Code is always available in a repo. Tools can be installed. I can get back up and running. In the case of relatively expensive things like power supplies, and even memory chips for that matter, I don't keep spares sitting around. There's a good chance the machine will get upgraded and the spare will stay a spare. Failures are rare, and having a couple hundred in parts sitting around doesn't pay for me.

Ninety percent of the time this isn't an issue, but Staples has actually saved me a couple of times. One was a power supply, and the other occasion was a gfx card. In both cases I was able to drive down and buy the part, come home, pop it in and get back to work.

 

[Bubbleawsome]

Obviously selling those 280xs for $329 put them out.

 

[KB]

Staples still makes plenty of money (>5 billion/qrtr), has low debt and a billion in cash on hand. They aren't going away, but will likely become an internet only business.

Amazon cater to the individual, Staples caters to the business.

 

[AznAnarchy99]

I hope they do burn.

I used to get lil rudeguy's school supplies there every year. I would buy the nice stuff so I didn't have to replace it. The average trip was about $250 per year. Plus I would buy ink, printers, random shit there.

The last time I went there was to buy printer ink. I wandered around in the ink aisle trying to find the ink I needed. I finally gave up and decided I wanted a new all in one because I really wanted to be able to print from my phone. I picked out a decent one and walked up to the counter.

The cashier asked me if I wanted the warranty and I politely said no. Then he asked if I wanted extra ink and again I politely said no. Then he got a little pushy and explained that they only had starter ink in them. I said that was fine and I could come back if I needed it. Then a little punk who I can only assume was a manager comes over and starts telling me how I absolutely need the ink and I need to get the warranty because companies don't stand behind their products any more. He was belittling the $200 printer I was trying to buy!

I firmly said" You know what. I don't want anything now. If I can't just buy something without being harassed, then I don't want a thing." I started to walk out and the old ady behind me started tearing into the guys for how they treated me.

Haven't been back since.

Warranty and ink are huge money makers.

I know cause I sell ink/toner to companies lol.

I haven't been to Staples in years after a damn binder cost me like $10-15.

 

[Thebobo]

I have such fond early memories of Radio Shack, from back in the 60's and 70's when going into one was like diving into a parts bin. Now, about the only purchases I have made there are the odd charging cable and the parts for each of my daughters' sixth grade electronics projects. The local Radio Shack always knew when that was coming up and they had the 1.5v lightbulbs, sockets, and battery holders.

Maybe that's how they survived!

Yea me to I bought my first stereo at RS in the 70s was a cool modular book shelf system. My Dad was into their early computers, TRS-DOS. Use to by solder project boxes, components etc. Bought my fist cell phone, sprint there.


Unfortunately ---

RadioShack to close up to 1,100 stores

Paul Davidson, and John Waggoner, USATODAY 8:02 a.m. EST March 5, 2014

RadioShack said Tuesday that it will close up to a fifth of its nearly 5,200 U.S. stores amid widening losses in an effort to remake itself for a more competitive era of electronics retailing

Up to 1,100 poorly performing stores are slated for closure, but the company did not identify their locations, set a deadline or say how many employees would be affected. The company must negotiate with landlords and seek approval from lenders before carrying out its plan. RadioShack has been trying to revamp its stores for the past year.

Yet some analysts say the retailer faces an uphill climb as it struggles to compete against larger big-box stores such as Best Buy.

RadioShack stock (RSH) fell 17% to close at $2.25 a share in regular trading Tuesday.

 

[ElFenix]

Of the three two big office stores I like Staples better than OfficeMax and Office Depot.

Hopefully they will have some good close out sales.

they merged last year

 

[WaTaGuMp]

NOOOOO.... then who will I price match to Microcenter for ridiculous PC component prices!?!?!

Microcenter is becoming fucking annoying, the last 2 times I tried to get them to price match, they wouldn't do it. They claimed its too low of a price, we would lose money.

 

[kt]

I mean... define critical?

a couple years ago I had an incident where I was working from home because my office was closed for its yearly maintenance (don't ask me what they do, but one Sunday/year, the company that runs the tower where my office is closes up completely for maintenance) when my mouse just up and died on me.

while I'd have preferred buying a new mouse on Amazon, my only recourse that day was to run out to the nearest brick and mortar store to buy a new one so that I could complete my work (as, no... I don't keep spare mice, keyboards, and computer components on-hand for the odd day that I end up doing work from home)

Considering you can get a decent optical mouse for less than $10, it's pretty dumb to not have a backup if the loss of a mouse would put you down and out.

 

[nageov3t]

Considering you can get a decent optical mouse for less than $10, it's pretty dumb to not have a backup if the loss of a mouse would put you down and out.

it was unexpected... 20 years of using computers and that was the first time I'd ever had a mouse up and die on me out of the blue.

(I've got a replacement now, but only because I kept the emergency mouse that I bought even after replacing it with a fancy logitech mouse from Amazon)

 

[Ns1]

damn that sucks. i spend $$$$ at staples!

 

[GagHalfrunt]

Staples is still turning decent revenue and EPS. It's not like they're underwater. They'll be just fine...we don't need a Staples on every corner.

That. I can get to 6 different Staples in less than 10 minutes. They could lose 4 of those locations and still do the same amount of business in this area. They're WAYYYYY overbuilt, cutting back is smart, not the dying gasps of a failing company.

 

[Thump553]

Like GagHalfrunt said in some areas Staples are oversaturated. There are three within roughly five miles of my office. All are pretty busy though. The one closest to me is staffed with superfriendly people and it's right on my commute, I hope it survives.

If you frequent the hot deals sites Staples is Mecca. I go through a couple of reams of copy paper a week, and haven't paid more than sales tax for copy paper in years thanks to Staples.

Staples stomps the other office supply stores around here-Office Depot and Office Max are both graveyards. Its probably the Amazon & Walmart effect that's hurting them.

RadioShack, OTOH should have gone out of business shortly after I gave up building crystal radio sets.

 

[Imp]

That sucks, I love shopping at Staples. Their website is a bit meh compared to Amazon.

My company uses Staples, but everything is bought through the catalog or online. You want something immediately, the closest options are drug stores.

The funny/sad part of what I love about shopping at Staples is that it's usually pretty deserted -- the ones I go to at least. And the one I go to the most is situated in a very densely populated area surrounded by office towers.

 

[AznAnarchy99]

Microcenter is becoming fucking annoying, the last 2 times I tried to get them to price match, they wouldn't do it. They claimed its too low of a price, we would lose money.

Lmao the one in Tustin? That's what the guy told me to but I looked at his screen when he checked and it was well within a good profit for them.

Didn't matter much, I just bought the CPU there and all of the other parts I needed on Amazon.

 

[rockyct]

When I was in South Korea it was a pleasure to shop there. When I walked into a store like High Mart the front door person would greet me with a bow and a smile. The men all wore 3 piece suits. They would personally go out of their way to help you. Amazing service!

Now compare this to the way that businesses treat you in America. Go to Best Buy and if you don't know shit about computers you are out of luck. I was looking at laptops and no one helped me. All the little snot faced POS were all talking to each other. I didn't need the help anyway, but imagine if I was a mother looking to purchase a laptop for her son. Technology is quite imitating for most people. How about Walmart? I hate that place. The people who greet you are a joke. Fat slobs with 3 teeth. That makes me want to shop there.

Our low price obsession created this. It's not the big box store's fault. Good customer service costs money and we aren't willing to pay for it. The big box stores drove out the family owned stores, and now Amazon is killing the big box stores.

 

[RossMAN]

Considering you can get a decent optical mouse for less than $10, it's pretty dumb to not have a backup if the loss of a mouse would put you down and out.

Totally agree with you. Which hardcore AT'er doesn't already have like 5 mice?

Corded, wireless, notebook, etc. from various hot deals from Best Buy, Target, etc. usually in the $10 - $15 range.

 

[Red Squirrel]

It's kind of sad seeing so many retailers (in general) closing down like this, that's a lot of jobs. But ordering stuff online has become so common now and you can get so much more stuff, so I can fully see why. Also the local stores don't tend to have the same amount of stuff as online stores. If I could actually build a whole computer from buying parts locally, I probably would, just so I don't have to wait and if I have a DOA it's easier to deal with, but that's just not possible. There's not enough profit in sales. Typically markup on computer parts is like 5-10% at very most. In a single town there is not enough sales volume to justify stocking stuff that goes obsolete practically the same day it comes out. There are hundreds if thousands of different ram, motherboards, cpus etc... so it makes no sense to stock each one.

Though what would be nice is if the major online retailers like Tigerdirect and NCIX would have more distribution centres, instead of having them all in the south. Would be nice to order something and get it in like 2 days instead of week or more.

As for emergencies I guess it's always good to have spare stuff. I don't stock much spare stuff though, I probably should. I have a couple hard drives for my file server that I store as cold spares but that's about it. I do have a "spare" keyboard and mouse too, they're more floaters than spare but could work in a crissis. I typically use them if I need to console access to a server or something.

 

[WaTaGuMp]

Lmao the one in Tustin? That's what the guy told me to but I looked at his screen when he checked and it was well within a good profit for them.

Didn't matter much, I just bought the CPU there and all of the other parts I needed on Amazon.

Yup, I took back my PSU yesterday since I already had the same one on order for much less. They have become a sort of test store for parts, check them out, buy from someone else.

 

[Jeff7]

amazon should be like - "damn we're cutting prices too low, our free showrooms are closing. raise prices a tad so they stay barely afloat"

And I'd hate to be stuck buying desks or chairs from an online store.

 

[Eli]

I'm more alarmed by the Radio Shack news. That's sad.

 

[lxskllr]

I'm more alarmed by the Radio Shack news. That's sad.

Only from a nostalgia perspective. They've been pretty worthless for years now if you want electronic parts that aren't batteries.

I like Staples, and the one near me seems to do well. The OfficeDepot OTOH... I don't know how they stay in business. There's never anyone in the store, even during busy times like Xmas. I'd be surprised if they make enough to cover payroll, much less rent and utilities.

 

[AznAnarchy99]

I'm more alarmed by the Radio Shack news. That's sad.

Didn't they do a whole superbowl commercial about reinventing themselves?