Retail Archives - The Silicon Underground

How Tandy bought Radio Shack

Dave Farquhar — Wed, 01 Apr 2026 11:00:30 +0000

On April 1, 1963, Charles Tandy booked one of the junior ballrooms at the Ritz-Carlton in Boston and put out a call to Radio Shack employees to meet there that evening. There were rumors of changes afloat, but no one

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What happened to Fry’s Electronics

Dave Farquhar — Tue, 24 Feb 2026 12:00:58 +0000

For about three decades, Fry’s Electronics was the go-to computer store for enthusiasts, almost an Ikea of computer stores. It was a big box store, larger than Comp USA, selling not just software and pre-built computers and peripherals, but also

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What happened to NCIX

Dave Farquhar — Tue, 23 Jan 2024 12:00:43 +0000

NCIX was a Canadian computer retailer, similar in concept to Fry’s or Micro Center. It went out of business in 2017 and its data was breached in 2018. Here’s what happened to NCIX. NCIX was founded in 1996 and went

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How W.T. Grant broke capitalism

Dave Farquhar — Mon, 06 Nov 2023 14:03:53 +0000

W.T. Grant was once one of the largest retailers in the United States, operating for 70 years, from 1906 to 1976. Its decline was rapid and catastrophic, and had lasting implications we still feel decades later. When your favorite company’s

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What happened to Blockbuster

Dave Farquhar — Tue, 23 May 2023 13:03:37 +0000

Blockbuster video was a staple in American neighborhoods and a key part of Friday and Saturday night entertainment for about two decades. Now this giant is reduced to a single location. Here’s what happened to Blockbuster and why Blockbuster failed.

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What do Home Depot prices mean? How to decode them

Dave Farquhar — Thu, 27 May 2021 12:00:35 +0000

Retailers can and do use prices to manipulate you. But rumors of hidden codes in prices also abound. Home Depot is no exception to that. So what do Home Depot prices mean? Here’s how to find the hidden meaning in

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Payless Cashways remembered

Dave Farquhar — Tue, 16 Mar 2021 12:00:33 +0000

Payless Cashways, not to be confused with the shoe store with the similar name, was a regional hardware store, based out of Kansas City. Much like its cross-state neighbor, Central Hardware, it pioneered the big box home improvement store format,

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Can Gamestop survive?

Dave Farquhar — Thu, 30 Apr 2020 12:00:49 +0000

Gamestop, the venerable video game retailer, announced in April 2020 it’s closing 300 stores. Rumors of Gamestop’s demise are rampant, and have been for a long time. Today it’s famous mostly for closing stores and becoming a meme stock. Can

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Which post office is open on Sunday?

Dave Farquhar — Mon, 27 Jan 2020 13:00:52 +0000

If you ask the US Postal Service, the post office is closed on Sundays. But that doesn’t mean you can’t mail a package on Sunday. There’s a loophole, and I’ve used it myself. A lot. This can be a useful

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The decline of toy stores

Dave Farquhar — Mon, 13 May 2019 12:00:58 +0000

The retail market is certainly changing and there’s a lot of consolidation in the market. But some retail categories have pretty much dried up on a national level, like toy stores. It ought to be a safe market, because new

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