Tandy Corporation

Tandy Corporation is the former name of the parent company of RadioShack Corporation, a Fort Worth, Texas-based company best known for its RadioShack electronics stores. Tandy was founded in 1919 as a leather supply store. Tandy bought RadioShack in 1963. The Tandy name was dropped in May of 2000, when RadioShack Corporation was made the official name.

Tandy began in 1919 when two friends, Norton Hinckley and Dave L. Tandy, decided to start the Hinckley-Tandy Leather Company, which sold leather shoe parts to shoe repair shops in the Fort Worth area. Tandy's son, Charles D. Tandy, turned it into a leathercraft company when shoe rationing in World War II almost killed the business, and later expanded into selling leather and tools to make such products as wallets. After a struggle over the company, which saw the Hinckley name dropped, Tandy made another change in 1963, when it bought the ailing RadioShack (it later sold off all non-electronic business).

Computers

RadioShack was one of the companies (along with Commodore International and Apple) that started the personal computer revolution, with their TRS-80 (1977) and TRS-80 Color Computer ("CoCo") (1980) line of home computers. Later Tandy adopted the IBM PC architecture. Tandy's IBM PC compatibles, the Tandy 1000 and Tandy 2000, were cheaper than the IBM PC and yet featured built-in, and better, sound and graphics. It was only when VGA-standard graphics cards and Sound Blaster sound cards became common in the early 1990s that the Tandys' advanced features became noncompetitive and thus obsolete. Tandy also produced software for its computers running DOS, in the form of Tandy Deskmate.[1] Tandy even produced a line of floppy disks.

"Tandy" stores

From the 1970s Tandy operated a chain of RadioShack-style stores in Britain and Australia through its subsidiary InterTAN, under the Tandy name. In 1986, InterTAN became a separate entity though connections between them were still visible. For example, catalog number compatibility was maintained, so the same catalog number in both companies would refer to the same item.

In 1999 the UK stores were sold to Carphone Warehouse, and over the following years have either been closed, or turned into Carphone Warehouse stores. In 2001 the Australian stores were sold to Dick Smith Electronics (DSE), a subsidiary of Woolworths Limited. A number of these stores have been closed down or rebadged as DSE stores, but around 200 still carry the Tandy name.

Other retail outlets

McDuff Electronics, VideoConcepts

In 1985, Tandy acquired two chains, McDuff Electronics and VideoConcepts. Most of these stores were closed as part of a 1994 restructuring plan, with 33 converted to RadioShack or Computer City Express stores. [2] Remaining McDuff stores were closed in 1996. [3]

The Edge in Electronics

The Edge in Electronics, a now-defunct chain of boutique stores geared toward mall customers interested in fashionable personal and portable name brand electronics, debuted in 1990 and had 16 stores as of December 1993.

Incredible Universe

The Incredible Universe concept was Tandy's attempt to compete with other electronics giants such as Best Buy and Circuit City; the first two stores, located in Arlington, Texas and Portland, Oregon, opened in 1992. Each Incredible Universe store stocked more than 85,000 items, and the stores' sales personnel did not work on commission. Sales were below average compared to Tandy's profitable RadioShack line, and by late 1996, the company had decided to sell or close all 17 Incredible Universe stores. [4]

Computer City

Computer City was a supercenter concept featuring name-brand computers, software and related products; by the end of 1993, Tandy had 40 locations, including three in Europe. The Computer City stores were later sold to CompUSA.

External links

• Radio Shack Corporation official site