Dick Smith

It's so sad to see this store go. It was a niche store where you knew you could pick some items that the big electrical stores didn't have.

What's the bet some small privately owned electronics stores will start opening up?

Reply to
Max
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might differ from store to store They seemed to concentrate on computers and they had good prices and someone seemed around to help Everywhere else in store which was pretty big you could fire a gunshot and no one would notice! Just bad store operation Imo.

someone to be served. Most shoppers are just doing price checks to then buy on line, but their computer TV section showed me they could be competitive with online.

Just needed to go back to a entrance desk personal with checkout. Roaming sales people don't work in this case.

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Petzl
Reply to
Petzl

A few months ago I went in thinking I needed to buy a second TV signal amplifier. The young guy in the store explained how the device sends power up to the aerial and that I only needed one in the house. If he hadn't been on the floor to tell me that I would have wasted money buying it.

Reply to
Max

Like Jaycar?

Sylvia.

Reply to
Sylvia Else

Don't think JayCar competed with Dick Smith seemed different emphasis JayCar are more like the old Dick Smith when owned by Dick Smith.

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Petzl
Reply to
Petzl

Woolworths idiots.

Reply to
French

Woolworths sold them to an investment group. They then managed to list it and make a packet on the deal just before puling out and leaving the business in a mess. At least that was the basics as described on ABC radio today

Reply to
DBR

I hadn't heard that news.

The otherwise good name of Dick Smith got totally f*cked over.

Reply to
French

That was a long, long time ago...

Hmm, don't think so. Jaycar (and others) have that niche sewn up.

Reply to
Jeßus

good name? he got rich selling poor quality overpriced junk

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"As long as there is this book [Koran] there will be no peace in the world" 
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Reply to
felix

Dick Smith hasn't had anything to do with Dick Smith Electronics since 1982.

When Woolworths bought Tandy in 2001 (before killing it off) and then completely changed the direction of DSE and not long after is when it all started to go really wrong.

The last episode stems back from the sale of the chain by Woolworths to Anchorage Capital Partners in 2011. They essentially flipped the business when they listed it after a fire sale that made debt look like profit. They sold their remaining 20% stake in September 2014 and indeed left a mess where the company was hugely overvalued and with bugger all revenue from actual sales.

The inevitable was just around the corner.

Reply to
Clocky

Such as? There was nothing niche about DSE for at least a decade.

None. Jaycar has already filled that niche especially in the last decade and from the point Woolworths decided to kill off the niche areas that made the DSE brand famous and a success in the first place.

DSE simply ended up in no-mans land as a retail business.

Reply to
Clocky

Care to cite an example? You seem to have an inexhaustible supply of absolute crap at your disposal.

Reply to
Jeßus

I think felix is just trolling so he can provide examples himself since there are a few of them but it depends on how you look at it.

Dick often sold a cheaper alternative to the popular and mainstream and provided a gateway for more people to get into radio, computers and technology that they otherwise would not have had.

The kits gave a lot of people their start in electronics also and for those reasons and more, most glass-half-full people would look at what Dick Smith achieved in a more positive light.

Reply to
Clocky

Different set of products to Dick Smith. I know I said 'electronics' but I meant what Dick Smith does.

You can buy computers and peripherals from Dick Smith. Earphones, TVs, TV aerials etc. It's a mix of electricals, computing and electronics and I think there is a market for it.

Reply to
Max

Yeah. I'm sure DS sold *some* questionable items. I mean, their catalogue was huge by any standards. But on the whole it was mostly decent stuff, or at least stuff hard to find anywhere else.

There was nothing wrong with their componentry, or their Yaesu gear, for example.

Agreed. There never has been any other kind of business that has come close to bettering DS in it's heyday.

Reply to
Jeßus

What was better, in Sydney, "behind", Queen Victoria Building, there were a number of electronic stores close by in York Street, Tandy, Dave Reid, Dick Smith, I can't remember others JayCar? Made getting components easier (no Internet then)

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Petzl
Reply to
Petzl

Places like Harvey Norman don't have as many electronic type items than Dick Smith. And Jaycar doesn't have things like TVs, phones and computers.

Dick Smith was your one stop shop. I think it was great. I was a frequent customer.

Reply to
Max

Yes, in Sydney itself. Used to be some unreal shops in the city, going back 30 or more years ago. And I don't just mean for electronic parts.

Reply to
Jeßus

Exactly. Why *should* Jaycar have TVs, phones and computers? That market is completely and utterly saturated ten times over. I don't want to see *any* of that stuff in Jaycar.

You must be under 40 years old to say that. DSE in it's latter years sucked at every market segment it strived to deal in.

Reply to
Jeßus

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