The Los Alamos RadioShack franchise will close its doors July 15. A going-out-of-business sale is underway at the store, at 999 Central Ave., Suite 150. The store is open 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday; 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and closed Sunday and Wednesday. Stock will be more deeply discounted as time goes on, but best selection will be early in the sale, according to owner Bill Cabral.
“I’m going to retire completely,” Cabral said.
Cabral and his wife plan to remain in Los Alamos, though they hope to do a lot of traveling. Cabral purchased his first RadioShack franchise in 1995 in Espanola. He bought his Los Alamos franchise in 2001 from Dan and Lynn Steele who originally opened the store in the 1970s in White Rock. RadioShack has been part of Los Alamos for 38 years, Cabral said. Cabral has sold his share in the space occupied by the store to the owner of the building.
“The store has been losing money for a long time,” Cabral said. “Since Smith’s Marketplace came in, I’ve lost one-third of my business. We have better prices than Smith’s on a lot of things, but the convenience of shopping there killed us.”
That’s just one of the reasons the store is closing, Cabral said. Internet shopping has had an even bigger negative impact on the store.
“I don’t think the business model of RadioShack is viable anymore,” he said. “Too much of the stuff is too difficult for the average person. They end up returning things when they don’t work out for them.”
The rate of returned merchandise and the high level of customer support needed by shoppers is not sustainable, Cabral said.
Another issue has been the problem of getting inventory from the parent company. The national business of RadioShack declared bankruptcy in February of this year. Even though Cabral has been able to get stock from elsewhere, the customers have not returned, he said.
For Cabral, it’s a bittersweet ending, but he is upbeat about the future.
“I want to retire and move on with life,” he said.