I guess being more expensive than Harvey Norman (for as much attention I pay to these two) is beginning to bite?
Dick Smith faces tricky times
Australia's iconic high street gadget, TV and computer retailer Dick Smith faces an uncertain future, following the announcement that parent company Woolworths will be conducting strategic review of the underperforming electronics chain. Woolworths has already closed seven Dick Smith in the 2011 financial year. Analysts are …
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Thursday 3rd November 2011 09:11 GMT Eric Hood
There was a point to their existence. There may still be.
Yes Dick Smith are expensive, but before the general acceptance of extended trading hours they would be open for an hour or so longer than anyone else and if you needed an emergency part or bit they could be relied upon to have it at a hugely marked up price.
I remember watching a local store owner wanting a cable and going red in the face as he said he could sell the cable for a third of their asking price. The staff member said go right ahead then. The dude backed down as he needed it and had run out of stock.
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Thursday 3rd November 2011 22:56 GMT DavidAtEeyore
DSE are just another Box flogger now
A great pity, DSE have closed one of the stores in Maribyrnong which had some parts, the staff said they would be moved to their other store in the Highpoint shopping centre; now that shop has been "remodelled" and the parts are all gone along with the kits and the tools.
With the rise of the Maker/Arduino culture, you would think that there would be an opportunity for the original Dick Smith to get back into that business.
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Friday 4th November 2011 10:02 GMT Chezstar
To be expected
They used to sell a great range of tools, components, cables, adapters, and the like, and they did a good job of it.
Now, they sell cheap and and crap, poor quality chinese knock off equipment, and the same generic junk that every other cheap and crap store does. They no longer do components or tooling, which is why Jaycar now does so well.
So where does that leave DSE? The store near me has more staff working at it than it does customers....any wonder why?
No great loss for DSE to close it's doors, it lost its relevancy years ago, and it hasn't been an icon of Australian retail for a decade now. I'm actually suprised it took this long for Woolworths to consider consolidating this into Big W.
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Friday 4th November 2011 10:10 GMT Tim Bates
Saw it coming...
I stopped even going into DSE when they ditched stocking the "E" part. I can look at cheap TVs and crap laptops at so many other places.
It only got worse when they started labelling themselves as "techsperts". The only thing they're expert at is flogging cheap rubbish to customers I then have to support - and it's really hard to tell people their shiny new Acer computer is a piece of crap.
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Saturday 5th November 2011 02:55 GMT John Kirkham
Jaycar not...
Vouching for Jaycar when instead, it's going the exact same route as DS, isn't bright, considering Jaycar's owner has said he intends on selling more toy like crap and less hobby/enthusiast stuff.
DS problem was that Dick himself sold it to Woolworths. Then when, Woolworths owned Tandy aswell, you knew it was going to end badly.
All the internet seems to be doing to retailing is, taking out the niche products on shelves. I'd say that modern Australian retail is heading in the direction of selling to, the lowest common denominator.