I managed a couple of RS stored back in the late 80's, back when they were in the the hard turn from component and electronic suppliers to "Technology Stores". Unfortunately, a Tandy senior executive team firmly stuck in 50's business practices had already sounded the death knell. Their plodding pace couldn't keep up with advent of automation and single-year product cycles, leaving them perpetually behind. Trying to sell a re-branded two year old model at a premium when newer, bigger stores had this year's model for less is not a winning strategy, m'kay? It took them ten years too long to recognize their mistake. Their moderate attempts at a reboot were too little, too late.
They also made drastic changes to their store manager compensation models in the 1991-92 years, changes which cost the company fully half their veteran managers. Introduced under the guise of "Hey, look how much more money you can make!", in practice the plan saw most managers lose a significant chunk of income. Mine went down almost a third. That's when I bailed. Actually the final straw was when corporate wrote me up for not meeting TSP quotas (extended warranties) even though I had just received national commendations for double-digit growth and extraordinary profit margins in a district where every other store was seeing sales declines. During the exit interview, the HR rep asked me why I was leaving. I asked her to look at the last two entries in my personnel folder, and to compare this year's salary to last year's. She went flip-flip-flip, read for a second, and said, "Oh...".
Brad
