Retail Shake-Out Claims More Victims

Repeated predictions that increased competition among consumer electronics retailers would force some of their weaker competitors to close are coming true in Portland, and analysts expect even more casualties.

“This is retail Darwinism,” said Dick Outcalt, a retailing strategist in Seattle. “You adapt or perish.”

In the past two weeks, Smith’s Home Furnishings filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection from creditors and closed its Washington stores while struggling to survive in Oregon and Idaho.

On Tuesday, Silo closed all four of its Oregon electronics and appliance stores after nine years of operation. The national chain also closed its nine Washington stores and 10 San Diego outlets.

Nationally, the chain has closed 30 stores, including four in New Jersey and others in New York and Ohio.

Silo’s parent company, Fretter Inc., based in Brighton, Mich., has refused to comment.

The battle for the survival of the fittest has gone on since Tandy opened it’s huge Incredible Universe store in Wilsonville in 1992. Since then the Portland electronics market has seen the entry of Circuit City, Computer City and the Good Guys.

Competition is particularly fierce in consumer electronics, because it is a growth segment of retailing, said Pat Johnson, Outcalt’s partner.