Can The New Owners Bring Radio Shack Back To Life?
Well, here I go reminiscing again. During a conversation with some friends, the subject of Radio Shack came up. That brought back some great memories.
From the 1970s through the early 2000s, that was my electronics go-to store. Being in radio and a Mobile DJ, radio shack was a savior for me many times. I purchased my first Mobile DJ speakers, amplifier and mixer from Radio Shack (long gone now.)
And I purchased countless number of audio and video wiring, connectors, blank cassettes, cassette players, tuners...you name it. Pretty much if they sold it, I had a need for it at some point in my DJ career.
As a matter of fact, my first computer was a Tandy, made by, you guessed it, Radio Shack. Actually, it's a TRS-80 Color Computer. Ooh, fancy. I still have that computer. Not sure if it works though. I haven't fired it up in a long time.
Radio Shack has left the building. Well most anyway. What was once a thriving business with about 7000 stores around the world, in 2014, there were about 5200 stores in the U.S. according to a WTAE-TV article in 2022.
Wikipedia notes that in November of 2020, there were about 400 independent authorized dealers in the U.S. But is Radio Shack about to make a comeback?
According to The Street website, the Unicomer Group, based out of El Salvador, has purchased the brand with plans to revamp its website and bring back physical stores.
Will it work? Only time will tell for this twice bankrupt brand. It will be interesting to see how the new owners rebrand the franchise to keep up with today's market.
I miss being able to quickly run into a Radio Shack to pick up an audio cord or connector or whatever I would need at the last minute before a DJ gig. Those were the days.