Fortunately is that since today RadioShack. Is Radioshack Closing All Its Stores… has actually formally been acquired by Retail Ecommerce Ventures (REV), offering the troubled company a brand-new lease on life. The downside, at least for folks like us, is that there are no instant strategies to return the renowned electronics merchant to its brick-and-mortar roots. As the name suggests, REV specializes in online retail, having previously revamped the Internet existence of other insolvent organizations such as Pier 1 Imports and Dressbarn.
While the press release doesn’t outright prevent the possibility of brand-new physical RadioShack areas, it’s clear that REV believes the future of retail isn’t to be discovered in your regional strip mall. As the United States mulls further lockdowns in response to the continuing COVID-19 pandemic, it’s difficult to disagree. There will be millions of bored kids and adults searching for something to do during the long winter nights, and an electronic kit or more shipped to their door might be simply the important things.
REV states they prepare to relaunch the rather outdated RadioShack site in the nick of time for the company’s 100th anniversary in 2021. Since this writing the site currently says that sales have been briefly stopped to permit inventory restructuring, though it’s uncertain if this is directly related to the buyout or not. Getting an accurate count of how much merchandise the business still has on hand after shuttering the majority of their physical places in 2017 certainly sounds like something the new owners would wish to do.
Like most of you, we have fond memories of the Golden era of RadioShack, back prior to they thought selling televisions and phones was somehow a great idea. To their credit, they did try and rekindle their relationship with hackers and makers by asking the neighborhood what they ‘d wish to see in their shops. We all know how that story ended. While it does not appear like this news will get us any closer to having an area store that stocks resistors, there’s a particular convenience in knowing that RadioShack books and packages will still be around for the next generation.
RadioShack’s shambling remains were offered another shock of life today when they were bought by another company that prepares to relaunch the once-great merchant as an online-focused brand.
The shop’s remains were acquired by Retail Ecommerce Ventures (REV), a startup founded in 2019 that’s been scooping up brands from other faded retail giants as well, including Pier 1, Modell’s Sporting Item, Dressbarn, and more. REV says RadioShack’s website already has “strong existing sales and sales capacity,” and the company is “positive” it can even more raise awareness of the brand worldwide.
REV declares it’s effectively turned around other companies it’s introduced as online brands. The Wall Street Journal reported that Dressbarn more than doubled its income in between the second and first quarter of 2020.
RadioShack was founded in 1921 and became a retail staple in the ’80s and ’90s for anybody looking to grab tech fundamentals. For a very long time, that meant real radio parts, but wound up consisting of great deals of electronic toys (one Brink editor fondly remembers his Armatron) and ultimately phones. Its fortunes declined greatly as online shopping arrived, and the company declared insolvency twice in the past 5 years. RadioShack still accredits its name to third-party “licensed” shops and offers branded items within some locations of HobbyTown, a crafts seller– comparable to how you can still find “Sharper Image” items at Kohl’s despite the fact that that retailer shut its physical doors over a years back. REV didn’t say whether those RadioShack licenses would stick around. Is Radioshack Closing All Its Stores
REV states it will “soon relaunch” RadioShack’s site. So for those of you still sticking on to fond memories of the shop, there’ll be a familiar sufficient place to go when you want to purchase overpriced HDMI cable televisions and knockoff earphones.