The good news is that since today RadioShack. When Did Radioshack Go Bankrupt… has actually officially been bought by Retail Ecommerce Ventures (REV), offering the struggling company a new lease on life. The drawback, a minimum of for folks like us, is that there are no immediate plans to return the renowned electronics retailer to its brick-and-mortar roots. As the name suggests, REV concentrates on online retail, having previously revamped the Web presence of other bankrupt services such as Pier 1 Imports and Dressbarn.
While the press release does not outright preclude the possibility of new physical RadioShack areas, it’s clear that REV believes the future of retail isn’t to be discovered in your local shopping center. As the United States mulls even more lockdowns in action to the continuing COVID-19 pandemic, it’s hard to disagree. There will be millions of bored kids and grownups looking for something to do during the long winter nights, and an electronic kit or more delivered to their door might be just the thing.
REV states they plan to relaunch the rather dated RadioShack website just in time for the company’s 100th anniversary in 2021. As of this composing the website presently states that sales have actually been temporarily halted to allow for stock restructuring, though it’s unclear if this is straight related to the buyout or not. Getting an accurate count of how much merchandise the business still has on hand after shuttering most of their physical locations in 2017 certainly sounds like something the brand-new owners would wish to do.
Like the majority of you, we have fond memories of the Golden era of RadioShack, back prior to they thought selling tvs and phones was in some way a great concept. To their credit, they did attempt and rekindle their relationship with hackers and makers by asking the community what they ‘d wish to see in their shops. We all understand how that story ended. While it doesn’t appear like this news will get us any closer to having a community shop that stocks resistors, there’s a certain convenience in understanding that RadioShack packages and books will still be around for the next generation.
RadioShack’s shambling remains were given another jolt of life today when they were purchased by another business that prepares to relaunch the once-great seller as an online-focused brand.
The shop’s remains were acquired by Retail Ecommerce Ventures (REV), a start-up founded in 2019 that’s been scooping up brands from other faded retail giants too, including Pier 1, Modell’s Sporting Goods, Dressbarn, and more. REV says RadioShack’s website already has “strong existing sales and sales potential,” and the company is “confident” it can even more raise awareness of the brand internationally.
REV claims it’s effectively reversed other companies it’s released as online brand names. The Wall Street Journal reported that Dressbarn more than doubled its revenue in between the second and very first quarter of 2020.
RadioShack was founded in 1921 and became a retail staple in the ’80s and ’90s for anyone seeking to grab tech basics. For a long time, that indicated real radio components, but ended up including great deals of electronic toys (one Verge editor fondly remembers his Armatron) and eventually phones. Its fortunes declined vastly as online shopping arrived, and the business filed for bankruptcy twice in the past five years. RadioShack still accredits its name to third-party “authorized” stores and sells branded products within some areas of HobbyTown, a crafts retailer– comparable to how you can still find “Sharper Image” products at Kohl’s despite the fact that that merchant shut its physical doors over a decade ago. REV didn’t say whether those RadioShack licenses would remain. When Did Radioshack Go Bankrupt
REV states it will “quickly relaunch” RadioShack’s website. For those of you still sticking on to fond memories of the shop, there’ll be a familiar enough location to go when you want to buy pricey HDMI cables and knockoff earphones.