For the second time in 25 months, electronics retailer RadioShack has filed for bankruptcy protection. The first time around, The Shack closed just over half of its stores, partnering with Sprint to keep the rest open and preserve thousands of jobs. This week, the company formed to keep the brand going sought permission from the bank to close between one-third and all of its stores. [More]
radio shack
Woman Arrested For Burglarizing RadioShack That Was Left Unlocked Overnight
By 5.11.16
A woman in California was arrested for burglary in a RadioShack store (yes, there are still RadioShack stores) but here’s the thing: the front door had been left unlocked overnight. Police were summoned because triggered a silent alarm inside the store, and the cops said they found the woman inside when they arrived, taking merchandise. An employee apparently had set the alarm, but forgotten to lock the actual door. [CBS Sacramento] (Warning: auto-play video at that link) [More]
RadioShack Selling Name Separately From Stores: Bids Start At $20 Million
By 2.25.15
In a bankruptcy auction, creditors want to extract as much money as they can from the company’s remaining assets that have any value. Recognizing that “Radio Shack” is a brand that people at least recognize, the company’s lawyers announced today in court that its name and intellectual property will sell separately from the store leases. [More]
New York Stock Exchange Sends Warning Letter To Radio Shack
By 1.23.15
The New York Stock Exchange has standards for the stocks that it lists, including minimum corporate income or how much all shares of a company can be worth. As RadioShack slides toward bankruptcy, the NYSE has warned the company that it’s about to slide off the stock exchange, too. [More]
RadioShack Even More Doomed Than Previously Thought
By 12.29.14
It was once incredibly valuable for RadioShack to have a dense network of small stores in communities across the country. Now that the company is in financial trouble and struggling to find a business model and an identity, having more than 5,000 stores is a huge burden. The company can’t afford to keep all of the stores open, but it can’t afford to close them, either. [More]
Bankruptcy For RadioShack Is Probably Unavoidable
By 9.11.14
Wall Street analysts, the people who make big bucks keeping track of these things, say that bankruptcy for Radio Shack is probably inevitable. They were saying that after the retailer announced its quarterly results yesterday, losing money for the tenth straight quarter in a row. [More]
Radio Shack Wants To Fix Your Phone, Its Business Model
By 6.11.14
We’ve followed Radio Shack’s ongoing quest for relevance here at Consumerist for most of the last decade. A focus on mobile gadgets hasn’t helped, since mobile phones and plans are sold almost everywhere. The company’s second-quarter results show that its funny Super Bowl ads didn’t help, either. What can Radio Shack offer that no one else has? [More]
Radio Shack Worker Accused Of Trying To Rob The Store Then Shows Up On Time For His Shift
By 2.14.14
There are bad consumers, and then there are bad consumers who might do one bad thing but are still very punctual. Not that being on time for work will earn you any brownie points if you’re accused of trying to rob said workplace. [More]
Price-Matching At Radio Shack, Where It’s Always 1992
By 2.6.14
Matthew normally buys electronics online, but likes to get his family’s mobile phones from the local Radio Shack. They’re friendly, helpful, and price-match brick-and-mortar competitors, so why not support keeping local people employed? The last time he stopped by to buy a new phone, though, his price-matching plans went awry. [More]
The Smartphone Has Effectively Replaced All The Technology Offered In This 1991 Radio Shack Ad
By 1.17.14
Should a time traveler visiting from 1991 show up here in 2014 at Radio Shack clutching this ad showcasing calculators, devices to play music and other electronic gizmos and gadgets, we’re sure they’d be pretty pleased to find they could get all that technology for the price of one smartphone. [More]
Even Stores’ Own Employees Aren’t Safe From The Stupid Shipping Gang
By 7.17.13
If you think about it, it makes sense that retail employees have their own share of encounters with the Stupid Shipping Gang. They open and unpack a lot more boxes than we civilians ever do. Maybe stupid shipping just no longer fazes them. [More]
Radio Shack Issues Vouchers After Class Action Settlement, Won’t Let Me Use Them
By 4.24.13
Diane received a merchandise voucher from Radio Shack as part of a class action settlement. It has the very nice feature of being usable on “any merchandise” in the store, but in this case “any merchandise” means “anything in the store except for that thing you wanted to buy.” [More]
Protection Plan Protects Radio Shack From Replacing Your Keyboard
By 5.14.12
Thomas got a good deal on a wireless keyboard and mouse at Radio Shack, and also went ahead and bought the warranty and replacement plan. The plan that lasts for one year. Six months later, the item wouldn’t work. So just drop it in the mail or take it back to the store where it was purchased for a replacement, right? Not so fast. The Shack was determined that he wasn’t going to bring home a replacement keyboard on their dime. [More]
Radio Shack's Hassle-Free Replacement Plan Full Of Hassles, Doesn't Replace Item
By 8.22.11
While buying headsets at Radio Shack,Orlando let himself be talked into buying the Shack’s replacement plan for the item. There’s no hassle to using the plan, the salesperson assured him, but he probably should have realized that there is no such thing as “no hassle” at Radio Shack. While the plan replaced a broken headset, there was plenty of hassle, and the plan didn’t fully replace the item. [More]
After Six Months, Target Mobile Still Hasn't Coughed Up $50 Rebate
By 6.1.11
Back during last year’s Black Friday shopping frenzy, Khoi purchased a new smartphone that cost $50, with a rebate offer of a $50 Target gift card along with it. The rebate card was supposed to show up within two weeks. Six months later, he’s still waiting on that gift card, and he hasn’t exactly been sitting around twiddling his thumbs and waiting for Target to mail it. Finally, at the 6-month mark, he decided to take his dissatisfaction to the very tippity top, writing to Target’s CEO. [More]
Please, Please, Don't Buy Mobile Phone Minutes From Radio Shack
By 2.10.11
Sure, you can buy minutes for your prepaid mobile phone at Radio Shack. But that doesn’t mean that you should. Reader Adam’s source for this information: a Shack employee, who told Adam that he should get his minutes elsewhere, claiming that employees get in trouble for selling them. Wha? [More]
Study: Putting Celebrities In TV Ads Only Makes Them Worse
By 1.14.11
Do you buy Activia because Jamie Lee Curtis says you should? Or a Sony TV because Peyton Manning is their pitchman? What about that stash of Extenze you keep in the bedside table — did you purchase that on the recommendation of Jimmy Johnson? A new study shows that the answer to all these questions is probably a big “no.” [More]
Call This Radio Shack Salesman On His Crap, And He'll Call Security On You
By 12.22.10
Eric writes that he wanted to upgrade the phone that he uses on his T-Mobile prepaid plan. He decided on a T-Mobile Comet, and found a great price on it at Radio Shack. The crack sales team at The Shack had the phone in stock, and would be very happy to sell it to him along with a two-year contract. This being the reason why Eric has a prepaid plan, he declined.
The salesman insisted that this was a policy that came straight from the district manager, and “called” to confirm it. When Eric asked for the manager’s number so he could discuss the problem himself, the manager turned out to be a fax machine. When Eric insisted on being given the real number, that’s when the salesman threatened to call mall security.
