The bankruptcy of RadioShack at the beginning of 2015 probably seems like a distant event to you now, but the business entity that used to be the massive electronics chain is still wrapping up its affairs. One of those last pieces of business is the end of gift card redemptions. The Shack’s estate will stop accepting requests on Friday, Dec. 2, 2016. [More]
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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 Names Second CEO Since Bankruptcy, 10th In Last 10 Years
By 4.26.16
RadioShack is importing its new CEO from Australia. Their original post-bankruptcy leader quit back in January, and the new president and chief executive officer will take over at the beginning of May. He previously worked at Target Australia (which, confusingly, is not affiliated with the U.S. retailer Target) and was in charge of e-commerce at Sears Canada. [Press Release] [Fortune] [More]
RadioShack’s VP Of Stores Keeps Reminding People That It Still Exists
By 4.1.16
RadioShack declared bankruptcy last February and closed around 2,300 of its stores. Around 1,700 of the company’s stores didn’t close, though, and the Shack’s leaders want you to know that not only are they still around, but they’re making progress toward their goal of becoming a neighborhood electronics store. [More]
Nick Cannon Insists That RadioShack Has Always Been Cool
By 2.23.16
Don’t ask rapper and actor Nick Cannon how he’s going to make RadioShack cool now that he’s their spokesman and “chief creative officer.” That, my electronics-shopping friends, is not his job. That’s because The Shack never stopped being cool. Got it? They’re just marginally cooler now that they have Nick Cannon’s own brand of headphones. Yeah, that’s it. [More]
Woman Who Stuffed Electronics Inside Her Skirt Returns To Same RadioShack Store, Does It Again
By 2.5.16
Last spring, a woman wearing a full-skirted dress walked into a RadioShack store in Florida and used the garment to conceal electronics with a retail value of more than $1,100. That was no one-time crime of opportunity, it turns out: people who appear to be the same woman and her male companion were spotted on camera again at the same store, though the items this time were lower value. [More]
Bankrupt Former RadioShack To Pay Its Property Taxes
By 2.4.16
As the company we once knew as RadioShack winds down its affairs, it’s taking care of some important pieces of business. Like paying its taxes. This week, the company negotiated to pay its property tax balances on its former properties in Texas. [More]
RadioShack’s New CEO Quits After Less Than 1 Year
By 1.21.16
At this time last year, we were on RadioShack Bankruptcy Watch, waiting for the venerable electronics retailer to file for Chapter 11 protection. Would it mean the end of RadioShack stores nationwide, or would the brand survive? One of the company’s major creditors purchased around half of the chain’s stores, creating a new company that would buy the RadioShack name in the bankruptcy auction, and the new RadioShack hired a former Dell executive as CEO in April. Now CEO Ron Garriques is taking off. [More]
Radioshack Franchisee On Martha’s Vineyard To Close, Store Dog Will Also Retire
By 1.7.16
Radioshack’s bankruptcy last year led to the closure of more than half of its stores, and the sale of others to one of the company’s major secured creditors. Yet the bankruptcy also affected the 700 or so remaining RadioShack dealers and franchisees, including Vineyard Electronics, a franchisee that has kept the island supplied with gadgets since 1981, and is now closing. [More]
RadioShack Executive Wants You To Know That RadioShack Is No Longer RadioShack
By 12.10.15
When I mention RadioShack, which I occasionally do for some reason, people often express surprise that the electronics chain still exists. That’s because they either assume it had shut down years ago, or didn’t know that some of the chain’s stores survived its recent bankruptcy. Only that’s what the people running this new RadioShack want us all to know: the new RadioShack isn’t the continuation of the old RadioShack. Maybe they shouldn’t have kept the name after all. [More]
RadioShack Starts Black Friday On Wednesday Because Why Not
By 11.17.15
Let’s get this out of the way: RadioShack still exists. While the chain declared bankruptcy and sold or liquidated all of its stores, they sold the brand along with about half of their leases to lender Standard General. That leaves about 1,700 SprintShack-owned stores with their doors still open and stocked with gadgets to sell, some of which may not even be Sprint mobile phones. [More]
Judge Approves Final Plan For RadioShack Bankruptcy
By 10.1.15
RadioShack’s bankruptcy filing back in February probably surprised no one, and it’s also not surprising that it has taken almost eight months to sort out the affairs of a company that was 95 years old and had 4,000 stores. While many of the chain’s stores were saved and continue under a new owner, and some creditors will be paid in full, the bankruptcy won’t end well for the Shack’s unsecured creditors. [More]
Radioshack Creditors Claim Pre-Bankruptcy Shenanigans Go Back To Early 2014
By 9.1.15
The electronics retailer RadioShack had been obviously doomed for a while, finally declaring bankruptcy in February of 2015. Yet lenders kept giving the company money to keep the lights on and keep paying employees to ask for phone numbers and buy extended warranties. Now a group of junior creditors have filed a lawsuit against former Radioshack leaders and the hedge fund Standard General, alleging that this whole bankruptcy was deliberately planned to deliver RadioShack to Standard General at a fire-sale price. [More]
Texas Attorney General Still Seeks RadioShack Gift Card Justice
By 8.11.15
RadioShack still says that they can’t identify the purchasers or the holders of the estimated $46 million worth of gift cards that are still out there for the chain. While there are still RadioShack stores, those are owned by a different company and won’t accept the old gift cards. The Attorney General of Texas, Ken Paxton, wants to make sure that gift card holders know that the Shack owes them money. [More]
Texas Attorney General Says RadioShack Knowingly Sold Gift Cards That Would Soon Expire
By 7.30.15
If the leadership of a company knows that they’re about to file for bankruptcy, should they stop selling gift cards? That’s what the Attorney General in Texas contends: that RadioShack knew after the 2014 holiday season ended that it would be declaring bankruptcy soon, and that gift cards they had issued would lose their value at the time of the bankruptcy or shortly afterward. Yet they sold ’em anyway. [More]
RadioShack Seeks Relevance Through Wu-Tang Clan Affiliation, YouTube Dance Party
By 7.8.15
RadioShack is in the middle of a bold retail experiment: is it possible to acquire a venerable brand with a deteriorated reputation through bankruptcy and rehabilitate it into a place where people actually want to shop? The Shack’s new owners are harnessing the power of song and dance to try this…well, and also portable speakers. And rap. [More]
Former RadioShack’s Lawyers And Lenders Agree To Keep Talking About Settling
By 6.26.15
Since the beginning of RadioShack’s bankruptcy proceedings back in February, the lower-ranking or “junior” lenders in the company’s debt pile have claimed that the entire proceedings were full of shenanigans. As the proceedings wind down and lenders and lawyers sort out the final disposition of everything, everyone at least agrees on one thing: the bankruptcy will not convert from a Chapter 11 to a Chapter 7 to save money on lawyers. [More]
There’s Still $43 Million In Outstanding RadioShack Gift Cards, And Texas Wants To Rescue It
By 6.19.15
When a retailer looks like it might be in danger of going out of business, we warn gift card holders to use their cards soon, before the company declares bankruptcy and the cards lose their value. Not everyone has the good sense to read Consumerist, though, and that’s why the Texas Attorney General wants the smoldering remains of RadioShack to put aside some money for gift card holders. [More]
