If you’re a person interested in retail bankruptcy, you’ll want to learn about how unsecured creditors hope to extract money from the smoldering remains of RadioShack. If you’re someone who recently discovered that they’re stuck with a RadioShack gift card, you’ll want to learn about how you can file your own claim against this trust and maybe get a tiny bit of money back. [More]
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RadioShack, AT&T, And Verizon Come To Agreement Over Customer Data
By 6.10.15
When quasi-relevant electronics retailer RadioShack declared bankruptcy earlier this year, one worry for consumer advocates was that the company would sell the bushels of consumer data that it has collected on people while selling them batteries. The new owners of the RadioShack brand, General Wireless, agreed to strict terms for consumer data, which now includes segregating data from purchases of AT&T and Verizon Wireless merchandise. [More]
SprintShack Stores Will Be Fully Staffed And Stocked In June
By 5.19.15
The deal that Sprint made with the new owners of RadioShack means that the mobile carrier gets to effectively double the number of retail stores that it runs. That’s great for Sprint, but means that they need to hire people or move existing employees to the new stores. Don’t worry: Sprint will be ready and even have their signage out front by July. [More]
RadioShack’s Name And Intellectual Property Sells For $26.2 Million
By 5.13.15
The RadioShack stores that have survived to stay open under new owners will be allowed to keep their name. Well, the RadioShack name that may eventually have a much larger “Sprint” sign above it. Bidding is complete in the auction of RadioShack’s intellectual property and trademarks, and the winner is hedge fund Standard General. Yes, that’s also the owner of the 1,700 or so RadioShack stores that have remained open. [More]
Well, Someone Bid $15 Million For What’s Left Of RadioShack
By 5.12.15
The controversial sale of RadioShack’s intellectual property continues: an attorney who represents the chain’s network of franchisees and dealers says that the current high bidder is the most logical buyer for the name and intellectual property: the same affiliate of hedge fund Standard General that purchased fewer than half of RadioShack’s stores and is running them in partnership with mobile carrier Sprint. Update: The final bid was $26.2 million. [More]
RadioShack Bankruptcy Math: The Better-Known Your Company Is, The Less Its Name Is Worth
By 5.5.15
Bids are due tomorrow in the auction for RadioShack’s intellectual property. Consumerist has ultimately decided not to offer twenty bucks for TheShack.com, but we’re still following the auction with interest. Mostly, we’re wondering who is interested in the big prize: the right to call oneself “RadioShack.” [More]
This Independent RadioShack Isn’t Going Anywhere
By 4.30.15
If you don’t happen to live near one, you may have never heard of RadioShack dealers and franchisees. They’re locally-owned stores that happen to sell merchandise from RadioShack. However, they aren’t part of the RadioShack that declared bankruptcy in February and is in the process of closing down most of its stores. The owner of one of these Shacks in Virginia wants to make sure that customers know they’re staying open. [More]
RadioShack Employees Had No Idea Whether Their Stores Were Doomed
By 4.29.15
Moderately perceptive RadioShack employees could look around their stores and follow the news in recent years and tell that something was about to happen to their employer. Yet RadioShack employees had very little information about what was happening to their stores and whether they could expect to have jobs in the future. [More]
RadioShack Agrees To Mediation After Auction Of Customer Mailing Lists
By 4.28.15
In bankruptcy court this morning in Delaware, there was a hearing regarding RadioShack’s plan to offer tens of millions of pieces of customer data in its bankruptcy auction. The attorney general of the Shack’s home state of Texas objected to this sale, mostly because the company’s original privacy policy didn’t allow the company to sell customer data to just anyone. Now RadioShack has agreed to mediation after its intellectual property, including those mailing lists, is auctioned on May 11. [More]
RadioShack Bankruptcy Trustee Wants Customer Mailing Lists Removed From Auction
By 4.24.15
Bankrupt RadioShack doesn’t have a lot of assets left that anyone might want, but one very marketable asset is its mailing lists. Specifically, 65 million names and addresses and 13 million e-mail addresses. In March, RadioShack said that it wouldn’t be selling that information…yet. Now that it’s time to sell off the former company’s intellectual property, all of that contact inforamtion is potentially for sale again. [More]
Police Seek Woman Who Stuffed $1,140 In Electronics Inside Her Skirt
By 4.24.15
A dress with a flowing full skirt is a great fashion choice for a hot day, so the woman who walked into a RadioShack in Florida dressed that way back in February didn’t really stand out. No one really noticed the full skirt of her floral dress…not even when she and her shopping companion began cramming electronics under the skirt, into some kind of criminal crinoline with pockets. [More]
Is The RadioShack Brand Name Even Worth Anything?
By 4.17.15
All of RadioShack’s stores have been either shut down or sold and have now re-opened to sell only Sprint phones alongside batteries. Yet the owner of those stores, Standard General, didn’t negotiate to buy the RadioShack brand name along with the stores. It will be auctioned in May along with the rest of the company’s intellectual property, which includes the Radioshack.com URL and their mailing lists. Standard General may bid on the brand name, but they obviously don’t think that it’s very important. [More]
RadioShack Consumer Data Might Be Back Up For Auction
By 4.14.15
When the venerable electronics retailer RadioShack declared bankruptcy earlier this year and prepared to sell off its assets and its business, they quietly announced one item that was legally problematic but potentially lucrative: tens of millions of pieces of customer contact information that it has collected over the years. After the Attorney General of Texas objected to such a sale, the court was told that selling that information was off the table. Now it could be back on. [More]
RadioShack’s New Owners Don’t Really Care About Buying The RadioShack Name
By 4.13.15
RadioShack still exists. Well, stores that say “RadioShack” on them still exist, but those are a joint venture between the Shack’s new owners and Sprint. While the stores have kept their doors open, there’s one thing missing from the business plan: this new venture doesn’t own the RadioShack trademark yet. They aren’t too worried about it, though. [More]
Sprint Opening For Business Inside 1,435 RadioShack Stores Today
By 4.10.15
Things move fast when you’re in the newlywed phase, and Sprint is no exception: Only a few weeks after Standard General acquired 1,740 RadioShack stores at a bankruptcy auction, Sprint will be opening stores inside 1,435 RadioShack locations today. Soon, those stores will bear new co-branded Sprint-RadioShack signage. [More]
RadioShack CEO Resigns As Company Prepares To Open New Stores Later This Month
By 4.2.15
After getting a glimpse at what the new co-branded RadioShack/Sprint stores will look like, the company is preparing to unveil the brand spanking new stores later this month. Meanwhile, RadioShack’s CEO is exiting the scene before the debut after failing to successfully steer the company away from bankruptcy over the last two years. [More]
Here’s What Co-Branded Sprint-RadioShack Stores Will Probably Look Like
By 4.1.15
Yesterday, the sale of 1,740 remaining RadioShack stores to hedge fund Standard General was approved by a bankruptcy court. We’ve known since before the bankruptcy filing that their plan is to team up with Sprint to re-open stores that will be part phone store, part RadioShack merchandise. What would that look like? Sprint has already showed us. Well, they showed the federal bankruptcy court in Delaware, which makes them public documents. [More]
Bankruptcy Court Approves Sale Of 1,740 RadioShacks To Standard General
By 3.31.15
The Great RadioShack Bankruptcy Auction Standoff may be over. The 94-year-old electronics retailer declared bankruptcy in February, and then closed around half of its stores, selling their leases. The company wanted to rid itself of the rest of its stores before April began so they won’t have to pay April rent on all of those stores out of money that should be going to their creditors. [More]
