You have to feel kind of sorry for RadioShack. After filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy for the second time in two years, the once-ubiquitous electronics chain has fewer than 100 corporate stores. Now the brand has a new owner after only one bidder was interested in buying the brand and its intellectual property. [More]
zombie brands
BlackBerry Brand Phones Returning To The Market, Designed And Made By Another Company
By 12.15.16
Take heart, Blackberry fans: new Blackberry-branded smartphones will be on the market soon. While the company gave up designing and manufacturing its own devices, and now designs only software for smartphones, it will continue to license that work to other manufacturers. China’s TCL will design, make, and sell BlackBerry devices in mot of the world. [More]
Circuit City Is Returning From The Dead: Yes, Again
By 1.27.16
Back in 2009, the medium-box consumer electronics chain Circuit City closed. Systemax, the owner of TigerDirect, acquired the brand’s website and customer list, and kept it going until 2012. Late last year, Systemax decided to shut down its technology business, and that included selling the twice-defunct Circuit City brand. Now yet another company has acquired the brand and wants to make a go of it as physical retail stores. [More]
Filene’s Basement Rises From Retail Graveyard As Zombie Brand
By 9.17.15
When a company declares bankruptcy and goes out of business, sometimes its brands don’t settle into a dignified death. Sometimes they’re resurrected days or decades later, roaming the earth as zombie retailers. The latest brand to be raised from the dead is off-price retailer Filene’s basement, which closed in 2011. The brand’s owners have been waiting for the right time to reopen, and closeout retailers are super-hot right now. [More]
Zombie Brands: Woolworth’s, Mister Donut, Other Iconic Brands Prosper Outside U.S.
By 2.14.14
In this day and age, when something dies it just comes back as a zombie (we imagine anyway). That’s exactly what once prosperous American brands are doing across the world. Names like Pan Am, Woolworth’s and Mister Donut easily evoke thoughts of nostalgia for Americans, but in other parts of the world the brands are alive and well. [More]
Zombie Brands: Not Just For Retail Anymore
By 12.2.09
We’ve followed the nationwide invasion of zombie retailers such as Sharper Image, Circuit City and Linens ‘N’ Things–brands that go bankrupt, then reappear on the web or in the same strip malls they originally roamed. Zombie brands don’t just exist in retail, though. Mainstreet.com rounded up a horde of re-animated brands that includes a magazine and a major-league sports franchise. [More]
Linens 'N Things Resurrected (In Canada)
By 10.13.09
In today’s marketplace, going out of business doesn’t mean you go away forever. Your storefronts may disappear, but you’ll just pop up again online—like CompUSA and Circuit City—or you’ll come back on someone else’s shelves as a brand, like Linens ‘N Things.
