RadioShack

Brand

Something Missing?

RadioShack was founded in 1921 and eventually grew to house locations in the United States, Mexico and the United Kingdom, as well as in Australia and Canada. The company filed for bankruptcy in 2015 and now only operates stores in the United States and Mexico.

General Wireless filed for bankruptcy again in March 2017, after claiming its Sprint partnership was not as profitable as expected, and announced plans to close nearly all of their company-owned stores after Memorial Day Weekend of 2017, and shift its business primarily to online.

Subject ID: 62049

The company issued its first catalog in 1939 as it entered the high fidelity music market. In 1954, Radio Shack began selling its own private-label products under the brand name Realist, changing the brand name to Realistic after being sued by Stereo Realist. After expanding to nine stores plus an extensive mail-order business, the company fell on hard times in the 1960s. Radio Shack was essentially bankrupt, but Charles D. Tandy saw the potential of Radio Shack and retail consumer electronics and bought the company for $300,000.

The Tandy Corporation, a leather goods corporation, was looking for other hobbyist-related businesses into which it could expand. At the time of the Tandy Radio Shack & Leather 1962 acquisition, the Radio Shack chain was nearly bankrupt; it sold $14 million worth of AM and FM radios, ham radio gear, walkie-talkies, speakers, and antennas annually but was spending more money than it was taking in.

Subject ID: 62049

Less

Subject ID: 62049