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At the time of the Tandy Radio Shack & Leather 1962 acquisition, the Radio Shack chain was nearly bankrupt. Tandy Corporation, a leather goods corporation, was looking for other hobbyist-related businesses into which it could expand. Tandy saw the potential of Radio Shack and retail consumer electronics, purchasing the company in 1962 for US$300,000. Radio Shack was essentially bankrupt, but Charles D.
RADIA SHACK PLUS
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.ĭuring the period the chain was based in Boston, it was commonly referred to by its customers as "Nagasaki Hardware", disparagingly, as much of the merchandise was sourced from Japan, then perceived as a source of low-quality, inexpensive parts.Īfter expanding to nine stores plus an extensive mail-order business, the company fell on hard times in the 1960s. The company issued its first catalog in 1939 as it entered the high fidelity music market. The term was already in use - and is to this day - by hams when referring to the location of their stations.
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The idea for the name came from an employee, Bill Halligan, who went on to form the Hallicrafters company. The Deutschmanns thought the name was appropriate for a store that would supply the needs of radio officers aboard ships, as well as hams (amateur radio operators). They chose the name " Radio Shack", which was the term for a small, wooden structure that housed a ship's radio equipment. The brothers opened a one-store retail and mail-order operation in the heart of downtown Boston at 46 Brattle Street. The company was started as Radio Shack in 1921 by two brothers, Theodore and Milton Deutschmann, who wanted to provide equipment for the nascent field of amateur radio (also known as ham radio).
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Mexico-based Grupo Gigante, through its subsidiary RadioShack de México, owns the RadioShack brand within Mexico. was formed to operate the RadioShack stores, and General Wireless IP Holdings LLC was formed to hold the intellectual property.ĭuring RadioShack Corporation's bankruptcy proceeding 2015, RadioShack Corporation sold the RadioShack brand rights to different entities around the world. In May 2015, General Wireless Inc., an affiliate of Standard General, bought the company's assets, including the RadioShack brand name and related intellectual property, for US$26.2 million. By then, it was operating only in the United States and Latin America.
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In February 2015, RadioShack Corporation filed for Chapter 11 protection under United States bankruptcy law after 11 consecutive quarterly losses. Outside of those territories, the company licensed other companies to use the RadioShack brand name in parts of Asia, North Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean. RadioShack, formerly RadioShack Corporation, is an American retailer founded in 1921.Īt its peak in 1999, RadioShack operated over 8,000 worldwide stores named RadioShack or Tandy Electronics in the United States, Mexico, United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada. Retail ECommerce Ventures (REV since Nov. General Wireless IP Holdings LLC (2015–2020)
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