RADIO SHACK DECLARES BANKRUPTCY, ANNOUNCES STORE CLOSINGS

By Miriam Raftery

February 15, 2015 (San Diego’s East County) - Radio Shack has been a fixture in the American retail market for over 90 years. The company started off selling radio parts to ship operators before opening retail stores.

But times have changed, technology has evolved, and Radio Shack has failed to keep pace with a radically transformed marketplace. Now Radio Shack has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and announced it will close 4,000 company-owned stores across the U.S., including 9 in San Diego County. Two of those are in East County, including locations in Santee and at Grossmont Center in La Mesa. The stores franchise stores are not included in the bankruptcy filing.

General Wireless Inc. is expected to open a store within a store along with Spring in about 1,500 to 2,400 stores that it plans to acquire, according to a press release issued by Radio Shack.

The stores that are closing will be selling off all inventory, giving Radio Shack customers one last chance to pick up bargains before the nearly century-old chain goes the way of typewriter stores and buggy whip manufacturers—other industries that failed to adapt to changing times.