RadioShack files for Ch. 11 bankruptcy protection

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Press Release:

RadioShack Reaches Asset Purchase Agreement with Affiliate of Standard General To Acquire up to 2,400 Stores
Standard General and Sprint to Establish "Store within a Store" Retail Model at up to 1,750 Acquired Stores
Will Pursue Asset Sale and Additional Restructuring Steps Through Court-Supervised Chapter 11 Process
Secures Debtor-in-Possession Loan Commitment To Support Sale Process
Plans to Close Remaining Underperforming Stores
PR Newswire

FORT WORTH, Texas, Feb. 5, 2015

FORT WORTH, Texas, Feb. 5, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- RadioShack Corporation announced today several actions intended to maximize value for the Company's stakeholders.

1. RadioShack has signed an asset purchase agreement with General Wireless Inc., an affiliate of Standard General L.P. ("Standard General"). General Wireless has agreed to acquire between 1,500 and 2,400 of RadioShack's U.S. Company-owned stores. To effectuate this transaction and an orderly sale of the Company's remaining assets, RadioShack and certain of its U.S. subsidiaries have filed voluntary petitions for relief under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware. As part of this process, other parties will have an opportunity to submit offers for RadioShack's assets in a court-approved process. The sale agreement is subject to court approval and other conditions. RadioShack's foreign subsidiaries and its franchisee-owned stores are not included in the filing.

2. General Wireless, the entity formed to acquire the stores under the asset purchase agreement, has agreed in principle on terms with Sprint to establish a new dedicated mobility "store within a store" retail presence in up to 1,750 of the acquired stores. This agreement-in-principle is subject to negotiation of definitive documentation as well as court approval.

3. In addition, the Company has filed a motion with the Court to proceed with the closure of the remaining company-owned stores under an agreement with Hilco Merchant Resources. A list of the stores slated for closure will be posted in the near future on the restructuring information section of the company's web site at www.radioshackcorporation.com. Stores that are closing are expected to sell remaining inventory.

RadioShack currently has approximately 4,000 company owned stores in the U.S. Its more than 1,000 dealer franchise stores in 25 countries, the stores operated by its Mexican subsidiary, and its Asia operations are not included in the Chapter 11 filing or the agreements announced today.

Discussions are underway with interested parties to sell all of the company's remaining assets.

Joe Magnacca, RadioShack's chief executive officer, said, "These steps are the culmination of a thorough process intended to drive maximum value for our stakeholders."

RadioShack has made customary first-day motions with the Bankruptcy Court intended to support the continuation of its day-to-day operations for customers, employees, vendors and suppliers, and other business partners during the restructuring. As part of that, it is seeking Court approval to continue employee wages and certain benefits and honor certain customer programs. The motions are expected to be addressed by the Court in the coming days.

The Company has also secured a commitment for approximately $285 million in debtor-in-possession financing (DIP) from its current ABL lender group, led by DW Partners, LP. The DIP is intended to provide it with liquidity during the sale process. The DIP funding includes a roll up of the Company's prepetition revolver, letters of credit, and FILO facility. In addition, the facility will provide up to $20 million in incremental borrowing capacity.

Pursuant to the auction process the Company has filed for approval by the Court, all qualifying parties will have an opportunity to submit offers for evaluation through a Court-supervised competitive bidding process. Any sale will be subject to Court approval and other closing conditions. There can be no assurance that a sale will be consummated at the conclusion of this process.

The Company's legal advisor is Jones Day, its investment banker is Lazard Freres, and its financial advisors are The MAEVA Group and FTI.
 
Keep an eye out for closing sales and please mention them here as it might be a tip relevant to all areas of the US. Some of their stuff (I'm thinking primarily of their plastic project enclosures and some of the switches they stock) are reasonable even at regular prices.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/radioshack-files-ch-11-bankruptcy-222534944.html

Funny you mention that. I have been going around to the stores around me and buying up all the project enclosures...

Some stores are closing, some are not, but buying them all regardless if they have 25% off or not.

Gonna miss that place when it's gone. End of an Era.

My christmas lists when I was a kid usually were a list of crap from the parts pegs...:eyeroll:
 
[video=youtube;Gq8ly6TQQu8]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gq8ly6TQQu8[/video]
 
Maybe I’m in the minority, but I’m not sorry to see them go. They had become the store of last resort for me.

They had pretty much lost me as a customer when they insisted on gathering information at each purchase as if I was taking out a mortgage. What idiot at corporate thought that was a good idea?
 
I just checked into our local "Shack", and asked them what was going to happen to them. They aren't going anywhere. They are a franchise, so all that will happen will be that they drop the Radio Shack name and distribution, but will go on as an electronics store some other way. They've actually been around since 1957, and it wasn't until the early 80's that they became a "Radio Shack". So now they will find other distributors, change the name, and they will survive. This may actually be a better situation.

This is good thing, because besides being a "Radio Shack", they are also the local internet service provider, and they maintain/operate a ham radio tower/repeater. Also, the next nearest electronics type store of any type is about 120 miles away (I live in a very rural area). I'm not a huge customer by any means, but it's nice to have a place where I can buy odd batteries, cables/connectors, and such when I need to.

s6
 
1 of the stores I hit if I need something is closing as are the two stores in malls. I think a total of 10 around Buffalo NY are closing. I have 2 stores walking distance from my house - both staying open...
 
I just checked into our local "Shack", and asked them what was going to happen to them. They aren't going anywhere. They are a franchise, so all that will happen will be that they drop the Radio Shack name and distribution, but will go on as an electronics store some other way. They've actually been around since 1957, and it wasn't until the early 80's that they became a "Radio Shack". So now they will find other distributors, change the name, and they will survive. This may actually be a better situation.

This is good thing, because besides being a "Radio Shack", they are also the local internet service provider, and they maintain/operate a ham radio tower/repeater. Also, the next nearest electronics type store of any type is about 120 miles away (I live in a very rural area). I'm not a huge customer by any means, but it's nice to have a place where I can buy odd batteries, cables/connectors, and such when I need to.

s6

Sounds like our local "Western Auto" store here in town... They were a franchise but had been associated with Western Auto from, well, before my time... probably since the beginning. Western Auto, like Radio Shack, sort of lost its way in changing times. They ceased being an "auto supply" decades ago, morphing into more of a hardware/tool/lawn care equipment/power equipment type store... With the rise of chain auto supply stores like Hi-Lo, (which got bought out by O'Reilly's) and later AutoShack (which had to change their name to "Auto-Zone" when they went nationwide in the mid-80's-- our local store opened as an "AutoShack" but had to close for about a month during the renaming period and redecorate and reopen as "Auto Zone" within a year or so of originally opening), they found themselves out of the auto parts business. Our local Western Auto continued to have a small shop and do muffler work and tires/batteries until the tightening of emission regulations and increasing cost and risk of liability led them to close their shop in the back and stick to selling hardware and power equipment. Western Auto went through a few "deals", selling various makes of tools as their 'main line' like Vermont American and others, continuing to drift into their slow slide into obscurity. Sears/Craftsman finally bought Western Auto, which pretty much was their death knell... Western Auto started carrying the Craftsman line of tools, but the local dealer was pretty PO'd about it, because they were basically competing with themselves-- Sears/Craftsman started opening up a lot of "Sears Hardware" stores in the suburbs, larger towns, etc. Sears would offer great sales prices on various tools to get folks to come in and buy stuff, which the local dealers in Western Auto couldn't match, so hence most of the original tool sales were going to the Sears/Craftsman Hardware stores... yet because Craftsman has a "lifetime warranty" on the tools they sell, most of the warranty claims for broken or defective tools came in to the local Western Auto for a free replacement, which doesn't make any money for the local store-- Craftsman replaces the tool on their next order, but no money has changed hands, yet the Western Auto store has provided a service to the customer and company. Because of this our local store was moving towards dropping Craftsman or carrying the absolute minimum possible to eliminate this 'warranty swapping' to the extent possible, and carrying other shortline brands of tools instead of Craftsman. Eventually, the Sears Hardware stores started to collapse and their numbers dwindled (along with Sears in general, as long-time competitor and once-powerhouse Montgomery Ward went bankrupt and disappeared, etc.) and it wasn't long before Sears, looking to downsize and divest itself of extraneous diversions to its core business, decided to close the Western Auto brand altogether.

Our Western Auto, being an independent franchisee, simply rebranded themselves as "Western Power" and continued selling what they had been-- mostly Gravely lawn equipment, Stihl, Vermont American tools and accessories, various paint, hardware, plumbing, and electrical supplies and fittings, and garden/yard tools, equipment, and supplies...

Course I quit buying tires and batteries from them LONG before they actually quit... despite all the protestations and arm-waving about "buy local!!!" from the businesses in town, it's plainly evident that if you want a good deal, you have to go elsewhere, to a bigger town with mainline chain stores. I came to this conclusion years before, but one day I was in there picking up something else and thought about the fact that the car would soon need a tire, since it was getting rather thin. I asked them what their cheapest tire was in the given 15 inch size... After looking at the charts and books for a few minutes and feverishly punching buttons on the adding machine behind the counter, he tore off the printed ribbon and handed it to me... "$66 dollars, mounted and balanced", he said proudly. "Thanks", said I, as I grabbed my purchase and left, shaking my head... I could get the SAME size tire in a Douglas from Walmart for $44 installed and balanced... no way was I paying 1/3 more "just to support the local guy". Everything else is pretty much the same.

When we were row-crop farming, I bought a LOT of stuff from them-- bolts, shop supplies, some tools, etc... now I haven't been in there in a year or two, and probably haven't been for a year or more before that...

Later! OL JR :)
 
I just checked into our local "Shack", and asked them what was going to happen to them. They aren't going anywhere. They are a franchise, so all that will happen will be that they drop the Radio Shack name and distribution, but will go on as an electronics store some other way. They've actually been around since 1957, and it wasn't until the early 80's that they became a "Radio Shack". So now they will find other distributors, change the name, and they will survive. This may actually be a better situation.
That may explain why only three of the nine RS in this city are on the closure list:

https://radioshackcorporation.com/pdfs/RS-Store-Closure-List_020415.pdf

Interactive map of stores to close:

https://blogs.wsj.com/moneybeat/201...f-all-the-stores-its-closing/tab/interactive/

Sprint and Amazon may buy some of the closed locations.
 
Course I quit buying tires and batteries from them LONG before they actually quit... despite all the protestations and arm-waving about "buy local!!!" from the businesses in town, it's plainly evident that if you want a good deal, you have to go elsewhere, to a bigger town with mainline chain stores. I came to this conclusion years before, but one day I was in there picking up something else and thought about the fact that the car would soon need a tire, since it was getting rather thin. I asked them what their cheapest tire was in the given 15 inch size... After looking at the charts and books for a few minutes and feverishly punching buttons on the adding machine behind the counter, he tore off the printed ribbon and handed it to me... "$66 dollars, mounted and balanced", he said proudly. "Thanks", said I, as I grabbed my purchase and left, shaking my head... I could get the SAME size tire in a Douglas from Walmart for $44 installed and balanced... no way was I paying 1/3 more "just to support the local guy". Everything else is pretty much the same.

This is what people don't understand about outsourcing. People say 'Buy local' and 'Made in the USA' but don't seem to get just how much more expensive that might be. If a local company is to survive, they HAVE to provide value that is different enough for people to be willing to spend the money. And to lure enough people at that higher price point to sustain the business.

FC
 
I've had a long love-hate relationship with Radio Shack but I am very sorry to see it go. I still use a pair of Nova speakers my dad bought there in 1974 and a Power Beam 5 flashlight from the 70's that I converted to LED. My dad was a part-time TV repairman so we always had their catalog in the house. I learned basic electronics from their 10-in-1 and 100-in-1 kits. Their battery club kept us stocked in batteries for years. Yeah, I know, that was all a long time ago. In recent years they should have just called themselves Cell Phone Shack. But recently, I went in and noticed that they had a series of Maker kits, which gave me hope they were getting back to their roots. I guess that was a little too late. The saddest part, of course, is the number of people that will now be out of work.
 
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This is what people don't understand about outsourcing. People say 'Buy local' and 'Made in the USA' but don't seem to get just how much more expensive that might be. If a local company is to survive, they HAVE to provide value that is different enough for people to be willing to spend the money. And to lure enough people at that higher price point to sustain the business.

FC

Yeah, being a farmer and living in a rural area and in/around small towns all my life, we get this A LOT...

The local "businessman's associations" and "Chambers of Commerce" practically scream it from the rooftops... local businesses put up signs in their windows and on their walls behind the registers, with stuff like "buy local! Local business supports your kid's softball team, local business supports the county fair and youth fair and buys your kid's animals at the scholarship auctions" and all this sort of BS. Sure, yeah, they do-- but it's strictly for 'advertising advantages' or because 1) the store owners were involved with it when they were kids or 2) someone they know has a kid doing it and they want to support it to butter someone's biscuits...

I look at it strictly from a farmer's point of view... We farmers are told repeatedly, h3ll, we're beaten over the d@mn head with it, that we live in "global community" now, and we have to "learn to compete" with people living in a grass hut growing a 1/3 of an acre of cotton and hauling their crop to market in a basket on their head over a footpath, who's "making a profit" getting paid 6 cents a pound for their crop... and all this sort of thing, in whatever crop or livestock you can imagine...

SO, I "compete" by reducing costs... we live in a "Wal Mart world" where only the cheapest survive... I'm expected to live with the "world market price" for what I produce, so I expect these so-called "local businesses" to match the lowest prices I can find elsewhere... If they can't, that's their tough luck! Nobody's running down to the local elevator, cotton gin, livestock auction, or whatever and paying me 1/3 more for "growing it local" or whatever... WHY would I pay them 1/3 more for the SAME PRODUCT simply because "they're local" or "they support the kid's ball team or FFA or whatever"??

It doesn't track... at least not for me... I get Walmart prices for what I produce, I pay Walmart prices for what I buy, simple as that... everything else is just "feel-good fluff" that doesn't put anything in my pocket but lint...

Later! OL JR :)
 
Sweet reel to reel!

Thanks! It's built from two other TR-3000 decks and the audioboard from a Teac X-3 (99% same deck).
You know what's scary?
It was built in 1980. It's a 35 year old tape deck that can still keep up and with the right source and good tape, outpace a Compact Disc.
 
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...the audioboard from a Teac X-3 (99% same deck)...

That's the embarrassing thing for me. We used to make fun of Radio Shack products when in reality they used some really high quality components in some of their stuff. I still have the Nova speakers my dad bought from them and they are excellent. Look how much he paid for them in 1974:
Speakers.jpg
 
That's the embarrassing thing for me. We used to make fun of Radio Shack products when in reality they used some really high quality components in some of their stuff. I still have the Nova speakers my dad bought from them and they are excellent. Look how much he paid for them in 1974:
View attachment 254805

These were a tad before my time, but I get your meaning. Back in the '80's and '90's, Radio Shack it's brand names were deemed nothing more than mid-fi stuff. Today, my daughter's friends look at my "ancient mid-fi" rig and say "YOU got separate components?! wow........can I hook up my iPod to it?" :D

Of course I do.....and they all say "Wow. That's better than my Logitech dock!"

Well, d'uh..... :D
 
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