RadioShack, whose carrion corpse has been slowly picked apart by various consumer retail chains, is only a shambling zombie of its former DiY electronics self. But Standard General just pulled a Frankenstein, adding a jolt of electricity to the bankrupt brand and snatching up the rights to the iconic chain’s name.
Auction of the dilapidated retailer finished on Tuesday, starting with a bid of $15 million and eventually closing at the $26.2 million mark by an offer from Standard General, a hedge fund that snatched up 1,740 RadioShack stores in late March. After that initial takeover, the remaining Shacks were planned to become “the premier community destination for consumer electronics,” or as the Washington Post described as “a national bodega of batteries and earbuds.” That means no more brand name smartphones or gadgets, which most people buy online now anyway.
Now, with claim to the RadioShack name and more importantly its customer data, Standard General seems to be moving forward with those initial plans. The Wall Street Journal reports that RadioShack 2.0 will offer a “streamlined array of necessities” along with Sprint phones.
In many ways, RadioShack is reanimated. But like any zombie thriller, it’s no longer the thing we once knew and loved. [The Wall Street Journal]
Image via Spencer Platt/Getty Images
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