Radio Shack has gone bankrupt, and is closing down almost half off its 4,000 stores.
Among the casualties are the chain’s four Upper West Side outlets:
240 West 72nd street
2268 Broadway (81st street)
2565 Broadway (96th street) — this one actually opened just a few months ago.
2812 Broadway (109th street)
The exact timing of the closures isn’t clear, but there will be some hefty discounts: “All closing locations are offering discounts of up to 50% off original prices on headphones, toys and other products. Discounts will apply to batteries and electronic components as well.”
Photo via.
Bummer. Loved RS for the emergency batteries, iPhone chargers, and soldering irons. Yes, soldering irons. Although it was a chain store, it still felt like a unique local astonishment. #lamenting
Oops…”establishment.”
Not surprised they are closing, but the store at 240 W. 72nd St. (bet. WEA & Bwy), will be the umpteenth business to close on that strip. Within the past 6 mos., we’ve lost Berg’s hardware store, Mike’s kosher restaurant, a deli, a ceramic tile & flooring store, and maybe one other. It’s beginning to look like a ghost town shop — I can’t even keep up. And if Urban Outfitters on the corner of Bwy. closes in July, as reported here, it will really look deserted.
Very true, but that whole block is in need of a makeover. there’s so little of value on 72nd west of Broadway.
Jeez, yeah. Where the hey _am_ I going to buy hearing aid batteries now?
Tom D: Try online at Battery Bob. Great prices and they come almost the next day it seems. Much better buy than anywhere local.
Anyone who wonders why RadioShack is closing: Here’s your answer.
And bookstores.
And grocery stores.
And record stores. (OK, dating myself perhaps, but the demise of store-based retail had to start somewhere.)
Shoe stores?
Clothing stores?
Click-click-click on your computer, and it comes right to your door, tomorrow. Why pay rent on a bricks-and-mortar store?
Bummer, where will I buy my obscure sized batteries?
I think I went to a RS at least once month for some obscure battery, wires, or controller type of thing. I bet Best Buy will be the next thing to close.
I pretty much grew up with Radio Shack. They were the first retailer I recall that demanded my phone number when I was paying cash for a 99 cent wire. I always refused to give it to them and one time they wouldn’t take no for an answer so I walked out.
so true. and so annoying. do you recall the Seinfeld smackdown on this point?
Scott – that act of defiance right there caused RS to go belly up. I hope you’re happy
It did feel empowering, I admit it.
For odd-size batteries and other Radio Shack type stuff, try Golden Sound at 2206 Broadway (78/79). A really nice guy runs the place (and his rent can’t be getting any cheaper either).
RS may have had obscure products, but most of the personnel at 104/ Bdway(closed) and 94 (before moving to 96) would rather talk amongst themselves than to the customers…..
“I was just at Radio Shack and they were so helpful” said no one.
So sad to see RS closing.
I blame mismanagement rather than the potential of stores themselves
Unfortunately most of the sales help (not all – but most) couldn’t do more than read labels back to you. RS hiring policy didn’t seek or attract people who were interested in electronics.
RS also didn’t focus on some of their more unique offerings. They have a nice arduino and Maker selection but regulated it to the back of the store. Up front they showcased headphones which you could get anywhere!
They could have done extremely well this past season if they showcased some of their maker-kits and targeted parents with budding engineers instead of pitching the same $60 drones you can order online for less.
With the huge ‘Maker’ community now in place, RS was poised to be the ‘go-to’ place, instead they tried to be the next “Best-Buy” in an already diluted low-margin market. Way too much floor space was taken up by cell-phone inventory when cell-phones are a ubiquitous product. Yet with all the focus on cell-phones, most people don’t know they can get their phones fixed there with a standard RS 3-month warranty on the repair.
W72 no sales as of AM 2/10
Well, their not leaving yet. I heard it won’t be til the end of March early April. So, there’s plenty of time for sales to go on. Probably won’t see any few a few more weeks.
I was horrified when the Radio Shack on 103rd and Broadway closed. Whoever said the staff was rude might just have had bad luck. They were understaffed is what I felt and poorly trained. But they weren’t rude. Just really slow and dealing with the constant smell of stale pizza coming from the Subway shop next door. Radio Shack saved my hide so many times. Dead calculator? Run out to Broadway. No hearing aid batteries? Ditto. Need a zillion double and triple A batteries? Go there. They were always on sale. Need to ask questions your phone? They tried to help, even when you didn’t buy it there. Answering machine is dead, dead, dead. Head over to Broadway. Now we have nothing like that kind of store in the neighborhood. RCI is gone. Radio Shack is not the kind of chain that inspires nostalgia. However, it was really helpful to have it in the neighborhood rather than a real estate office that won’t last long on that corner. Yes, we can always buy on-line, but if we cannot run out to Broadway (or whatever our commercial street is), we no longer have a real neighborhood.
We no longer have a real neighborhood. Get used to it.
Yes! Now it will be called a Nayborehood!!!
The graphic for this story is absolutely perfect. So witty! I wonder who came up with it.
What’s a radio?
How the mighty have fallen.
Best buy, PC Richards, JC Penney will soon fold too.
I blame the landlords
RadioShack was well-founded as a niche/hobby store that morphed into an albatross of cell phones and severely overpriced Monster Cables. Part mismanagement, and part succumbing to the Amazons of the world, RadioShack has been doomed for years.
It’s sad to see retailers go on the UWS, but just about anything besides a vacant storefront is superior to RadioShack.
Pls be advised that the new store at 96/97
store is in the third tranche and will be closed by March 31.
Well private equity screwed this firm good- the last rescue the financial wizards did for this chain included making it impossible to shrink the chain. Unlike other retailers, under their financial bailout, they had to retain every location- or go belly up- which they did