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Radio Shack

RadioShack Corporation (formerly Tandy Corporation) (NYSE: RSH) runs a chain of electronics retail stores in the United States, as well as parts of Europe, Central America and South America. As of 2003, it has more than 6,000 stores in the USA and reported net sales and operating revenues of $4.6 billion. RadioShack briefly reopened stores in Canada after losing its former subsidiary InterTAN (independent since 1986) to a purchase by Circuit City in 2004. However in December 2006, RadioShack Canada announced it would be closing its nine corporate stores to focus on strengthening its core business in the US. The head office of RadioShack is located in Fort Worth, Texas.

RadioShack's current proprietary brands include Presidian (audio and video equipment), Accurian (audio equipment and video equipment), Optimus (digital imaging products), Gigaware (personal computer accessories), Voicestar (Hands-free headsets), MyMusix (MP3 players) and Enercell (batteries and power accessories). Discontinued brands include Realistic (sound equipment), and Archer (wiring and antennas).

The company was started as Radio Shack in 1921 in Boston, Massachusetts, by two brothers, Theodore and Milton Deutschmann, who wanted to provide equipment for the cutting-edge field of amateur, or ham, radio. The store's name was taken from a slang phrase of the time denoting any place where radio equipment was kept and used.

The company issued its first catalog in the early 1940s and then entered the high-fidelity music market. In 1954, Radio Shack began selling its own private-label products under the brand name Realist, but was subsequently sued and consequently changed the brand name to Realistic. After expanding to nine stores plus an extensive mail-order business, the company fell on hard times in the 1960s. Radio Shack was essentially bankrupt, but Charles Tandy saw the potential of Radio Shack and retail consumer electronics and bought the company for $300,000.

Until 2002, RadioShack routinely asked for the names and addresses of customers who made purchases so they could be added to the mailing list. Personal information is still requested when purchasing a cellular phone, service plan, mail order part, Direct2U item (which is a fee-free special ordering of a product not in stock), returning an item, paying with a check, or opening a RadioShack Rewards card. The Seinfeld television program satirized this practice in one episode. As of February 2007, the company has again begun to request customer information on nearly all purchases, though the practice is not quite as strictly required of associates.

On December 20, 2005, RadioShack announced the sale of its newly built riverfront Ft. Worth headquarters building to German-based KanAm Grund. RadioShack will continue to lease the property for 20 years.

Source: Wikipedia - News Reports

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