Is The Shack coming back?

Radio Shack filed for bankruptcy in 2015 and 2017, and  in 2020, was acquired by a company called Retail Ecommerce Ventures. Retail Ecommerce ventures had acquired several well-known retailers, such as  Dress Barn, Pier 1, Stein Mart, Modell’s Sporting Goods, and Linens ’n Things, and some stories heralded this as a big comeback for Radio Shack.

That never panned out, apparently, because they were just purchased again by El Salvadoran company Unicomer Group, which has been operating RadioShack stores throughout Latin America and the Caribbean since 1998. The RadioShack website now says:

In 2023, Unicomer Group acquired RadioShack‘s intellectual property assets and domains in about 70 countries around the world, including: the United States, Canada, Europe, and China; and aims to manage the business of technology products with excellence, generating long–term profitable relationships with our partners.

This acquisition consolidates Unicomer Group as the majority owner of the brand worldwide, leading the technology market and expanding its value offer for its clients.

We want to continue developing the business, in as many territories as possible, creating support plans for operations, reaching our customers with our broad portfolio of products, looking for the best prices and constant innovation to provide solutions to technological problems.

Does this mean that they are going to be opening up a RadioShack store near you? The above kind of hints at that, who knows? Retail is a tough business, but some technology stores, such as Micro Center, seem to be doing well. Time will tell, I guess.

Ham gear from Radio Shack

Coincidentally, I happened to run into the ad below in an old issue of CQ.

I doubt that RadioShack is going to start selling ham gear again, but again, who knows? There are more radio amateurs now than ever, and the number of stores selling amateur radio gear is smaller than it was back in the 1990s and early 2000s.