Bye, RadioShack: Chain shuts 1,000 stores, including Bend’s
The well-known electronics retailer RadioShack has closed more than 1,000 stores around the nation since Memorial Day weekend, including the one at 1620 NE Third Street in Bend.
The store, buffeted by other electronics chains and the move to online buying, said when the cuts are over, it will only have 70 company-owned stores and 500 dealer-owned stores remaining around the country.
The sign on the door Sunday at the closed Bend location states, “Sorry, this location is no longer open”” and urges those in need to instead “shop 24/7” at the retailer’s website.
In March, the parent firm, General Wireless Operations, filed for bankruptcy protection and proposed closing only about 200 stores, though it left the door open to closing more.
The remaining company-owned stores are in just seven states, mostly in New York, Pennsylvania and its native Texas. The farthest West state with stores remaining is Colorado.
At its peak, Fort Worth-based RadioShack, which began in Boston nearly a century ago, had 7,300 stores and was a regular stop for gadget, tech or electronics fans needing any kinds of electronics, from the venerable “battery club” to computers, stereos, walkie-talkies, police scanners and 1,000s of various parts for electronics hobbyists.
