New RadioShack Owner Pledges Growth, With U.S. Stores Possible

So far all we’ve heard is Radio Goo Goo, Radio Ga Ga but maybe we might just be about to see RadioShack reappear once again.

A group that first ran a RadioShack franchise down in El Salvador in 1998 has become the major stakeholder in the business after Unicomer Group acquired its intellectual property and domains in about 70 countries, including the U.S., Canada, Europe and China.

However, the picture – perhaps appropriately – is not entirely clear.

Unicomer has taken charge from Retail Ecommerce Ventures, which acquired RadioShack’s IP in late 2020 and last year licensed RadioShack Swap as the platform for a potential cryptocurrency venture.

That’s a separate company from RadioShack and right now we’re not sure if REV still has skin in the game with the original, legacy brand.

Confused? Well you might still be after this latest edition of RadioShack, which has turned the dial on more comebacks than Britney Spears.

So let’s take this back to the start. Or rather, the end of the beginning.

RadioShack was once a consumer electronics staple of U.S. retail for anyone who needed a component or an accessory and at its peak it boasted had more than 5,000 locations across the country.

Then along came Amazon
AMZN
, with sharper prices and speedy home delivery, hitting the chain’s key selling points of range and accessibility.

Add in that new technology became less and less suitable for repairs by those without a degree in Astro physics, and the chain began to experience a slow and painful death, culminating in two Chapter 11 filings in 2015 and 2017.

Multiple attempts to save the brand had been made, including an ill-fated The Shack rebrand, while some independently owned locations continue to operate in the U.S.

REV RadioShack Stake

Along came Retail Ecommerce Ventures, which has spent the past several years acquiring the rights to a small roster of well-known retail-chain names, including Dress Barn, Pier 1, Stein Mart
SMRT
, Modell’s Sporting Goods, and Linens ’n Things, with a promise to “transform well-known undervalued retail brands into e-commerce success stories”.

REV also invested $35 million in off-price retailer Tuesday Morning
TUES
and earlier this year it sold that to Hilco for $32 million as part of Tuesday Morning’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy. In July, the retailer converted to Chapter 7 and liquidated.

Until May of this year, REV also owned RadioShack but then along came Unicomer, which, in 2015, had acquired RadioShack’s brands, intellectual property and existing franchise agreements for Central America, South America and the Caribbean.

Now Unicomer says that it intends to push forward with RadioShack in the U.S., and Rudy Siman, director and vice president of franchises of Unicomer Group, said in a statement that the company has already “led a successful expansion strategy for the brand.”

“This acquisition will allow us to start another phase of growth and innovation in the shopping experience with the latest technology,” Siman said.

“We have consolidated the franchise we have been operating for 25 years and through which we have generated thousands of employment opportunities in Central America, South America, and the Caribbean.”

RadioShack Trades On Legacy

RadioShack remains a popular brand among most Americans over the age of 30 and in the same way that another comeback kid – Toys ‘R’ Us – has capitalized on that nostalgia and legacy, so RadioShack’s new owners seem to want to leverage that.

But beyond expressing confidence in their track record outside the U.S., they are not sharing much detail on what to expect next.

As the company does operate brick-and-mortar RadioShack locations in many countries, a return to physical stores certainly can’ t be discounted, albeit that it has not revealed whether it plans to expand its store estate to the U.S.

After undoubtedly once having the power, maybe RadioShack is yet to have its finest hour.