RadioShack, which entered bankruptcy protection last March for the second time in as many years, is proceeding with plans to emerge from Chapter 11 by year’s end as a radically leaner and digitally-focused business.
The latest installment in the CE chain’s saga comes from the hometown Fort Worth Star-Telegram, which reports that the company will go before the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware on Oct. 25 to seek approval of its reorganization plan.
According to COO Steve Moroneso, who assumed day-to-day duties after CEO Dene Rogers left in July, the strategy calls for shifting the crux of the business online, and supplementing it with some 400 independently-owned RadioShack dealerships and 27 corporate stores scattered throughout Colorado, Texas and New York.
Moroneso said independents have opened eight new RadioShack stores within the past three months and that another 18 locations are under consideration.
See:Independent RadioShack Dealers Unleashed By Latest Bankruptcy
That’s still a far cry from the more than 7,000 company-owned storefronts that saturated the nation during RadioShack’s heyday, putting all manner of arcane batteries, connectors and proprietary gizmos within 10 minutes of most Americans.
Its corporate headquarters in Fort Worth, Texas, is also about to become a thing of the past. After building a sprawling $200 million complex in the mid-2000s, the company this week will relocate the 50 last remaining staffers to a warehouse on the north side of town.
“We’re confident that there is a future in RadioShack online and in the dealer business,” Moroneso told the newspaper.
See also:A Brief History Of RadioShack
