Tim Ryan, tryan@wolfrivermedia.com
The bankruptcy filing this week by RadioShack Corp. and its plans to sell off half its 4,000 U.S. stores and shutter the rest won’t put the Shawano dealership out of business, but it could mean a loss of the Radio Shack brand name.
The store at 221 E. Green Bay St. is officially Technologies Inc., but it is perhaps better known as a Radio Shack outlet.
It’s one of a dwindling number of independent outlets that are Radio Shack in name and carry Radio Shack products, but are not considered part of the chain of retail stores operated by the company.
RadioShack Corp. doesn’t own any part of the local operation, or that of the roughly 750 to 850 other independents with similar agreements nationwide, according to Deb Noffke, who operates the Shawano store.
Other independent Radio Shack stores in the area are in Antigo, Pulaski and Oconto Falls. The nearest stores that are part of the retail chain are in Green Bay and Wausau.
“Most Radio Shack stores in towns with under 10,000 population are independently owned and operated,” Noffke said.
Noffke said Technologies Inc. would remain but, after a nearly 40-year association, losing the brand name will hurt a little.
“It’s not just a name; it’s what I am,” she said. “I grew up with this.”
Noffke said the Shawano store was one of the first to order the TRS-80 home computer in 1977, considered to be cutting edge technology back then.
She said the store ordered it blind, based only on the buzz being created by the idea of having a computer at home.
Noffke said the computers were ordered because her father, Marlin, wanted to play around with it. Two computers came in, but both were sold before he was able to get them out of the box, she said.
At this point, Noffke said, neither she nor any of the other independents she has been in contact with has been told what the bankruptcy filing and chain store closings will mean for them.
“There’s a lot of anger,” she said.
However, Noffke added, it’s possible that the corporate office, in the flux of bankruptcy proceedings, hasn’t resolved that issue yet.
“In all fairness, they really might not know,” she said.
Technologies Inc. is a family-run business that was specializing in home TVs and CB-radios in 1976 when Radio Shack approached it.
“They found us,” Noffke said.
Back then, the business was run by Deb’s mother, Nancy, who made the decision to go with the Radio Shack name.
The store pays rights to use the name and sells Radio Shack products, though not exclusively.
“Some things they discontinued, I still sell,” Noffke said.
Noffke also said she could go elsewhere to find Radio Shack products if it comes to that, but she has liked what she’s been getting over the years.
“They’re my favorite supplier,” she said, noting in particular the company’s packaging and quality control.
While the retail chain has been foundering, Noffke said her store has been doing well enough to stay in business.
“It does well enough to keep all the bills paid, and I can still eat, too,” she said.
The store employs four part-time workers.
RadioShack, founded in Boston nearly a century ago, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection late Thursday. It plans to sell 1,500 to 2,400 stores to its largest shareholder, investment firm Standard General, and has filed a motion to proceed with closing the remainder of its 4,000 U.S. stores.
Standard General would run some 1,750 of the stores it buys as co-branded shops with wireless carrier Sprint Corp.