RadioShack, known by many baby-boomers as the go-to place for electronics in the ‘60s, ‘70s and ‘80s, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on February 5, following 11 consistent quarterly losses.
The well-known chain will be closing at least 1,784 of its 4,297 stores throughout the nation and Mexico.
Included on the list for closing by the end of March is the Tulare store, located at 1583 Hillman Street in the Tulare Pavilion Shopping Center, and the North Visalia store, located in the Orchard Walk East shopping center at 3318 N Dinuba Blvd.
Hanford’s RadioShack, located at 114 N 12th Ave, is also facing closure by the end of March.
The manager of the Tulare store was unable to comment on the closure and it is unclear whether employees may be offered employment at other locations.
Those spared from the first slew of closures include Porterville, Dinuba, Visalia’s Mooney location, Hanford, Lemoore and Corcoran.
RadioShack was founded in 1921 by Theodore and Milton Deutschmann, brothers interested in amateur, or ham, radio equipment. Their one-store location in Boston with a mail-order business saw continued growth until it fell on hard times in the ‘60s and was bought out by the Tandy Corporation.
The mail-order business was closed and local stores popped up around the nation.
Tandy’s RadioShack became a household name in the ‘70s with the popularity of citizens band radios. With the computer age coming, Tandy made computers compatible with IBM.
When electronics became all the rage, Tandy began losing ground. In 2000, the company dropped the name Tandy and remained RadioShack. And when new companies large in electronics such as BestBuy and Amazon took over, RadioShack lost its footing and began losing ground in the industry. During recent years, its stores have remained alive mostly through mobile device sales.
Once known as the world’s largest electronic chain, it is unclear at this time just how long the other stores will remain in business.