While RadioShack may be a shadow of its former self, Standard General, whose lender takeover of about 1,700 of RadioShack’s 4,000 stores won court approval last Tuesday, does not see it that way, the New York Times reported today. “We always believed that when you stripped away its relatively heavy cost structure, and some of the legacy ways they did business, there actually was a core here that was worth saving,” said Soohyung Kim of Standard General. Many in the industry are skeptical. “In the consumer’s mind, RadioShack is a name that has come and gone,” said Craig R. Johnson, founder of retail consulting company Customer Growth Partners in New Canaan, Conn. “What’s its reason for being? What consumer problem are they solving?” That is a question that RadioShack, the 94-year-old electronics chain, has tried to answer for years as the digital revolution sapped demand for its staples and its stores tracked a slow decline. In February, it filed for bankruptcy protection, buckling in the face of bigger rivals and online competition. RadioShack’s biggest creditor, Salus Capital Partners, pushed a plan that would probably have liquidated the retailer, prompting a showdown in bankruptcy court. But Standard General’s bid, and its promise to save some 7,500 jobs, prevailed.
