RadioShack Partners With HobbyTown for Store-Within-a-Store Format
Despite filing for bankruptcy twice in just over two years, RadioShack announced a partnership with HobbyTown, a toy and hobby retailer, which will bring the electronics retailer's branded merchandise to 60 HobbyTown franchise locations across the U.S. The new stores will be called "RadioShack Express." Over time the new RadioShack Express “store-within-a-store” concept will be rolled out to HobbyTown in over 100 of their locally owned stores. The first Express stores will open next week.
Total Retail's Take: Good news for RadioShack and its loyal customers. It's the first big announcement from RadioShack since it emerged from its Chapter 11 reorganization in January with 400 dealer locations across the U.S. (mostly in rural locations) and a focus on its e-commerce business. This partnership with HobbyTown will give RadioShack more exposure to many of the suburban markets it had to give up when it shuttered more than 1,000 stores after filing bankruptcy the second time in 2017. What's more, the store-within-a-store concept has been a popular and successful strategy for many retailers over the years, so it will be interesting to see how it fares for RadioShack.
- People:
- Bob Wilke
- Steve Moroneso
