Amazon in Talks To Buy Some of RadioShack’s Stores

Katie Benner, Jodi Xu Klein, and Lauren Coleman-Lochner, with another RadioShack scoop for Bloomberg:

Amazon.com Inc., aiming to bolster its brick-and-mortar operations, has discussed acquiring some RadioShack Corp. locations after the electronics chain files for bankruptcy, two people with knowledge of the matter said.

Amazon has considered using the RadioShack stores as showcases for the Seattle-based company’s hardware, as well as potential pickup and drop-off centers for online customers, said one of the people, who asked not to be named because the deliberations are private.

This sounds like an interesting way for Amazon to dip its toes in retail on the cheap, but the problem is, most RadioShack locations are kind of crappy. Dingy little retail boxes. Every location would need a lot of work just to make it look nice. (Via MG Siegler.)

★ Tuesday, 3 February 2015