The Rise of RadioShack

Harry McCracken, writing for Fast Company:

I’ll be sorry to see RadioShack go. But the thing is, consumer electronics retailing is an inherently fragile business. With the exception (so far) of Best Buy, every major national electronics chain has eventually collapsed, and usually a lot more quickly than RadioShack did. Its 84-year run was remarkable, especially the period that began after its first near-death experience in the early 1960s. Once the pain of the bankruptcy is over, we can go back to remembering the chain as the idiosyncratic, only-in-America success story that it once was.

★ Wednesday, 11 February 2015