RadioShack CEO Resigns As Company Prepares To Open New Stores Later This Month

After getting a glimpse at what the new co-branded RadioShack/Sprint stores will look like, the company is preparing to unveil the brand spanking new stores later this month. Meanwhile, RadioShack’s CEO is exiting the scene before the debut after failing to successfully steer the company away from bankruptcy over the last two years.

RadioShack investor Standard General successfully won approval in bankruptcy court this week to buy up the remaining 1,740 stores, with plans to morph those locations into a new beast with Sprint taking up about a third of each store’s footprint.

It seems the new owners aren’t wasting any time, as the Wall Street Journal reports that the new version of the chain will be unveiled later this month. The stores will look a lot like they do now, as we previously noted — but without large displays dedicated to Sprint’s competitors.

The chain is also culling the clutter, cutting back on laptops, tablets and digital cameras to focus on house-brand chargers, batteries and speakers. It’s still unclear what the new stores will be called, however: While Standard General is going to operate the stores, Salus Capital Partners has digs on RadioShack’s trademarks, patents and customer data.

Unless the two sides can work out a deal to sell Standard General the intellectual property that makes RadioShack Radioshack, the new stores will have to be called something else. RadioSprint? SprintShack? NewOldThing Store?

Who exactly will be running this new operation is also up for grabs — CEO Joe Magnacca resigned yesterday, reports the Dallas Business Journal, after two years of trying to save RadioShack’s sinking ship. A spokeswoman said she didn’t know who will replace him, or if the position will be refilled at all.

RadioShack Is Dead, Long Live RadioShack [Wall Street Journal]

RadioShack CEO Joe Magnacca steps down [Dallas Business Journal]

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist