[Spooky23]

Sounds fishy to me.

Radio Shack tends to have old leases in 2nd tier shopping centers. Why would they buy a marginal retailer with poor footprint, when you could just lease stores yourself?

There was a time when getting space in malls and strip shopping centers was tough. This isn't one of those times.

[chiph]

They're probably going to be cherry-picking the locations, and the intent will be to buy the leases out, not the stores. They'll bring in the liquidators (perhaps they'll use the same ones that Circuit City used...), sell off the inventory and the fixtures, gut the interior and then redo it with their own interior design.

[eof]

old leases = below market rate? they are already well distributed for ten zillion amazon lockers?

it doesn't seem so far fetched to me; amazon being able to pick up a bunch of cheap space in fell swoop.

[ChuckMcM]

That is what I was thinking, a lot of Amazon lockers. And to be honest Radio has the 'components' space to itself in most places. I could see making it work if it was also connected to the giant hose that is Amazon's supply chain.

[libria]

Having used Amazon Lockers a lot, I don't really get it. If you don't want a package sitting on your doorstep all day, have it delivered to work. And Lockers has a maximum size limit that I hit every so often that negated that option. Having it show up at my desk is a lot more convenient.

Now if I could return packages through Lockers, then I'd be game.

[hdctambien]

So, just have the UPS guy come to McDonalds to deliver your package while you're working?

Not everyone works in an office...

[te0006]

Here in Germany we have a nationwide network of those: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Packstation like a 24/7 automated post office. Great for getting _and returning_ shipments not just from Amazon but from most any online merchant.

[untog]

Not everyone has the option of having stuff delivered to work. For me, my (large company) mailroom has a habit of taking about two days to actually get your mail to you, so the Locker at the end of the block is ideal for me.

[chiph]

The people working in the mail-room here started objecting to the number of Amazon packages arriving each day (non-business time spent, etc. etc.) so no more at-work deliveries. :(

[larrys]

"Why would they buy a marginal retailer with poor footprint, when you could just lease stores yourself?"

Because it's already assembled, at, in theory, lower than market rates and won't take months or a year to assemble. Similar to why companies buy companies instead of building their own. At least in the area that I am in Radio Shack has decent retail locations.

[blt]

You sure about the 2nd tier part? The ones around here are in prime locations.

[scottrblock]

Yep. The one closest to where I work is in a great spot in downtown DC, ironically enough half a block from Bezos owned Washington Post headquarters.

The one closest to where I live is in the prime shopping center adjacent to University of Maryland.

There's seemingly enough in good locations to cherry pick them out.

[mark-r]

The one closest to me is in a strip mall next to a Mexican restaurant.

[jchendy]

Is that supposed to be good or bad? It describes practically every store in the town where I grew up.

[Spooky23]

Where I live, Mexican restaurants and Karate studios are indicators of a dying mall.

[aioprisan]

In downtown Boston, there is one right by the financial district, so definitely a prime location.

[untog]

Take a look at their locations in New York City:

http://www.radioshack.com/store-locator

(there's no permalink, but try ZIP code 10008)

There are a lot of prime locations in there. No doubt some duds too, but I expect Amazon could cherry-pick.

[dredmorbius]

Lots of established retail locations and fire-sale prices.

Putting together the real-estate inventory on your own means a lot more work.

Sell off the nonperforming locations you don't want. Keep and gut the rest. My bet is that Radio Shack as a brand is done.

[pjy04]

THIS... buying 2nd class real estate locations won't improve it just with a new name...

[pbreit]

They might be close to free and that sounds like a decent overlap with amazons low prices.