Apple’s retail stores are one of Cupertino’s crown jewels, and the envy of pretty much every tech company out there. A new rumor suggests that online retail giant Amazon might soon be looking to replicate Apple’s success with its own line of brick-and-mortar stores. But how will they get them? By buying up old Radio Shack stores and rebranding them.
According to a new report from Bloomberg Business, Amazon is thinking about using the RadioShack stores as showcases for the company’s hardware, like the Kindle, Echo and Fire Phone, as well as potential pickup and drop-off centers for online customers.
RadioShack isn’t doing well. The company is heading to bankruptcy court, and is widely rumored to be looking to sell its 4,000 or so stores. Other buyers being discussed include Sprint, which is supposedly considering buying and rebranding as many as 2,000 stores.
Although RadioShack has fallen on hard times, this doesn’t mean it’s down for the count. It’s possible that RadioShack won’t have to liquidate, and that another bidder could come forward besides Sprint or Amazon to keep the stores running.
In a sense, Amazon buying RadioShack makes perfect sense. Pretty much anything you can buy at RadioShack you can now get from Amazon for cheaper. Why not replace RadioShack with Amazon in retail spaces too?
Why’s RadioShack on the ropes? It’s pretty obvious, when you think about it: Every gadget you could buy at RadioShack 20 years ago has been made obsolete by the iPhone. But can even Amazon save RadioShack from Apple killing the chain off, once and for all?
Source: Bloomberg Business
