Fare Thee Well RadioShack, Makers of Fine Electronics and Sweet Commercials

Last February RadioShack declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy and announced plans to sell between 1,500 and 2,400 of its stores. IT techie’s around the country are mourning the loss. It almost feels like losing a friend that’s always been there for you. We need closure, so let’s all gather around the store’s silicone grave and say fare thee well to RadioShack.

The story of RadioShack dates back almost a full one hundred years when it was founded in 1921 by two brothers, Theodore and Milton Deutschmann. The store dealt primarily with amateur and ham radio equipment, thus the “Radio” part of the company’s name. The “Shack” half of the name originated from the small, wooden structure that housed radio equipment for boats, which made sense because their primary customers were shipowners off the Boston port that needed radio equipment for communication.

The rest of RadioShack’s story is well documented as RadioShack expanded into selling virtually every piece of consumer technology under the sun, like cameras, televisions, computers, cell phones, sweet remote control cars, and oh so much more. RadioShack’s stock prices peaked in 1999 and its number of stores reached 4,297.

There are several factors that contributed to the demise of RadioShack, like the ease of consumers finding specialty items online and poor management, but let’s not focus on the negative right now. Instead, let’s remember the good times. We could ramble on and try to put into words how great RadioShack used to be, or, we could walk together down YouTube memory lane and post some sweet RadioShack commercials. We’ll never forget you, RadioShack!

1976: “The Hottest Thing on Wheels Today”

1978: 20%! 30%! 40%! 50%!

1980s: Joysticks Not Included

1984: “More Than 100 Programs for Fun and Learning”

1987: A Totally Portable Phone for Only $2,495

1989: “Go Where You Want to Go, Call When You Want to Call”

1990: The Affordable and Portable Cellular Telephone

1994: The Best in America, RadioShack

Early 2000s: Terri Hatcher and Howie Long Make a Cute Couple

2005: “You Know How Much I Love Cars!”

2014: Super Bowl Hail Mary Play--Featuring Every 80s Celebrity Ever

2014: Not even the Star Power of Weird Al Could Save RadioShack

Wow. No more RadioShack not only means no more last-minute trips to the mall for that hard-to-find connecter, but it also means that the television world will be missing out on some sweet advertisements. In the meantime, SolutionOne is here to pick up the slack and provide your business with the technology you need to succeed.

What are some of your most treasured RadioShack memories? Which one of these featured commercials was your favorite? Do you have a favorite RadioShack commercial that we didn’t post? Let us know in the comments.