Is RadioShack Back?

One of the revamped RadioShack stores on the outskirts of Fort Worth, Texas—where the company was headquartered for decades—has an aisle full of remote-control cars and boats that could have been featured in Saturday morning cartoon commercials 30 years ago. Gone are the TVs and laptops and kiosks from competing cell carriers that once turned the stores into run-down phone purveyors secretly wanting to be Best Buys. Now there are inexpensive soldering irons and a 3D-printing pen capable of “drawing” small plastic sculptures, and RadioShack-brand do-it-yourself starter kits to make water alarms or electronic clocks or a theremin. These kits, which have been around for years, were an important part of the new effort. Michael Tatelman, the new chief marketing officer, says it’s an explicit attempt to court a new generation of makers and STEM students—the type who might be buying parts for decades to come.

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… as maker culture has surged in popularity among young adults who feel alienated from meaningful work, RadioShack is trying to become the phoenix of DIY consumer electronics—rising from its own ashes to encourage another generation to tinker. On top of all those drones and kits and cords and speakers, the new RadioShack carries something else: hope.