RadioShack on Park Street in New Canaan is slated to close, store workers have confirmed, days after the electronics store’s parent company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
RadioShack at 94 Elm St. in New Canaan will close. Credit: Michael Dinan
A ‘Store Closing’ sign appeared this weekend outside the downtown New Canaan mainstay.
It isn’t clear just when the retailer at 94 Park St. will close, though Sprint had pulled all its merchandise from a large section of the store as of Sunday afternoon.
Fort Worth, Texas-based parent company General Wireless Operations Inc. announced March 8 that the 1,500-store RadioShack would close about 200 stores.
Purchases made after March 2 may not be returned, according to RadioShack.
A fixture of the downtown for more than one dozen years, RadioShack made headlines last month, after police charged a 22-year-old New Canaan man and 31-year-old Bridgeport woman in connection with the theft in January of 15 cellphones from the store—a haul estimated to be worth about $8,500.
The vacancy comes as town officials consider a review of what types of businesses are allowed in street-level commercial spaces just around the corner, in the heart of New Canaan’s downtown. The New Canaan Chamber of Commerce recently reported that the vacancy rate downtown is about 5.2 percent and typically ranges from 4 to 6 percent.
The bankruptcy filing is the company’s second in as many years.
In an announcement, Dene Rogers, RadioShack’s president and CEO, said that “RadioShack has proudly served local communities across the United States, offering consumers unique, high-quality products at a great value” for nearly 100 years.
“Over the course of the past two years, our talented, dedicated team has worked relentlessly in an effort to revitalize the Company and the RadioShack brand, while providing outstanding service to our customers,” Rogers said. “We greatly appreciate their hard work and dedication.”