By Morgan Guyer

In the early 1960s, RadioShack introduced their 130th franchise store in the world located in Maryville at Best Brands Plus.

On August 1, 2022, Radio Shack officially closed their Maryville location. When Owner Cliff McNair purchased Best Brands Plus in 1985, RadioShack was the biggest non-food franchise in the world.

“Looking back on it, RadioShack was trying to change with the times, but they changed the wrong direction,” McNair said. “They wanted to sell satellites and cellphones, and they were competing against the people who were manufacturing and owning the stores.”

RadioShack filed for their first bankruptcy in 2015, closing their company stores down.

The general reception around the company network is that RadioShack is closed down, even though there are still over 500 franchise stores operational today. McNair has relied on them to be able to purchase specific merchandise that he sells.

McNair believes that if RadioShack kept their proprietary brands while also changing with the market, they may still be at around in a larger capacity in the future. In the ‘80s, Best Brands Plus was purchasing $150,000 plus in merchandise from RadioShack. McNair still has a closet full of plaques and awards from RadioShack and they were even named as a top eight franchise store twice during their run.

“We were kind of the creme de la creme for a long, long time,” McNair said. “Then the whole thing changed, and it started going downhill. We are always in a changing market, but you have to adapt. They could have adapted but they chose the wrong avenues.”

McNair knows it will be hard to get some of the smaller products that he was getting from RadioShack, although he will try to keep the same merchandising mix using different suppliers so customers can still come in and find the pieces and parts they need.

 

“I’m really saddened about it. It’s a sad thing whenever you lose something that’s been a good supplier and a good part of the community,” said McNair.