Alaska RadioShacks stay open

The RadioShack at the Mendenhall Mall will remain open. (Photo by Greg Culley)
The RadioShack at the Nugget Mall will remain open. (Photo by Greg Culley)

Juneau’s two RadioShacks are not going the way of a thousand others nationwide that are shutting down due to low quarterly earnings.

Neither are the 16 others in Alaska according to Bob Nedzwecky, the manager of Ketchikan’s RadioShack. He says Alaska RadioShacks are franchise-owned. The stores that are closing are corporate.

Nedzwecky says the flexibility of being a franchise allows the shop to bring in products that customers want.

“Listen to your consumer. If your consumer wants this, bring it in, sell it. Corporate stores don’t do that. Corporate stores let the corporate decide what they’re going to carry and they stick with it.”

Ketchikan’s RadioShack is owned by Peninsula Electronics, a RadioShack franchisee out of the Kenai Peninsula, which has six other locations in the state.

Charlene Kerr says RadioShack remains relevant in Alaska due to lack of competition. Kerr manages the Juneau RadioShack that has been located inside Western Auto Marine for the past 25 years.

“It’s basically the only place you can get parts and pieces for electronics. We sell a lot of computer cables, computer adaptors, TV cables, and there’s no place else where they can do that,” Kerr says. 

Instead of losing business to competing forces like Amazon, Kerr says part of her RadioShack’s business is mail orders. Kerr sends electronics all over Southeast Alaska and even to the Lower 48.

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