Looking Back on RadioShack

September 2014

I would've been honest with investors that the business was in runoff mode. Liquidating stores would have generated cash. It's possible that the honest, pessimistic approach would have caused the stock to be cheap. If so I would have repurchased shares. If shares were expensive, I would have issued more and bought shares of banks trading at huge discounts to book value. Could've been a Berkshire.

Anyway, management basically did the opposite of my plan. So now there are only two possible scenarios, one of which is going to occur in short order: either they file for bankruptcy protection or they get a generous "rescue financing" that lends them more cash and would probably be tantamount to a bankruptcy in terms of the dilution (like the Molycorp financing, but worse). Even all the sell side people admit these are the only two scenarios.

October 2014

I've been looking for an electronics retailer that has done what I say Radio Shack should have done; go into runoff for the benefit of shareholders. A correspondent suggested TWMC... Here's a key difference between TWMC and RSH: there's a former CEO of TWMC, Robert Higgins, who owns 45% of the company. That makes it less likely that money will be wasted on store renovations and "super bowl" advertisements.

RadioShack Put Options Accelerated

On October 2, 2015, the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware confirmed the First Amended Joint Plan of Reorganization (Plan) for RS Legacy Corporation (RSHCQ). The Plan became effective on October 8, 2015, and RSHCQ shares were canceled.

CONTRACT ADJUSTMENT
Effective October 8, 2015, existing RSHCQ options are adjusted to no longer call for the delivery of RS Legacy Corporation Common Shares upon exercise. The option symbol RSHCQ will not change. In settlement of RSHCQ exercise/assignment activity, a RSHCQ put exerciser (or call assignee) will receive a cash payment of the full aggregate strike price amount on the exercise settlement date. A RSHCQ put assignee (or call exerciser) will pay this amount on the exercise settlement date. Settlement will take place through OCC’s cash settlement system on the third business day after exercise. Since RSHCQ options are American-style, they are exercisable at the election of the holder. Expiration processing for RSHCQ options will take place in the normal fashion, including automatic exercise thresholds.

ACCELERATION OF EXPIRATIONS
Pursuant to OCC Rule 807, equity stock option contracts whose deliverables are adjusted to call for cash-only delivery will be subject to an acceleration of the expiration dates for outstanding option series. (See OCC Information Memo 23707) Additionally, the exercise by exception (ex by ex) threshold for expiring series will be $.01 in all account types. All series of RS Legacy Corporation options whose expiration dates are after 10-16-2015 will have their expiration dates advanced to 10-16-2015. Expiration dates occurring before 10-16-2015 (e.g., Flex options) will remain unchanged. All RS Legacy Corporation options will utilize a $.01 exercise threshold.

RadioShack Shares Cancelled

Latest 8-K filed today:

On October 7, 2015, the effective date of the Plan (the “Effective Date”) occurred. On the same date, the Debtors filed a Notice of Effective Date of the Plan (the “Notice of Effective Date”) with the Bankruptcy Court. A copy of the Notice of Effective Date is attached hereto as Exhibit 99.1 and is incorporated herein by reference.

AS A RESULT OF THE PLAN BEING EFFECTIVE, ALL OF THE COMPANY’S EQUITY INTERESTS, CONSISTING OF AUTHORIZED AND OUTSTANDING SHARES OF COMMON STOCK OF THE COMPANY, WERE CANCELLED WITHOUT CONSIDERATION AND HAVE NO VALUE.

Radio Shack Stock To Be Cancelled Soon

Form 8-K filed today:

As previously disclosed, on February 5, 2015, RS Legacy Corporation (the “Company”) and its direct and indirect domestic subsidiaries (together with the Company, the “Debtors”) filed voluntary petitions for relief (the “Chapter 11 Cases”) under chapter 11 of title 11 of the United States Code (the “Bankruptcy Code”) in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware (the “Bankruptcy Court”). The Debtors are continuing in possession of their properties and are managing their businesses, as debtors in possession, in accordance with the applicable provisions of the Bankruptcy Code and orders of the Bankruptcy Court. The Chapter 11 Cases are being jointly administered by the Bankruptcy Court under In re RS LEGACY CORPORATION, et al. (Case No. 15-10197).

On October 2, 2015, the Bankruptcy Court entered an order (the “Confirmation Order”) confirming the Debtors’ First Amended Joint Plan of Liquidation, as originally filed with the Bankruptcy Court on August 10, 2015 and as thereafter modified (the “Plan”). The effective date of the Plan (the “Effective Date”) has yet to be determined. A copy of the Plan, as confirmed by the Bankruptcy Court, a Disclosure Statement describing the Plan and the Confirmation Order are attached hereto as Exhibits 2.1, 2.2 and 2.3, respectively, and are incorporated herein by reference.

PURSUANT TO THE TERMS OF THE PLAN, ALL OF THE COMPANY’S EXISTING EQUITY INTERESTS, CONSISTING OF AUTHORIZED AND OUTSTANDING SHARES OF COMMON STOCK OF THE COMPANY, WILL BE DEEMED CANCELLED UPON THE EFFECTIVE DATE, AND THE COMPANY’S SHAREHOLDERS WILL NOT RECEIVE OR RETAIN ANY DISTRIBUTION OR OTHER PROPERTY ON ACCOUNT OF THEIR SHARES. AS OF THE DATE OF THE CONFIRMATION ORDER, THERE WERE 100,705,069 SHARES OF THE COMPANY’S COMMON STOCK OUTSTANDING.

A year ago the stock closed at 84 cents. Two years ago it was at $3.26.

RadioShack Plan Back On Fast Track?

"The Court held the Confirmation Hearing, in accordance with prior orders, on September 16 and 17, 2015. At the conclusion of the Combined Hearing, the Court directed the parties to submit additional briefing with respect to contested issues related to the Lender Objections. Subsequent to the Combined Hearing, the Parties reached an agreement in principle on the terms of the Indemnification Settlement and the TSA Settlement and, as a result, the Indemnification Objections are, subject to Court approval of the Settlements, resolved. The Debtors submit that expeditious confirmation of the Plan is in the best interests of the estates and creditors. A Hearing on the Settlement Motion on September 30, 2015 will enable the Debtors to proceed toward confirmation without further delay."

Latest in RadioShack Bankruptcy Case

The company filed a response [pdf] to objections by Standard General and Wells Fargo to plan confirmation.

Standard General and Wells Fargo assert purported indemnification rights against the Debtors that do not exist under either the ABL Credit Agreement or the DIP Credit Agreement. Under established New York law (which governs both agreements), an indemnification agreement does not cover claims made by the indemnifying party itself absent “unmistakably clear” language. This makes sense, because such an indemnification right would be tantamount to a release, and RadioShack (both pre- and post-bankruptcy) never gave Standard General or Wells Fargo a general release. Plain vanilla indemnity agreements (such as those contained in section 9.6 of each of the ABL Credit Agreement and DIP Credit Agreement) cover claims brought by third parties. And, of course, the Committee’s timely filed litigation in Fort Worth, Texas (the “Texas Litigation”) is on behalf of RadioShack (not a third party), a right expressly provided by the Sale Order.

Stock is currently 6.5 cent bid.

RadioShack Confirmation Hearing Still Scheduled For September 16?

"Pursuant to the Solicitation Procedures Order, the deadline for voting on the First Amended Plan is September 10, 2015, and a combined hearing ("Combined Hearing") on the adequacy of the disclosure statement and confirmation of the First Amended Plan is scheduled for September 16, 2015. Absent the extension requested by this motion, however, the Debtors' Exclusive Solicitation Period will expire on September 4, 2015. As such, the Debtors respectfully request a short extension of the Exclusive Solicitation Period so that the Debtors may maintain the exclusive right to solicit plan acceptance while they seek confirmation of the First Amended Plan."

RadioShack shares down to 9 cents. Not a strong buy.

RadioShack (RS Legacy Corporation) Amended Plan and Disclosure Statement

• September 10 will be the voting deadline and September 16 the Combined Hearing on the plan, according to an amended timeline filed on Friday.
• "Class 9 Interests (Stock Interests in RadioShack) are impaired. On the Effective Date, all outstanding Stock Interests of RadioShack will be cancelled. Upon such cancellation, no property will be distributed to, or retained by, holders of such Stock Interests of RadioShack. On the Effective Date, the Liquidating RadioShack Stock will be issued to the Liquidating Trust."
• "'Effective Date' means the earliest possible date, as determined by the Debtors, that is a Business Day on or after the date on which all conditions to the effective date in Section VIII.B. have been met or waived pursuant to Section VIII.C."
• "The following shall be conditions to Confirmation unless such conditions shall have been duly waived pursuant to Section VIII.C.: 1. The Confirmation Order shall have been entered by the Bankruptcy Court and shall be reasonably acceptable in form and substance to the Debtors, the SCP Secured Parties and the Creditors' Committee. 2. The Plan will not have been materially amended, altered or modified from the Plan as Filed on _____, 2015 except as permitted by Section XI.B. 3. All Plan Exhibits are in form and substance reasonably satisfactory to the Debtors, the SCP Secured Parties and the Creditors' Committee."
• The Effective Date shall not occur and the Plan shall not be consummated unless and until each of the following conditions has been satisfied or duly waived pursuant to Section VIII.C.: 1. The Bankruptcy Court shall have entered an order (contemplated to be part of the Confirmation Order) in form and substance reasonably acceptable to the Debtors, the SCP Secured Parties and the Creditors' Committee approving and authorizing the Debtors and the Liquidating Trustee to take all actions necessary or appropriate to effectuate, implement and consummate the Plan, including the execution, delivery and performance of contracts, instruments, releases and other agreements or documents created in connection with the Plan. 2. The Confirmation Order has become a Final Order. 3. The Liquidating Trust Agreement has been executed and the Liquidating Trust has been established.

Latest Filing in RadioShack Bankruptcy by Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors

OBJECTION OF THE OFFICIAL COMMITTEE OF UNSECURED CREDITORS TO MOTION OF SALUS CAPITAL PARTNERS, LLC TO CONVERT DEBTORS’ CHAPTER 11 CASES TO CASES UNDER CHAPTER 7 OF THE BANKRUPTCY CODE

1. The Motion is nothing more than a self-serving attempt by Salus to improve its under secured status at the expense of all other constituencies which have worked diligently to bring these complex chapter 11 cases towards a successful conclusion on July 22, 2015 pursuant to the Debtors’ plan of liquidation [Docket No. 2404 (the “Plan”)].

2. Salus’s primary argument is that conversion is warranted under Section 1112(b)(4)(A) of the Bankruptcy Code because there is allegedly: (i) a substantial or continuing loss to or diminution of the estate, and (ii) the absence of a reasonable likelihood of rehabilitation. The argument has no merit as the Debtors have proposed the feasible Plan which will be confirmed on July 22, 2015. Also, the record of these proceedings make clear that the Debtors’ assets have been maximized not diminished, for the benefit of Salus.

3. All parties, including Salus, knew from the very outset of these proceedings that the best way to maximize value was by prompt sales of the Debtors’ assets. Salus supported the sales processes in order to maximize the value of its collateral. Despite never providing any debtor-in-possession financing2, Salus has benefitted from the successful disposition of estate assets, which is virtually complete. 3 Furthermore, Salus (together with the SCP Agent and Cerberus) has received almost $28 million as post-petition adequate protection (including principal, interest and legal fees) from the Debtors’ estates. Now, when the time has come to pay its fair share of the costs and expenses of these proceedings (by 506(c) surcharge and application of the full $39 million subordination), Salus seeks conversion. Accordingly, the Motion should be seen by the Court for what it really is – a last-minute ploy to obtain additional leverage now that Salus has achieved the full benefit of maximizing the value of its collateral in chapter 11 without paying the attendant costs and expenses. The Motion should be denied.
[...] 
10. On June 5, 2015, the Debtors filed a motion for an order scheduling a combined hearing on approval of their proposed disclosure statement and liquidating plan and establishing solicitation procedures (the “Scheduling Motion”, Docket No. 2387). The Scheduling Motion states that based on current status of their efforts, the Debtors expect to largely complete the sale or liquidation of their non-litigation assets by the end of June, 2015.

11. The Scheduling Motion makes clear that the Debtors are currently formulating the terms of the Plan and intend to file it (in combination with a disclosure statement) by a date that would permit a hearing on confirmation of the Plan on or about July 22, 2015. The Plan was filed on June 12, 2015 (Docket No. 2404).

RadioShack Files Plan of Liquidation

Highlights:

Class 9 Interests (Stock Interests in RadioShack) are impaired. On the Effective Date, all outstanding Stock Interests of RadioShack will be cancelled. Upon such cancellation, no property will be distributed to, or retained by, holders of such Stock Interests of RadioShack. [...]

On the Effective Date, all Causes of Action will be transferred from the Liquidating Debtors to the Liquidating Trust. Any recovery of Cash by the Liquidating Trustee on account of such Causes of Action will be distributed pursuant to the terms of the Plan and the Liquidating Trust Agreement. [...]

A. Conditions to Confirmation
The following shall be conditions to Confirmation unless such conditions shall have been duly waived pursuant to Section XI.C.:
1. The Confirmation Order shall have been entered by the Bankruptcy Court and shall be reasonably acceptable in form and substance to the Debtors.
2. The Plan will not have been materially amended, altered or modified from the Plan as Filed on June 12, 2015 except as permitted by Section XI.C.
3. All Plan Exhibits are in form and substance reasonably satisfactory to the Debtors.

B. Conditions to the Effective Date
The Effective Date shall not occur and the Plan shall not be consummated unless and until each of the following conditions has been satisfied or duly waived pursuant to Section VIII.C.:
1. The Bankruptcy Court shall have entered an order (contemplated to be part of the Confirmation Order) in form and substance reasonably acceptable to the Debtors approving and authorizing the Debtors and the Liquidating Trustee to take all actions necessary or appropriate to effectuate, implement and consummate the Plan, including the execution, delivery and performance of contracts, instruments, releases and other agreements or documents created in connection with the Plan.
2. The Confirmation Order has become a Final Order.
3. The Liquidating Trust Agreement has been executed and the Liquidating Trust has been established.

"RadioShack Failure Still Haunts HRG" $RSHCQ

Wow, huge loss on the loan to Radio Shack!

Low low distressed debt trades

• RadioShack bonds traded last week with a 5 handle.
• The Walter Energy 8.5s traded at 6.25; massive current yield!
• The EXXI 3s traded in the high 20s - low 40%s ytm.
• Molycorp secured debt moved down about 15 points into the high 40s - around 30% ytm. People had gotten way too optimistic before earnings.
• The Molycorp 6s unsecured and the 3.25s unsecured are both single digit now. The 3.25 ytm is over 400%!
• Goodrich bonds have come down into the mid 40s again. That's a ytm inthe mid 30%s.

"RadioShack Statement Regarding Stock Price and Trading Volume" $RSHCQ

Classic press release from Radio Shack:

FORT WORTH, March 12, 2014 — In light of the trading volume in its common stock at prices in excess of $0.20 per share, RadioShack Corporation today reiterated its belief that there will be no recovery for any equity holder in its pending Chapter 11 proceedings.

Equity holders of a company in Chapter 11 bankruptcy generally receive value only if all claims of a company’s secured and unsecured creditors are fully satisfied. RadioShack said it believes that the claims of its secured and unsecured creditors will not be fully satisfied, leading to the conclusion that RadioShack common stock has no value.

"RadioShack’s Bankruptcy Could Take a Toll on Junior Creditors"

WSJ:

"Cash coming in from liquidation of nearly 2,000 stores, and the planned auction of the rest, may fall short of the roughly $500 million RadioShack needs to cover its secured loans. Salus, which will be the last lender paid, could see some losses, according to discussions in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del.

The news isn’t good for unsecured creditors, who are also owed about $500 million."

The unsecured notes were 9 cent bid this morning.

Salus Response to RadioShack Unsecured Creditors' Motion

1. Salus generally supports the Committee’s position that an investigation into a number of the issues raised in the Motion is warranted given the unique set of circumstances leading up to the commencement of these cases. The Motion, however, lodges some very serious (and patently false) accusations against Salus, which require an immediate response.

2. Most significantly, the Committee states without any support that “upon information and belief,” Salus was a purchaser, “in CDS transactions, of protection on RadioShack debt.” The Committee speculates that Salus’ “refus[al] to consent to RadioShack’s plan to close 1,100 stores in the spring of 2014, as well as [its] decision to send two notices of default, may have been motivated by these CDS positions.”

3. Salus does not know what “information” underpins the Committee’s “belief”, but to be clear – and to disabuse the Committee of its misguided speculation – Salus did not, at any time, purchase or hold CDS positions with respect to any of the Debtors’ debt obligations. The contention that Salus made any decision based on CDS positions is simply false.

4. The Committee’s assertion that “the equity-like return (LIBOR +11%) and minimal covenants on the Term Loan warrants investigation into whether the Term Loan could be recharacterized as equity” is meritless. The Committee offers no (zero) authority in support of its novel “recharacterization” theory. Salus is not a director, officer or shareholder of the Debtors. Salus is not, and never has been, a purchaser or holder of any CDS protection in relation to any Debtor. The Committee has no good cause (in fact, it has no cause at all) for the discovery it seeks because the issues the Committee claims it wants to investigate have no bearing on Salus. The single allegation regarding what the Committee calls an “equitylike return” on the term loan does not warrant the approval of a 2004 examination with respect to Salus or the other term lenders. See, e.g., In re East West Resort Dev. V, 2014 Bankr. LEXIS 3930, *20-21 (Bankr. D. Del. 2014) (the scope of a 2004 examination is “broad” but “there are limits”); In re Kelton, 389 B.R. 812, 820 (Bankr. S.D. Ga. 2008) (“The UST must show good cause exists to conduct a Rule 2004 examination”).

5. Notwithstanding the Committee’s baseless attack – which easily could have been avoided if the Committee attempted to contact Salus before filing the Motion – Salus is willing to produce evidence to address the Committee’s concerns. However, to avoid the cost and burden of responding to subpoenas, document requests and depositions under Bankruptcy Rule 2004, Salus believes the parties should endeavor to address such concerns cooperatively and without the need for formal discovery.

Distressed Bond Trades

• MCP 3.25s 2016 traded ~17 for a ytm ~200%.
• MCP 10s (secured) traded today ~ 56 for a ytm of 25%.
• MCP market cap is still over $200 million!
• WLT 9.875s 2020 traded a million+ yesterday at 13.5, ytm of 82%!
• RSH unsecureds (defaulted) have been trading in the mid-teens
• GDP 2019 paper has rallied a few points, but still ytm 35%

Highlights From Unsecured Creditors' Rule 2004 Motion in RadioShack Case

The Committee represents more than half-a-billion dollars of unpaid trade creditors, landlords, employees, and bondholders and understands that RadioShack’s largest shareholder and recent secured lender (same hedge fund) has now assumed the role of buyer of the Debtors’ best assets. The cost to the estates for that transaction is a blanket judicial pardon for whatever it and swap-betting hedge funds may have done when they acquired the secured debt, then caused RadioShack to immediately commence liquidating their collateral, and then caused RadioShack’s crash landing into bankruptcy to finish the job. Not so fast.

RadioShack’s revenues have steadily declined over the past the past 3 years, with the company reporting losses in each of the 11 quarters leading up to the bankruptcy filing and losing nearly 1 billion dollars since the fourth quarter of 2011. Despite predictable (and indeed, foreseen) losses, RadioShack decided in very late 2013 to borrow as much money as it could on a senior secured basis and attempt a turnaround.

Upon information and belief, during the summer of 2014, RadioShack’s crisis managers and professionals explored various options, at least one of which could have provided a value-maximizing transaction through bankruptcy. Shareholders would have been wiped out, but losses would have been stemmed, jobs would have been saved, and unsecured creditors would have had a recovery. Something happened on the way to that place, however. Instead of pursuing that or other options that may have been available, the two largest shareholders acquired the first-lien debt and dictated a different process altogether. These shareholders created a secured first-lien structure that would give them control over a process to garner returns in two perfectly hedged ways: If RadioShack continued on its expected trajectory, they would loan-to-own and capture the potential turnaround value following bankruptcy, and if things miraculously turned around quickly, they would exchange part of their debt for majority ownership through a massively dilutive stock transaction. To fund this strategy, armed with confidential information and the express, contractual power to influence the timing of any bankruptcy, the shareholders located hedge funds which sought to avoid substantial losses on credit default swaps they had written on RadioShack debt. These are the lenders who now demand releases by the Debtors’ estates.

In connection with the October 2014 Transaction, RadioShack incurred $31.8 million in financing fees as well as approximately $142 million in additional obligations, despite the fact that the company had suffered losses in the previous 11 quarters. Tellingly, any and all representations that RadioShack was solvent were stricken from the Credit Agreement pursuant to the First Amendment. These fees and obligations owing to the Participating Investors represented only the disclosed portion of the financial reward realized by many of these hedge funds.

Several of the Participating Investors, including BlueCrest Capital Management LLP, DW Investment Management LP, Mudrick Capital Management, and Saba Capital Management LP (and/or any funds managed by or affiliated with the foregoing), had reportedly sold CDS protection on RadioShack bonds, betting that the company would not default on its bonds—at least not before December 20, 2014. If the company did default before that date, the Participating Investors who had sold that CDS protection would have suffered massive losses.

The October 2014 Transaction however, enabled the Participating Investors to avoid such losses and keep the Debtors out of bankruptcy until after December 20, 2014. This way, the Participating Investors that had previously sold CDS on RadioShack bonds could pocket the upfront payments received from the purchasers of that protection and actually prevent their own losses by orchestrating when RadioShack would default.

An investigation is warranted to determine whether Standard General, LiteSpeed, and/or other Participating Investors (or their affiliates) wrote CDS contracts on RadioShack bonds such that they had a motive to enter into the October 2014 Transaction either to injure RadioShack or to prevent CDS losses while such entities were in possession of material nonpublic information (“MNPI”) and, taking all facts into account, in a position to influence the fate of RadioShack, including the timing of its bankruptcy filing. A Rule 2004 investigation is similarly warranted to determine if any of the Participating Investors were executing a “steepener” strategy, betting that RadioShack would not default in the short term (because they were ensuring that that would not happen through the October 2014 Transaction and the Transaction Committee’s consultation rights), but would likely default in early 2015. In this regard, a review of the agreements underlying the October 2014 Transaction reveals provisions that indicate that the Participating Investors may have been executing such a “steepener” strategy.

For example, while the October 2014 Transaction may have been specifically engineered to prevent a default in the fourth quarter of 2014, several new events of defaults imposed by the First Amendment would likely be triggered in the first quarter of 2015. If the goal of the October 2014 Transaction was to delay bankruptcy for four months, the benefits that RadioShack and its other stakeholders received for such transaction must be investigated and assessed.

In addition to seeking information from the Participating Investors themselves, the Committee also requests information from Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (“DTCC”) and Markit Group Holdings Ltd. and Markit Group Ltd. (together, “Markit”) relating to CDS activity on RadioShack debt from November 1, 2013 through the Petition Date. That information is not available from other sources due to the private nature of the CDS market.

The Committee is prepared to enter into appropriate protective orders with DTCC and Markit, as its undersigned proposed counsel has done in other actions involving the CDS industry.

If Standard General, LiteSpeed, or any other Participating Investor was an insider (even a temporary insider), liability may potentially be imposed to the extent they were in the possession of MNPI about the company and they used that information to make trades (including the avoidance of CDS losses), motivated in whole or in part by the substance of that information.

"RadioShack Restructuring Head Says Retailer Overestimated Cash" $RSHCQ

Article:

A $120 million loan the electronics retailer received from Standard General LP in October didn’t provide as much liquidity as the company thought it would, RadioShack’s Chief Revitalization Officer Harry J. Wilson said at a conference for restructuring professionals in Las Vegas. Cash was reduced by the need to pay past-due accounts. [...]

“The leash they had was much shorter than they were led to believe,” Wilson told the lawyers, financial advisers and investors of distressed debt [...]

[H]e was “skeptical” about RadioShack’s options when he was hired to lead its restructuring in October. “I’m not a big fan of physical retailers,” he said.

He said his team identified about $300 million of annual cost reductions that were thought to be enough to get the company through the holiday sales period [...but...] weren’t enough to fix RadioShack. “Holiday sales were disappointing,” Wilson said. “They couldn’t buy inventory” because of liquidity constraints, he said. [...]

Eventually, the company began offering its stores to retailers such as Sprint. “No investor will invest on a hope and a prayer. That’s why we brought in Sprint and talked to others,” he said. “The precipitous decline of this business is really amazing,” Wilson said.

A Correspondent Visits Sears and Radio Shack at the Mall of America

This is the same correspondent who visited last May:

Sears has cleaned up its act, at least on its upper two floors that I saw. The lights are much, much brighter. There were a dozen or more customers on each floor. The disorderly heaps of blue-denim that looked like prison uniforms are gone, replaced by neatly sorted, bright-colored clothing.

Radio Shack had only two items of merchandise that were even remotely interesting: three or four soldering irons and a small display of flashlights. I was tempted to buy a set of four flashlights for $9.99. But noticed, just in time, that their brightnesses were only 20 to 30 lumens, compared with 150 lumens for key chain flashlight sold elsewhere. There were normal flashlights, but they were priced the same as similar flashlights at Amazon.

"Why Does RadioShack Ask For Your Phone Number When You Buy Batteries?" $RSH