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No more Radio Shack in Canada. They will now be known as The Source by Circuit City. Could we be seeing Circuit City big box stores in the future to break up the Best Buy/Future fake duopoly? I hope so.
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Radio Shack in Canada becomes The Source
U.S. ruling forces InterTAN to rebrand 900 stores
Rita Tricher
The Canadian Press
Wednesday, April 27, 2005
TORONTO - More than 900 Radio Shack stores across Canada will be rebranded as The Source by Circuit City by the end of June, the top executive of InterTAN Canada Inc. confirmed last night.
The rollout, which starts today at the company's Eaton Centre store in downtown Toronto, comes on the heels of a U.S. court decision that prohibits InterTAN's new U.S. parent company from using the Radio Shack name in Canada.
For many years, InterTAN operated as a private Canadian company with the rights to the Radio Shack name in this country, but it agreed in March 2004 to be acquired by Circuit City Stores, Inc. of Richmond, Virginia.
"We are going to be the headquarters in Canada for everything that's personal, portable and mobile," InterTAN chief executive Brian Levy said.
He added that InterTAN plans to open 20 to 30 new The Source stores across Canada by the end of 2005 and offer a broader assortment of products in its stores.
"Not only are we changing the name of the stores, but we're going to keep everything that customers have enjoyed about shopping at Radio Shack over these many years, and we're going to make significant enhancements to that shopping experience."
Those changes include a new red and yellow logo, complete with diagrammatic sound waves and a revamped format "that will be easier to navigate."
The Source stores will also offer a ramped-up assortment of digital cameras, MP3 players, flat panel televisions and health products such as blood-pressure monitors and air purifiers as the company broadens its purchasing power through the deep pockets of its American parent.
It also promises to offer more than 300 "exclusive" gadgets via its Asian sourcing company, including clocks, stop watches and talking picture frames.
Circuit City is the No. 2 chain of consumer electronics stores in the United States, after industry leader Best Buy.
Radio Shack Corp. spun off the Canadian operations in 1987. But under a licensing deal, InterTAN was permitted to sell Radio Shack products and use the brand name.
Radio Shack of Fort Worth, Texas, filed a lawsuit last May in the 352nd Judicial District Court in Tarrant County, Texas, claiming it had the right to end the licensing agreement. The lawsuit came just as Circuit City was wrapping up the InterTAN acquisition.
Circuit City had previously said it would appeal the March ruling.
"Subsequent to (the merger), the people at Radio Shack in the United States contested the licence agreement that was in place, and certainly we maintain (it) was very fairly in place," Mr. Levy said last night.
"Radio Shack wanted us not to use their name, and we're simply obliging the court and ... we're using this as an opportunity to tell customers a more complete story that we think describes what's available to them in our stores."
The name change will also save InterTAN about $5 million in annual royalties paid to Radio Shack for licensed use of the brand, said Alan McCollough, chairman and chief executive of Circuit City.
The Canadian subsidiary will spend about $50 million on advertising this year to get Canadian consumers acclimated to the new brand.
There are no immediate plans to expand The Source stores into the United States.
Earlier this month, Circuit City reported a net income of $61.7 million U.S., or 31 cents per share, for fiscal 2005 on more than $10 billion in annual sales. That compared with a loss of $89.3 million, or 43 cents per share, in fiscal 2004.
For fiscal 2006, Circuit City expects sales to increase between three per cent and six per cent, and domestic same-store sales to grow in the low single digits -- despite the Texas court ruling.
______________
Radio Shack in Canada becomes The Source
U.S. ruling forces InterTAN to rebrand 900 stores
Rita Tricher
The Canadian Press
Wednesday, April 27, 2005
TORONTO - More than 900 Radio Shack stores across Canada will be rebranded as The Source by Circuit City by the end of June, the top executive of InterTAN Canada Inc. confirmed last night.
The rollout, which starts today at the company's Eaton Centre store in downtown Toronto, comes on the heels of a U.S. court decision that prohibits InterTAN's new U.S. parent company from using the Radio Shack name in Canada.
For many years, InterTAN operated as a private Canadian company with the rights to the Radio Shack name in this country, but it agreed in March 2004 to be acquired by Circuit City Stores, Inc. of Richmond, Virginia.
"We are going to be the headquarters in Canada for everything that's personal, portable and mobile," InterTAN chief executive Brian Levy said.
He added that InterTAN plans to open 20 to 30 new The Source stores across Canada by the end of 2005 and offer a broader assortment of products in its stores.
"Not only are we changing the name of the stores, but we're going to keep everything that customers have enjoyed about shopping at Radio Shack over these many years, and we're going to make significant enhancements to that shopping experience."
Those changes include a new red and yellow logo, complete with diagrammatic sound waves and a revamped format "that will be easier to navigate."
The Source stores will also offer a ramped-up assortment of digital cameras, MP3 players, flat panel televisions and health products such as blood-pressure monitors and air purifiers as the company broadens its purchasing power through the deep pockets of its American parent.
It also promises to offer more than 300 "exclusive" gadgets via its Asian sourcing company, including clocks, stop watches and talking picture frames.
Circuit City is the No. 2 chain of consumer electronics stores in the United States, after industry leader Best Buy.
Radio Shack Corp. spun off the Canadian operations in 1987. But under a licensing deal, InterTAN was permitted to sell Radio Shack products and use the brand name.
Radio Shack of Fort Worth, Texas, filed a lawsuit last May in the 352nd Judicial District Court in Tarrant County, Texas, claiming it had the right to end the licensing agreement. The lawsuit came just as Circuit City was wrapping up the InterTAN acquisition.
Circuit City had previously said it would appeal the March ruling.
"Subsequent to (the merger), the people at Radio Shack in the United States contested the licence agreement that was in place, and certainly we maintain (it) was very fairly in place," Mr. Levy said last night.
"Radio Shack wanted us not to use their name, and we're simply obliging the court and ... we're using this as an opportunity to tell customers a more complete story that we think describes what's available to them in our stores."
The name change will also save InterTAN about $5 million in annual royalties paid to Radio Shack for licensed use of the brand, said Alan McCollough, chairman and chief executive of Circuit City.
The Canadian subsidiary will spend about $50 million on advertising this year to get Canadian consumers acclimated to the new brand.
There are no immediate plans to expand The Source stores into the United States.
Earlier this month, Circuit City reported a net income of $61.7 million U.S., or 31 cents per share, for fiscal 2005 on more than $10 billion in annual sales. That compared with a loss of $89.3 million, or 43 cents per share, in fiscal 2004.
For fiscal 2006, Circuit City expects sales to increase between three per cent and six per cent, and domestic same-store sales to grow in the low single digits -- despite the Texas court ruling.