RadioBanter - Radio Shack Canada no more

From Globe and Mail Artciles
Electronics chains retune for competition

By MARINA STRAUSS

RETAILING REPORTER

Thursday, May 26, 2005

Canada's hotly competitive consumer electronics retailing business is bracing
for more static as two major U.S. players battle over the RadioShack name and
an array of merchants set their sights on snatching a bigger piece of the
techno-action.

The retailers are grappling with plummeting prices and tighter profit margins
as the technological life cycles of many new products keep shrinking, even as
demand for high-definition televisions and all things digital continues to
climb.

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RadioShack forming Canadian subsidiary

RadioShack forms subsidiary

Friday, May 6, 2005 Updated at 3:28 PM EDT

Globe and Mail Update

RadioShack Corp. of Fort Worth, Texas, has announced it is forming a Canadian
subsidiary to oversee the expansion of its chain of specialty consumer
electronics stores in Canada as part of the company's planned North American
expansion strategy.

The announcement comes on the heels of a March court ruling in favour of
RadioShack voiding a licensing agreement by InterTan Canada Ltd, which is now
owned by Circuit City. The ruling prohibits Circuit City from using the
RadioShack name in Canada or sub-licensing the RadioShack name to its
independent dealers past June. As such, Circuit City announced last week it is
relinquishing the RadioShack name at almost 900 stores in Canada in favour of a
new, untested brand.

The company says its has been exploring several options in Canada since winning
its lawsuit against InterTan and Circuit City, and expects to have upward of 20
to 30 company-owned stores operating in Canada by the end of the year, and that
most of those will be in the Toronto area. The company is also extending offers
to existing independent Canadian RadioShack dealers who wish to continue
operating under the company's brand name and infrastructure after June.

For its part, Circuit City Stores, Inc. of Richmond, Va., issued a statement
and clarification to the news release issued by RadioShack.

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Circuit City said it does has not relinquished its rights to the exclusive use
of the RadioShack brand in Canada until 2009.

"The Texas district court has only issued a partial ruling on the legal issues
between InterTAN and RadioShack," InterTAN CEO Brian E. Levy said in a
statement. "Once a final ruling is issued by the court, Circuit City and its
InterTAN subsidiary fully intend to appeal to protect our rights under the
Licence Agreement and for exclusive use of the RadioShack brand in Canada until
2009.

"While we are disappointed by RadioShack's hostility and their legal
manoeuvres, we are focusing our efforts on offering Canadian consumers and our
dealers an even broader range of products and more attractive value at The
Source by Circuit City," he said.