RadioShack Has Deep Roots.

Here's a brief look at important dates and milestones for RadioShack across the past century...

  • 1919: Two friends start the Hinckley-Tandy Leather Company in Fort Worth, Texas, supplying leather shoe parts and supplies to repair shops.
  • 1921: Two brothers open the first "Radio Shack" in Boston, a small retail and mail-order business supplying ship radio equipment and "ham" radios. They borrowed the name for the store from the small wooden structure onboard ships that housed the radio equipment.
  • 1935: A predecessor of present-day RadioShack Corp. lists its shares for trading on the NYSE.
  • 1947: Radio Shack opens the first audio showroom to feature speakers, amplifiers, turntables and phonograph cartridges. Also that year, Charles D. Tandy joins the family business and would soon begin to chart a new direction for the Company's expansion.
  • 1954: The Company sells its leather operations to a New England firm and embarks on a capitalization plan to finance future expansion.
  • 1959: Charles Tandy is elected as chairman of the board. The Company changes its name to Tandy Corp. and officially moves its headquarters to Fort Worth.
  • 1959: RadioShack sells its first Realistic CB radio.
  • 1963: Tandy acquires Boston-based "Radio Shack" (as the retailer was then styled) amidst its financial distress.
  • 1972: RadioShack sells its first all-electronic calculator.
  • 1977: RadioShack introduces the first mass-marketed, fully assembled personal computer, the TRS-80, with a Level II BASIC operating system created by Bill Gates. The TRS-80 is warmly remembered in the technology community to this day; by the 1980s, RadioShack comes to be known as "the biggest name in little computers."
  • 1978: Charles D. Tandy dies. Later, the Fort Worth community erects a statue memorializing his visionary entrepreneurialism near the Company's headquarters downtown. In 2009, the statue was relocated to the Tandy Hall named in his honor at Texas Christian University's Neeley School of Business.
  • 1983: RadioShack introduces the "Model 100" laptop, the first of its kind in the computer industry.
  • 1984: RadioShack sells its first mobile phone. At present, The Shack has sold well more than 73 million mobile phones, establishing itself as a mobile authority.
  • 1985: RadioShack begins selling satellite television systems and service.
  • 1994: RadioShack initiates free recycling collection of rechargeable batteries in stores, responsibly disposing of more than 5 million pounds of rechargeable batteries to date.
  • 2000: Tandy Corp. changes its name to RadioShack Corp.; the Company later relists its shares on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker "RSH."
  • 2004: RadioShack launches kiosk sales segment in partnership with national wireless carrier and big-box retail partner.
  • 2005: RadioShack Corp. moves headquarters to new Riverfront Campus along Trinity River in downtown Fort Worth.
  • 2005: RadioShack becomes an Authorized Apple Reseller and later introduces Skype-certified hardware and software in stores for free voice- and video-calling over the Web.
  • 2008: RadioShack launches its electronics trade-in program that allows customers to trade used devices at no cost, no matter where they were purchased, for credit towards a new purchase. RadioShack also acquires full ownership of RadioShack de Mexico.
  • 2009: RadioShack adds a third national wireless carrier to its mobility assortment and launches a comprehensive new brand creative platform, "THE SHACK."
  • 2009: RadioShack concludes an extensive two-year grass-roots education campaign with the American Library Association to assist consumers in navigating the nationwide conversion to digital television broadcasting in high-definition, which earned a special commendation from the FCC in 2010.
  • 2010: RadioShack begins implementation of Target Mobile wireless centers in Target stores nationwide.
  • 2011: Verizon Wireless, the nation's largest wireless carrier, launches its industry-leading products and services in stores nationwide.
  • Today: RadioShack employs more than 34,000 associates, and a vast retail network that includes 4,700 company-operated stores across the United States and Mexico, 1,500 wireless phone centers in the United States, and approximately 1,100 dealer and other outlets worldwide.