Another Radio Shack to Close its Doors

RIDGEFIELD, CT — You've got questions? They've got answers but you'll have to travel a little further away for them. After more than four decades in business in Copp's Hill Plaza, Ridgefield Radio Shack will soon be shutting their doors. Longtime Ridgefielders will remember the heyday of the electronics store when beloved Jim Benti was the store manager.

Vincenzio James "Jim Benti" Bentivoglio, passed away at the age of 74 in 2012 but not before teaching hundreds in the community everything they need to know about electronics during the peak of the store's popularity in the 1980s and 1990s.

The store was founded in 1921, and "back in the day," was a very successful retailer with thousands of stores across the U.S. and billions of dollars in revenue. In the early days, shoppers and hobbyists could count on finding TV antennas, CB radios, intercom systems, shortwave radios, converters and many other hard to find gizmos and gadgets. But when the mid 90s and Apple hit the market, the retailer started to feel the competition and began a new business strategy. With Best Buy, Amazon and other electronic retailers hitting the market, Radio Shack began to see a steady decline and has been closing area stores.

In 2006, the company infamously laid off 400 employees by email which stated: "The workforce reduction notification is currently in progress. Unfortunately your position is one that has been eliminated."

Ridgefield Radio Shack will close by the end of August, store manager Jack Cravo said. Remaining Connecticut store locations that remain open for now include Danbury, Wilton, Southbury, New Milford, New Canaan, Westport, Fairfield and Stamford, where Cravo will transfer to. More than 80 of the chain's 1,200 stores will be closing, Cravo said.

Ridgefield Radio Shack posted "Everything Must Go," and "Everything On Sale" signs in their store windows Sunday, July 31 announcing price cuts of 20-40 percent off on top of select products already marked down. Ridgefield Radio Shack is located at 125 Danbury, Road, Ridgefield.

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