RadioShack Closing 9 Tampa Bay Area Stores

Tampa Bay area residents who rely on local RadioShack stores for gadgets and electronics may soon have to find new places to shop. Nine stores in the region are closing after the company filed for bankruptcy for a second time in recent history.

A total of 552 Radio Shack stores — more than a third of the company's total stores — are closing this month, according to BusinessInsider.com.

Nearly 190 stores will close immediately and another 365, which are holding "everything must go" liquidation sales, will close by April. Another 1,000 stores will remain on an evaluation list to see if they remain viable. The report noted that the stores that were closing “reflected the lowest sales velocity and highest rent” within the company.

The announcement comes just two years after the company closed around 1,800 stores in a restructuring effort after posting hundreds of millions of dollars in losses. The company closed more than 1,000 stores in 2014 after posting sales losses in 2012 and 2013. At that time, the company had around 4,300 stores.

Business Insider reported the following stores in the Tampa Bay area will close:

• Marina Village Shopping Center, 4933 34th St. S., St. Petersburg
• Clearwater Plaza, 1291 S. Missouri Ave., Clearwater
• Northgate Shopping Center, 9023 Florida Ave., Tampa
• Britton Plaza, 3850 S. Dale Mabry Highway, Tampa
• Townview Square Shopping Center, 7248 Gall Blvd., Zephyrhills
• Centre at University, 8396 N. Lockwood Ridge Road, Sarasota
• Temple Terrace Shopping Center, 8759 N. 56th St., Temple Terrace
• Palma Sola Square, 5777 Manatee Ave. W., Bradenton
• Goolsby Pointe Shopping Center, 11685 Boyette Road, Riverview

Patch’s Tony Schinella contributed to this story

AP Photo/John Raoux