Popular Retail Chain From The 80s Could Be Making Big Comeback in Illinois

Nostalgia is all the rage.  Children of the 70s, 80s, and 90s, love to remember and revisit things from their childhood.  From music to movies and products to stores, playing on those memories to people who now have money can mean big business.

One twice-bankrupt retail store from the 80s is looking like they are going to try to make a comeback.  And Illinois might be the right place for them to get things going.

America's Dying Malls and Strip Malls

Let's be honest, it's way easier to click on a few buttons and have that product show up at the door.  The old brick-and-mortar stores are fading out.  But some people still like to walk around and look at what's available.  Touch it.  Try it on.

Yet 25% of people haven't been to a mall in the past year.  For a child of the 80s or 90s, how could that be possible?  Malls were the epicenter.  Not just the place to buy things.  The place to see things and of course, be seen.

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There is an estimated 90 million square feet of available mall space in America.

Unfortunately for malls, the one old retail store looking to make a comeback wasn't only in malls.  Many were in strip malls or just full-on free-standing stores.

Everyone Loves A Good Comeback

Did you know there are still some Radio Shacks open?  It's true.  In Illinois, there is one.  Yes, just one.  It's in Lemont, Illinois in a giant Target that is complete with a CVS and Starbucks as well.  So not quite like we remember.  But more could be coming back.

There are still a few 100 open in the US with other locations across the world.  A small cry from its dominating days when over 7000 stores were in the world, mostly in the US.

When you check out the Radio Shack website, it actually says "We are renovating" and that's not just the website.  It's also the stores you used to love to wander into at malls and see all the gadgets you never really planned to buy.

But they are investing to change that.

"Private label offerings, including drones, headphones, radios, and adapters, were strongly emphasized pre-bankruptcy to offset the margin pressures, a push expected to be continued under the new owners," RetailWire reported.

Is that enough to get you off the couch and going to a Radio Shack?  Well, Illinois has plenty of retail space available for them to move in and bring back the days of playing with the gadgets before buying, or not buying, them.