GREENVILLE — Two local retailers will be closing their doors for good.
Electronics retailer RadioShack, 535 Wagner Avenue, and rue21, 1397 Wagner Avenue, a clothing store geared toward young women and men, are both expected to close within the next few weeks, due to cost-saving decisions by their corporate offices.
An estimated 400 rue21 locations are expected to be shuttered nationwide. An employee at rue21 in Greenville directed media inquiries to its corporate headquarters.
A spokesperson for rue21 stated to The Daily Advocate, “As part of our ongoing business transformation into a more cost efficient operator, we are closing unprofitable stores across our fleet in order to focus on our many hundreds of highly profitable locations. The exact number and timing of these closings will be determined in the coming weeks.”
It is unknown how many employees will be affected by rue21’s closure in Greenville.
General Wireless Operations, the parent company of RadioShack, has filed its second bankruptcy in as many years and is reportedly closing an estimated 185 locations this month alone. The company’s first bankruptcy proceedings in 2015 resulted in thousands of locations being shut down or leased to Sprint in a co-branding partnership.
An employee at the Greenville RadioShack confirmed the shop’s closure. He told The Daily Advocate the store’s last sales to customers will occur April 28 with the doors being shut permanently April 30.
Three RadioShack employees will be out of a job, as the company was unable to offer positions at other locations as all shops in the Dayton, Ohio, area are reportedly being closed.
