Once a staple of electronics retailing and a ready source of small parts for ham radio homebrewers and electronics enthusiasts, RadioShack has fallen on tough times. In the wake of a substantial drop in holiday sales and a big fourth-quarter loss, the Fort Worth, Texas-based retailer has announced that it is closing 1100 of its outlets, leaving the chain with 4000 stores, including more than 900 dealer franchises. RadioShack’s stock fell by nearly 24 percent on the news.

Reported weak customer traffic at electronics retailers in general over the holiday season was reflected in a 19 percent drop in sales at RadioShack. Now market analysts have begun sounding the death knell for RadioShack, with some comparing the retailer’s numbers to those of Circuit City before it went under in 2008.

RadioShack once offered entry-level short-wave receivers, Citizens Band gear, a wide array of discrete components — including transistors, resistors, and capacitors — and, for a time, a fairly popular 2 meter hand-held transceiver and two different models of 10 meter single-band transceivers. It failed in its effort to market a dualband VHF/UHF hand-held radio, however. Over the years, RadioShack has offered fewer discrete components in its brick-and-mortar stores, moving that stock and other products to its online outlet, as it shifted its marketing focus to cell phones, consumer electronics, and various battery-operated gadgets.

Some market analysts say that while RadioShack and its relatively new CEO have taken some positive steps to turn things around, those may prove insufficient to keep the brand alive. — Thanks to Reuters, Yahoo Finance