UPDATE: RadioShack Running Target's Mobile-Phone Business
(Beginning in first paragraph, confirms RadioShack operating in some stores
and adds details; updates share prices.)
By Mary Ellen Lloyd
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
RadioShack Corp. (RSH) has begun running Target Corp.'s (TGT) mobile-phone
departments under a new partnership in some of its stores.
An employee of RadioShack's Kiosk Operations Inc. unit working in an Atlanta
Target store said Monday that RadioShack workers in that store and two others in
the metropolitan area began handling Target's mobile phone business last month.
They wear black shirts instead of the red shirts normally worn by Target
employees, and work within the electronics department but are dedicated to
selling the phones and calling plans already in Target stores. Those include
Verizon, T-Mobile, and AT&T phones and service plans, as well as various prepaid
phones and calling cards.
Branded Bullseye Mobile Solutions, RadioShack employees are working at about
100 Target stores in California, Georgia, Illinois, Minnesota, New Jersey, Texas
and Washington, according to the Minneapolis-St. Paul Business Journal.
Representatives for Target and RadioShack didn't immediately respond to
requests for comment, but the Business Journal said Target plans to expand the
concept to all of its roughly 1,700 stores in 2010.
The Atlanta worker said Target employees have continued to handle sales of
digital cameras and other consumer electronics in the electronics department,
although RadioShack workers receive some limited training on those items.
RadioShack has taken several steps this year to boost its wireless business,
including adding Verizon Wireless last month to 450 kiosks it operates in Sam's
Club stores under that retailer's brand. Wireless phones and services generate
about a third of RadioShack's sales.
RadioShack shares recently traded down 1.2% at $16.69, while Target shares
were up 0.9% at $48.85 in recent trading.
- By Mary Ellen Lloyd, Dow Jones Newswires, 704-948-9145; maryellen.lloyd@
dowjones.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
11-02-091241ET
Copyright (c) 2009 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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