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RadioShack Closing Its Forest Hills Store After More Than 4 Decades

By Ewa Kern-Jedrychowska | March 28, 2017 4:39pm
 RadioShack is closing its Forest Hills location after more than four decades.
RadioShack is closing its Forest Hills location after more than four decades.
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DNAinfo/Ewa Kern-Jedrychowska

QUEENS — The Forest Hills RadioShack will close soon after more that four decades in the neighborhood.

Employees at the store said they were not sure exactly when the location, at 107-06 Continental Ave., between Queens Boulevard and Austin Street, will close for good. But a yellow "Store Closing" banner is currently hanging above the entrance to the store and signs reading "Everything Must Go" and "Entire Store On Sale" plaster its windows.

The store is currently holding a clearance sale, and hundreds of items, from batteries to headphones, are being offered at 20 to 60 percent off standard pricing.

(DNAinfo/Ewa Kern-Jedrychowska)

The Forest Hills store is among more than 500 RadioShack locations slated for closure across the country after the chain recently filed for bankruptcy for the second time in two years. Most of the stores are expected close by early April, according to published reports.

Historian and local resident Michael Perlman said the store, which was initially located one block away, at 107-19 70th Road, opposite the so called Forest Hills' "Restaurant Row," opened in the neighborhood around 1975.

The store, which later moved to busy Continental Avenue, near the subway station, "ushered in technology to Forest Hills,” Perlman said in an email.

The historian, who obtained several RadioShack ads from the 1970s, said that at the time, the chain “sold much of everything,” from calculators and science fair kits to TV antennas and cassette recorders.

“I find it incredible how in July 1977, patrons were able to present a coupon and receive a free "Science Fair 160-piece 10 x 17 " jigsaw puzzle featuring the founders of modern electronics,” Perlman said. “There was approximately 200 puzzles per store available, so I can imagine the competition. Shopping became an educational experience!”

An employee said Monday that a lot of customers visiting the store in recent days are nostalgic. "They say they've been coming here since they were kids," he said.