RETAIL BLUES: RadioShack’s Tweets Offer a Bleak Look Into the Retailer’s Demise.

Over the Memorial Day weekend, RadioShack—which filed for bankruptcy twice in two years—closed over 1,000 stores, leaving just 70 corporate locations and 500 dealer stores in operation across the U.S. Throughout the weekend, the consumer electronics retailer announced a liquidation sale that played out on social media. Social media represents a new plot twist for America’s dying retailers: How do you toast a brand’s final days when the world is watching?

RadioShack opted for unadulterated bleakness. The company’s social media handle on Twitter shared photos that depicted the sale of store fixtures, $25 grab bags stuffed with items pieced at $5 apiece, and deeply discounted printers.

Just like Sears did, Radio Shack had the catalog business and associated customer database available to put together a first-rate online business before Amazon sold its first book.

Neither company’s management proved innovative enough to do so, and now both are failing.