Why RadioShack will live on after bankruptcy

While RadioShack (RSH) in its current form has hit dead air, the almost century-old electronics retail will soldier on, albeit in a scaled-down version.

That may come as a relief to fans who rely on the store for wristwatch batteries and DC power connectors. The chain filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Thursday, and in doing so plans to sell as many as 2,400 stores. It's also in discussions to sell its remaining assets.

Despite this, RadioShack will continue on, thanks to two avenues of survival. Smaller "stores within stores" will operate at as many as 1,750 locations through a deal with Sprint (S), which will co-brand with the RadioShack name. On top of that, about 20 percent of RadioShack's roughly 5,000 stores are operated by independent franchisees, such as one store in Brattleboro, Vermont, that's owned by Ira Brezinsky.

"We happen to be doing pretty well and I know plenty of other franchise owners who are too," Brezinsky said in an interview with CNNMoney. "We're survivors."

The franchises weren't part of the Chapter 11 filing, RadioShack said in a press release. Many of those stores include products other than RadioShack-branded products, and provide a niche in small towns or rural regions that need a place to pick up gadgets and gizmos, as well as get advice and repairs.

While those franchises may need to change their names, they will likely continue to operate, as long as their customers keep coming in.

Still, thousands of RadioShack stores will be shuttered under the bankruptcy plan, a sad end to a one-time electronics giant. Even though it still has dedicated aficionados, RadioShack lost many customers over the past few decades with poor marketing strategies, strange inventory mixes, and sometimes uninformed clerks.

The company got its start in 1921, when it sold supplies to radio officers on clerks. In the 1970s and 1980s, it rode the surge of demand for electronics and computers, introducing one of the first mass-produced PCs, the TRS-80.

But some missteps, such as failing to ride the e-commerce boom, and turning into glorified cell-phone kiosks in the 1990s, hurt its core business.

In more recent years, RadioShack was hobbled by its relationships with lenders, with The Wall Street Journal detailing how one lender vetoed plans to close underperforming stores, derailing the retailer's plan to turnaround its business.