Dive Brief:

• RadioShack CEO Ron Garriques is stepping down “to pursue other interests” after taking the job in April after the company emerged from bankruptcy, the company confirmed to the Fort Worth Star Telegram Wednesday. 

• Chief revenue officer Marty Amschler is also leaving, to be replaced by both Todd Schrader as VP of stores and Tom Maria as VP of store operations.

• The reborn retailer, sold to hedge fund Standard General, has since developed new store designs for its now 1,700 stores nationwide that include Sprint wireless centers, and hired comedian-actor Nick Cannon as chief creative officer.

Dive Insight:

RadioShack’s rebirth last year included a surprising $75 million financial package to help it revamp its stores and bring them into the 21st century.

That work is far from done, and it’s unclear what Garriques's departure means for its prospects.

The way the company has talked about its plans for this new money harkens, in a way, back to its hey-day, when it was the go-to shop for the kinds of geeks that would build up their own custom PCs. Those days are gone, as those kinds of hardware building blocks are too easily and cheaply found on the web.

Still, young people are foregoing things like apparel purchases to save up for tech gadgets, while their parents and older siblings are shelling out for things like smartwatches. To qualify as an “exciting new product mix,” as RadioShack has put it, it must bring something that is not at Best Buy or the Apple Store, perhaps something we haven’t imagined yet. 

The retailer must also up its e-commerce game, something that it has said it’s diligently working on.