AHOSKIE – Now it all makes sense.

When Radio Shack in Ahoskie abruptly closed its doors last month, it may have been an inkling of what was coming down the road for the Fort Worth, Texas based company.

On Thursday of last week, Radio Shack filed for bankruptcy. As part of its bankruptcy proceedings, company officials announced is going to close a number of its stores, while others will survive as part of an agreement with Sprint to create a “store within a store.”

In court documents posted by Radio Shack, the company and its creditors detailed plans for which Radio Shack stores will close and when. In all, the company plans to close at least 1,784 of its 4,297 stores by March 31.

The lone Roanoke-Chowan area store, formally located in the Ahoskie Commons Shopping Center, closed the second week of January. According to a Town of Ahoskie official, the Town Hall received notification on Jan. 8 to close the business account for water and sewer at the Radio Shack location.

According to information from Radio Shack, its pending closure of stores will come in three waves, the first 162 shutting their doors by Feb. 17. The second wave (986 stores) will be completed by Feb. 28, and the final 636 stores by the end of March.

In North Carolina, 43 stores are on the closure list, to include one in Roanoke Rapids (in Premier Landing) and two in Greenville. Both locations in nearly Suffolk, VA (at Harbour View and Suffolk Plaza) are scheduled to close, but the Franklin, VA store is slated to remain in operation.

The company was started as Radio Shack in 1921 by two brothers, Theodore and Milton Deutschmann, who wanted to provide equipment for amateur enthusiasts (ham radio operators). The brothers opened a one retail store and mail-order operation in the heart of downtown Boston. The brothers chose the name Radio Shack, which was the term for a small, wooden structure that housed a ship’s radio equipment.