Segment Reporting (Schedule Of Segment Reporting Information) (Details) (USD $) In Millions, unless otherwise specified	3 Months Ended												12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2012		Sep. 30, 2012		Jun. 30, 2012		Mar. 31, 2012		Dec. 31, 2011	Sep. 30, 2011	Jun. 30, 2011	Mar. 31, 2011	Dec. 31, 2012		Dec. 31, 2011		Dec. 31, 2010
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Net sales and operating revenues	$ 1,296.1	[1]	$ 1,000.2	[1]	$ 953.2	[1]	$ 1,008.3	[1]	$ 1,386.9	$ 1,031.8	$ 941.9	$ 1,017.4	$ 4,257.8		$ 4,378.0		$ 4,265.8
Operating (loss) income	17.3		(58.8)		(21.2)		1.8		30.5	10.6	48.9	65.1	(60.9)		155.1		350.2
Interest income	0.6		0.5		0.3		0.5		0.9	1.4	0.5	0.3	1.9		3.1		2.6
Interest expense	(15.3)		(13.2)		(12.9)		(13.1)		(13.6)	(12.6)	(10.9)	(9.7)	(54.5)		(46.8)		(41.9)
Other (loss) income			(0.6)									(4.1)	(0.6)		(4.1)
(Loss) income from continuing operations before income taxes	2.6		(72.1)		(33.8)		(10.8)		17.8	(0.6)	38.5	51.6	(114.1)		107.3		310.9
Depreciation and amortization													80.7		83.1		84.2
Goodwill impairment													3.0
Franchise fee revenue			3.0										3.0
Severance costs			8.5										8.5
U.S. RadioShack Company-Operated Stores [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Net sales and operating revenues													3,456.5		3,663.3		3,808.2
Operating (loss) income													337.7	[2],[3]	530.2	[2],[3]	675.4	[2],[3]
Depreciation and amortization													31.8		37.9		45.4
Goodwill impairment			3.0										3.0
Other [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Net sales and operating revenues													374.8	[4]	372.3	[4]	393.0	[4]
Operating (loss) income													36.3	[5]	20.9	[5]	41.8	[5]
Depreciation and amortization													3.8		4.0		3.7
Operating Segments Subtotal [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Operating (loss) income													336.5		530.1		713.2
Depreciation and amortization													42.0		46.6		50.6
Unallocated [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Operating (loss) income													(397.4)	[6],[7],[8]	(375.0)	[6],[7],[8]	(363.0)	[6],[7],[8]
Increase decrease in operating loss													22.4
Depreciation and amortization													38.7	[9]	36.1	[9]	32.8	[9]
Continuing Operations [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Depreciation and amortization													80.7		82.7		83.4
Discontinued Operations [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Depreciation and amortization															0.4		0.8
Target Mobile [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Net sales and operating revenues													426.5		342.4		64.6
Operating (loss) income													(37.5)	[10]	(21.0)	[10]	(4.0)	[10]
Depreciation and amortization													6.4		4.7		1.5
Goodwill impairment
T-Mobile [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Charge to earnings											23.4
Charge For Vendor Transition											23.4
Charge to earnings due to termination of contract															23.4
Chinese Manufacturing Plant [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Plant closing costs															11.4
Severance costs										$ 0.4	$ 5.6	$ 1.5

[1] The third quarter includes $3.0 million of franchise fee revenue related to the opening of our first franchised stores in Southeast Asia.

[2] Includes a goodwill impairment charge of $3.0 million for 2012.

[3] Includes a charge to earnings of $23.4 million for 2011 related to a payment to T-Mobile in conjunction with our transition from offering T-Mobile products and services to offering Verizon products and services.

[4] Includes $3.0 million of franchise fee revenue for 2012 related to the opening of our first franchised stores in Southeast Asia.

[5] Includes a loss on the closing of our Chinese manufacturing plant of $11.4 million in 2011.

[6] The unallocated category included in operating income relates to our overhead and corporate expenses that are not allocated to our operating segments for management reporting purposes. Unallocated costs include corporate departmental expenses such as labor and benefits, as well as advertising, insurance, distribution and information technology costs, plus certain unusual or infrequent gains or losses.

[7] Includes severance costs of $8.5 million for 2012 related to the departure of our CEO and headcount reductions.

[8] The operating loss for our unallocated category increased by $22.4 million for 2012. This increase was primarily due to a decrease in intercompany profits earned by our supply chain operations related to the mix of products distributed.

[9] Depreciation and amortization included in the unallocated category primarily relate to our information technology assets.

[10] Includes a long-lived assets impairment charge of $11.7 million in 2012.