Leapfrogging into the Retail Landscape

As per usual, recessionary times are times where those with lots of money buy those without lots of money. Such is the case with Bell buying up The Source. BCE Inc, a privately held income trust, is taking this "daring yet risky" to rapidly penetrate the mall scene, where Rogers Communication Inc. and Telus Corp. have been aggressively making their presence known through branded outlets across Canada.

A few marketing related observations:
-The Source was previously owned by the now-non-existent Circuit City, which went into bankruptcy protection and liquidated last year
-The Source used to be called "Radio Shack" in Canada
-Despite (or because of) the recent rebranding, The Source has been profitable over the last 7 years
-The Source competes mainly with Big Box stores such as Future Shop, Best Buy, and Wal-Mart
-It has been able to maintain a niche market amongst gadgety type men who come to the stores to buy trinkets for their at home race car projects and the like

Since The Source is an "electronics store" rather than, say, a "cell phone store," it allows Bell to sell its whole line of communications products from cable, internet, phone, and satellite services.

I don't really see any obvious alignment between the two brands, and I wonder how much rebranding they'll do to The Source. Keep it as The Source? I feel like the brand equity isn't that big of a deal since it's a fairly new brand as it is. And the "by Circuit City" part, although long-gone, still lingers in the mind and may have negative connotations. Change it to some sort of Bell store? This may alienate people who purchased there for non-cell-phone related stuff. And the little DIYers around the country generally don't take kindly to major corporations impeding their pet projects.

Overall I'd say smooth move Bell! I look forward to seeing what is in store!