RadioShack will sell most of its stores and move to a “store within a store” model partnership with Sprint after filing Chapter 11 bankruptcy, the company announced on Feb. 5.
Business had been declining for several years, and Amazon had also allegedly been eying the gap left by RadioShack’s soon-to-be-shuttered storefronts.
General Wireless, an affiliate of Standard General L.P. which was created to manage the transfer of the stores, will acquire between 1,500 and 2,400 of RadioShack’s 4,000 U.S. company-owned stores. Of those, 1,750 will establish a Sprint “store within a store” retail presence.
The remaining stores will be closed “over the coming weeks,” and will sell all remaining inventory.
RadioShack stores operating outside the United States are not included in the bankruptcy filing or General Wireless agreements, since they are independently owned.
“These steps are the culmination of a thorough process intended to drive maximum value for our stakeholders,” said Joe Magnacca, RadioShack’s chief executive officer, in a press release.
RadioShack employs more than 27,000 people worldwide.
The first Radio Shack opened in 1921, selling ham radios and shipboard radios. Throughout the 1970s it sold personal computers and other electronics, and in 1984 entered the mobile phone market. By 2013 the company was working on rebranding itself, opening “concept stores” and attempting to lure customers who increasingly preferred online retailers.
Filed Under: M2M (machine to machine)