You may have heard that Radioshack has filed for bankruptcy. I’m sure the Internet is a big reason that stores like Radioshack and Best Buy are having a hard time. Nonetheless, Sprint was looking to buy a good number of Radioshack stores to expand their stores. Today, Radioshack got court approval to sell the leases for about 1,100 abandoned stores of theirs. These same 1,100 stores will be closing by the end of February.
Radioshack filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy earlier this month. Since then, the company was moving quickly to close a number of stores so they wouldn’t get stuck paying for March’s rent for these stores. Seeing as they don’t really have that money anyways. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Brendan Shannon in Wilmington, Delaware gave his approval to Radioshack to begin bidding and auction process for the leases. This process has actually been underway for a few weeks now. The locations that draw more than one bid will be noted in a court filing on Saturday. On Monday, Radioshack will be looking for court approval to sell the leases of an additional 2,400 stores. The Hedge Fund standard general plans to act as an initial bidder for the locations that remain open. They also plan to bring in Sprint as a partner to operate those stores.
Selling the leases of 1,100 stores would mean Radioshack is closing a little under a quarter of the stores they still have open. The company plans to abandon even more stores in March and put those leases up for sale in the next month.
Radioshack used to be the go to place for anyone looking for a new smartphone, tablet, or any other gadget. And to see them filing for bankruptcy is crazy. Hopefully they can figure out a plan to get back on their feet, but being able to get these products and items cheaper from the likes of Amazon and eBay have definitely hurt them. Best Buy will likely be in the same boat in the near future.