A couple of months ago, the news emerged that RadioShack was finally closing their doors. This was after almost ninety-four years of operating and being established as one of the main high street presences. That said, the news was not exactly breaking news as the brand had largely been thought of as a dated entity. Partly, due to the emergence of stores like Walmart and Target, but probably more importantly due to the prominence of online stores like Amazon. As such, RadioShack’s closure was somewhat more of an expectation than a revelation.
However, shortly after the news broke, more reports started to emerge suggesting that Sprint may very well be interested in purchasing the chain of stores and using them as their own. Another possibility being touted was that Sprint may look to offer a hand to RadioShack in some sort of joint partnership presence, The latter of the two options seemed to be true when Sprint announced their intention to join forces with RadioShack.
That said, by this point RadioShack had already registered themselves for bankruptcy protection and therefore, any Sprint deal needed to be effectively approved by the bankruptcy court. The latest on this particular point is that it now seems the deal, although not inked, has been approved. This is not the first time, RadioShack have received court approval, with last month the fading company receiving legal approval to sell leases for 1,100 stores. The last few days, however, have seen the points from both sides being battled in the bankruptcy court to seek approval for Sprint to co-brand 1,740 of the original 4000 RadioShack stores. This all effectively has come to a head now with the court granting approval for the deal to go ahead. This will be a big move for Sprint as it will effectively see them double their physical presence on the street, albeit, in the form of occupying a third of the floor space within the remaining open RadioShack stores. From RadioShack’s perspective, this will allow the brand to remain in existence in some capacity and form, as the reports were suggesting that the deal needed to be reached imminently, as they were currently not in a position to pay April’s rent.