Report: Court okays RadioShack sale of 1,100 stores

Fort Worth, Texas – RadioShack Corp. has received bankruptcy court approval to sell more than 1,100 stores it plans to close by the end of this month. According to Reuters, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Brendan Shannon in Wilmington, Delaware, has officially approved the closing and auctioning of the stores.



Bidding on the stores has actually been in process for several weeks and bids closed Friday, Feb. 20. RadioShack is seeking to close the stores before it has to pay March rental fees, and plans to seek court approval for bidding on another 2,400 stores it plans to keep open on Monday, Feb. 23.



RadioShack plans to release a list of which leases received bids on Saturday, Feb. 21, and will have a second auction for leases that received multiple bids. The retailer also plans to auction off more leases for abandoned stores in March.



An affiliate of the Standard General hedge fund will act as initial “stalking horse” bidder for the 2,400 stores that will stay open. Standard General will operate any RadioShack stores it winds up purchasing with Sprint as a partner.



RadioShack filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Feb. 5, listing assets of $1.2 billion and total debt of nearly $1.4 billion. RadioShack's bankruptcy follows 11 consecutive unprofitable quarters as the company worked to turn around its old-fashioned, stodgy image and gain traction with tech-savvy consumers.