Sprint Sets Friday Openings of 1,435 ‘Sprint-RadioShack’ Stores
Just over two months since RadioShack’s Feb. 5 bankruptcy filing triggered Sprint’s store acquisition deal with RadioShack's largest shareholder Standard General and its General Wireless subsidiary (see 1502060023), Sprint set Friday as the grand opening of 1,435 “Sprint-RadioShack” stores within…
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RadioShack stores, Sprint said in a Thursday announcement. The openings will more than double Sprint’s company-owned “retail footprint” from its current 1,100-store base, it said. The openings follow recent statements by Sprint senior management that the company was in crying need of more retail storefronts to raise its brand's public profile. Besides having a “great network” and a “compelling offer,” giving consumers more places to shop is one of the “basic fundamental principles” guiding a carrier like Sprint, CEO Marcelo Claure said on a recent earnings call. Before Sprint’s RadioShack store acquisitions, the company had 500-600 fewer retail locations than T-Mobile and 3,000 fewer than Verizon, he said. Sprint has said its ambitions are to “effectively operate a store within a RadioShack store” at the 1,750 RadioShack locations it’s acquiring. Sprint will occupy about a third of the retail floor space in each location, it has said. The stores will be co-branded, with Sprint being the primary brand on storefronts and in marketing materials, it has said. With Friday’s opening, Sprint hopes to begin to “transform the customer store experience” as it works to finish converting the remaining 315 RadioShack stores “over the next several months,” Sprint said.