Will Columbia Center Radio Shack Re-Emerge as ‘Mini’ Sprint Store?

Last Thursday, RadioShack announced it is closing more than 2,400 stores after filing for bankruptcy. This will include the Columbia Center Mall location in Kennewick, and Valley Mall store in Union Gap outside of Yakima.

After more than a decade of sustained losses, the Texas-based company will shutter 1,784 stores by March 31, including the ones in our region.

There's a chance the store could re-emerge as what business experts are calling a "mini" Sprint store that would sell devices, cell phones and Sprint plans. Sprint reportedly has a deal with Standard General -- the largest RadioShack shareholder. This deal would allow, if approved later this spring, for up to 1,750 stores to be re-purposed as Sprint outlets.

RadioShack will sell anywhere from 1,500 to 2,400 of the stores to Standard General, who in turn appears to be heading towards the deal with Sprint. The other 4,000 stores would simply be closed, and could potentially be purchased later in the bankruptcy.

However, there could be expected competition, as other companies could also bid to buy old RadioShack locations during the bankruptcy process.

No estimate of job losses was released.