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RadioShack may sell half its stores to Sprint, shut down the rest

The end could be near for the iconic electronics retailer amid a report that it's in talks with the wireless carrier to take over some locations.

Donna Tam Staff Writer / News
Donna Tam covers Amazon and other fun stuff for CNET News. She is a San Francisco native who enjoys feasting, merrymaking, checking her Gmail and reading her Kindle.
Donna Tam

RadioShack has tried to rebrand itself as a more consumer-friendly shop. Radio Shack

The dismantling of struggling consumer electronics retailer RadioShack may be on the horizon, Bloomberg reported Monday.

The brick-and-mortar chain is thinking of selling half its stores to Sprint and then closing the rest, unnamed sources told Bloomberg. There were also discussions over whether Sprint would keep the RadioShack name on the stores in addition to adding Sprint's branding, or rename the stores entirely, according to the report.

When reached by CNET, both companies declined to comment.

RadioShack has been struggling in recent years, trying to move away from its image as a source for gadget parts and rebrand itself as a more consumer-friendly shop. Despite its efforts, the chain had to "="" stores="" "="" shortcode="link" asset-type="article" uuid="26da63e7-a5ca-11e3-a24e-d4ae52e62bcc" slug="radioshack-to-close-1100-underperforming-us-stores" link-text=" close up to 1,100 " section="news" title="RadioShack to close 1,100 'underperforming' US stores" edition="us" data-key="link_bulk_key" api="{"id":"26da63e7-a5ca-11e3-a24e-d4ae52e62bcc","slug":"radioshack-to-close-1100-underperforming-us-stores","contentType":null,"edition":"us","topic":{"slug":"tech-industry"},"metaData":{"typeTitle":null,"hubTopicPathString":"Tech Industry","reviewType":null},"section":"news"}"> last year.

RadioShack was started by two brothers who opened the first store in 1921 to sell ship equipment and ham radios. It eventually became an iconic retailer of consumer electronics and computer components, but has since had trouble competing with the lower prices of online sellers and the convenience of big-box stores like Walmart.