GameStop is picking up about 163 RadioShack Corp. locations, boosting its Spring Mobile collection of AT&T Inc. cellphone sales outlets by about 50 percent.
Spring Mobile, GameStop’s AT&T and Cricket on Friday won bankruptcy court approval to pay about $2.4 million for an option on the leases, part of a package of more than 1,600 RadioShack leases auctioned Wednesday.
Norman Pernick, a lawyer for Spring Mobile, said the company intends to exercise its option to pick up all the leases. Most stores are set to reopen as Spring AT&T cellphone retail outlets, about 11 will be new GameStop stores, and one will be a Simply Mac outlet, specializing in Apple sales and repairs.
While GameStop enjoys a growth spurt, about 900 RadioShack stores will sit dark and empty Sunday, their leases unsold. Landlords are a large and growing part of RadioShack’s unsecured creditor constituency, which is owed collectively more than $500 million.
