Sprint and Dixons Carphone announce 500 new U.S. retail stores

Sprint Corp. will open 500 Sprint-branded retail stores in the United States under a joint venture with a European company that opened 20 test stores with the wireless carrier last year.

Dixons Carphone is a wireless and consumer electronics retailer in Europe. It and Sprint are splitting the costs of the 500 stores and will share ownership equally.

“Dixons Carphone is truly a global leader in the wireless retail industry. We have seen incredible results from our pilot program, and I’m confident that expanding our partnership will accelerate Sprint’s distribution expansion and ongoing retail transformation,” Sprint chief executive officer Marcelo Claure said in an announcement.

In a venture with Best Buy, Dixons Carphone helped develop the retailer’s Geek Squad program and its Best Buy Mobile operation.

Sprint, based in Overland Park, owns 1,100 stores and works with 2,000 dealer locations. It also struck a venture with RadioShack that ultimately boosted Sprint’s retail footprint by 1,400 additional stores.

This story was originally published February 29, 2016 at 10:15 AM with the headline "Sprint and Dixons Carphone announce 500 new U.S. retail stores."