#GameStop signs lease for massive distribution warehouse, ditches debt

GameStop said it has signed a lease for a 700,000-square-foot distribution warehouse on Monday, even as it announced it has retired its corporate debt earlier than expected.

The warehouse facility in York, Pa., which will support the Texas-based retailer’s e-commerce business, is expected to be operational by the fourth quarter of this year and is meant to expedite GameStop’s shipping needs along the East Coast.

Separately, the video game retailer said Monday it has erased $216.4 million in long-term corporate debt that would have come due in 2023, leaving it with no long-term debt on its balance sheet. 

GameStop shares — which have soared by more than 800 percent this year in what has been the dubbed the “Reddit rally” in previously unloved stocks — were recently off 0.6 percent at $172.51 in Monday morning trades. 

The new warehouse and debt paydown are the latest moves by the Texas-based chain’s largest individual shareholder, Ryan Cohen, to reinvigorate the 37-year-old company.

The billionaire entrepreneur — who founded Chewy.com and sold it for $3.3 billion to PetSmart — has been revamping the management team and board of directors, including a plan announced in April to install himself as chairman later this year.