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GameStop is closing hundreds more stores

belmarduk

Member
New York (CNN Business)GameStop is closing about 100 more stores than it originally planned, with the struggling retailer warning of more closures next year.

The company said in Wednesday's earnings call that between 400 and 450 stores globally will close this year, which is more than the 320 stores GameStop originally said in March that it was planning to shutter.

The increase underscores how badly retailers are performing during the pandemic as shoppers shift their habits online.
GameStop (GME) Chief Financial Officer Jim Bell said in the call that the closures "will allow us to more efficiently and profitably service our customers." He added "there are more to do", meaning closures, in 2021 "as well."

Its second quarter online sales soared 800%, amounting to 20% of its total sales. However, its revenue came in below analysts' expectations and same-store sales, which were affected by temporary closures because of the virus, declined 12.7%. That sent shares down more than 10% in premarket trading.

CNN
 
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Ten_Fold

Member
GameStop needs a new business model, I stopped going to GameStop due to being asked to pre-order, buy some subscription, and they sell used games only $5 dollars cheaper than new. Maybe they should try to get into the esports market or something because I can’t remember when I brought something from GameStop.
 
I still don't understand the hate for Gamestop. I've used them for years upon years. Never had any issues. They traded in my games and hardware. I bought games and hardware from them. It is a game store where you can buy games and hardware. What is there to hate?
That said, my little city has 4 Gamestops. I think thats too many. If they closed down 2 or even 3 of them I would still drive to the remaining one.
 

NickFire

Member
I still don't understand the hate for Gamestop. I've used them for years upon years. Never had any issues. They traded in my games and hardware. I bought games and hardware from them. It is a game store where you can buy games and hardware. What is there to hate?
That said, my little city has 4 Gamestops. I think thats too many. If they closed down 2 or even 3 of them I would still drive to the remaining one.
I think the hate is driven by nostalgia. There was a time when used games were good value and the stores were pretty chill and the best place to get games new or used. Over time they went really corporate, while corporate competition undercut them on prices. Now you go there, and used games aren't much cheaper on new games. They bombard you with pre-order offers, disc warranties, memberships, etc. And they charge more than the competition a lot of times.

The hate still seems a bit extreme though. I still have a soft spot for them, and don't want to see them go.
 

RoboFu

One of the green rats
I still don't understand the hate for Gamestop. I've used them for years upon years. Never had any issues. They traded in my games and hardware. I bought games and hardware from them. It is a game store where you can buy games and hardware. What is there to hate?
That said, my little city has 4 Gamestops. I think thats too many. If they closed down 2 or even 3 of them I would still drive to the remaining one.

I guess it depends where you live but a certain point in time they switched to very aggressive upsale tactics along with selling opened games as new.
 
I guess it depends where you live but a certain point in time they switched to very aggressive upsale tactics along with selling opened games as new.

I got to admit I've also seen these aggressive tactics but I simply tell them NO and then buy what I want. A simple NO people. Just say NO.
Egads I'm showing my age now arn't I.
 

Vandole

Member
I think they definitely overexpanded over the years, but I've been surprised by some of the locations that have been closing. I live near one of the biggest universities in Florida, and we had a location that closed that is all of two blocks away from the campus. I would have thought that place would do great business based on the location, but I guess not.

They are definitely in need of reevaluating their sales process though. Honestly, the pricing really isn't terrible. You don't get dramatically better deals elsewhere, and the box stores don't have nearly as good of a selection of games. But the damn employees can be so obnoxious that I always think twice before entering.
 

Zog

Banned
I still don't understand the hate for Gamestop.
I think the issues that people have had with Gamestop are well known. Isn't it a little disingenuous to say that you still don't understand?

I got to admit I've also seen these aggressive tactics but I simply tell them NO and then buy what I want. A simple NO people. Just say NO.
Egads I'm showing my age now arn't I.

...or stop shopping there and also call them out for it.
 
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888

Member
One of my good friends Is a store manager at one. He has a meeting with her DM at 2 this afternoon. She is assuming her store is getting closed down.
 

Alebrije

Member
leaked video of the hard decission

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TheContact

Member
i worked at gamestop for a couple months as my 2nd job and it's a really terrible place to work, but I did enjoy going into gamestop as a customer even if the lines were always incredibly long. the workers there are cool for the most part and you can have some good conversations with them. management does encourage things like that, which is the only thing i liked about management. they let employees take home the latest games for free so they can try them out and be knowledgeable about them for said discussions. part of me wants to see gamestop stick around, but part of me wants to see it fail because of how terrible the management has been. i have no idea what reggie sees in gamestop but if it's going to exist, it's going to have to transition into something completely different--more ethereal and less brick and mortar.
 
S

SLoWMoTIoN

Unconfirmed Member
STOP ASKING ME TO GET A MEMBERSHIP I'M EXCHANGING 3 BUTTONS FOR THE NEW BUTTON FFS!
 

_Ex_

Member
The reasons I despise GameStop are many. Sucks for the ground staff to lose their jobs, but as a company GameStop can roast in hell.
 

Grinchy

Banned
They kept skimming every penny they could and put it into opening a new brick-and-mortar store every 20 feet.

How they ever thought that was a long-term strategy is beyond me.
 

Hinedorf

Banned
Pandemic is a killer for all brick and mortar especially when there's an alternative that involves acquiring the game while sitting in your underwear eating cheetos and not being asked if you want to make additional preorders or have to wear a mask.
 

Soapbox Killer

Grand Nagus
There are too many locations to begin with. Outside of all of the current climate and brick and mortar retail issues. 2 sometimes 3 in the same mall. 1 across the street from another. There is no other non-food franchise that has ever been physically spaced like Gamestop. There is clearly a place for them to exist in the B&M market, but this currently aint it.



They need to open some Funcoland stores and sell that massive backlog of retro game stock they have. Maybe they lost it or something?
 
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h0ghead

Member
Good riddance. Any specialty shop that becomes less convenient than department stores deserves to die.

Hope anyone laid off from this can get better work.
 

Goro Majima

Kitty Genovese Member
Feel kinda bad for the employees but it has increasingly seemed like there's a weird hostile relationship between the customer and the employees at Gamestop.

I used to work at Gamecrazy so I kinda understand where they're coming from. I'm sure the employees feel like if you're not in there to pre-order something or buy a discount card then get the fuck out because you're going to ruin their "numbers".

On the other hand, I would go in to buy a new game and they'd be like "sorry asshole, you should have preordered". Then I'd go to Best Buy/Walmart/Target or wherever and easily buy one off the shelf. Their constant attempts to push the lie that physical copies of video games are somehow scarce and if you don't preorder then you won't get a copy is insane.

Really I could go on but the point is that every gamer has a bad Gamestop story. The fact that that is a reality shows just how hostile they are to their own customer base. Meanwhile the worst story I've ever had with somewhere like Walmart is trying to find the guy to open the damn game case.
 
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OrtizTwelve

Member
Gamestop now is a lot like BlockBuster was in the early 2010s when they rapidly began dying and ultimately ceased to exist.

The next generation of video game consoles will bring in a heavy shift towards digital distribution, both Microsoft and Sony have digital only consoles as their least expensive option for next gen which the masses will purchase over a period of a few years. Nintendo will eventually offer a digital only console as well, it's only a matter of time.

There will absolutely be NO reason to shop at GameStop anymore in the next few years, at least in its current form. Used games is their BREAD AND BUTTER. There aren't going to be a lot of used games with the next gen consoles...
 

GiJoint

Member
The reality of bricks and mortar stores at the moment and it’s being accelerated by the coronavirus restrictions. Working from home and buying online has grown massively.
 

CrysisFreak

Banned
They said my copy of Battleborn is actually worth a negative amount of money and therefore I cannot sell it to them cue anti-consumer practices I had to recycle it myself.
 

BlakeofT

Member
Their games just cost too much. Why would I go there when Amazon and Walmart usually have the same games for $10 less? I like going to the store to look around, but the deals are few and far between.
 

DavJay

Member
I remember they always pull the “sorry, should have preordered” card on standard game edition. Such a trash business. Surprised it out lasted toysrus tbh
 

Garnox

Member
As someone who worked at a GameStop (formerly EBGames) I can say I experienced first hand the change from what felt like a mom/pop video game store to a corporate entity over night.

It was 2005, our store changed momentum to start pushing Game Play Guarantees, Game Informer subs, pre-orders, used sales, etc.

As with any retailer, thats pretty common practice. When I worked at the GAP, it was ALL about credit cards. Can't sell credit cards, your hours get cut. At Famous Footwear, it was ALL about accessories (socks, shoe cleaner, etc). Can't sell accessories, your hours get cut.

Its no wonder employees at GameStop became so pushy. I hated it, so I quit.

Now when I see this, I'm not surprised. They offer terrible diminishing returns on purchases, sell products at non-competive prices, sales are the same if not worse than other retailers, and the employees are shoehorned into meeting quotas, therefore making the customer experience more of a gauntlet than a pleasant experience.

I feel for the employees, but if they operated under these practices willingly, so be it. Its the corporate policies that should be shifted, but that's hard when you have Amazon outperforming everyone.

Bad situations all around.
 
Here at Finland they closed all stores earlier this year.

Now there arent any real game store chains here, not even one game store even in many bigger cities.

Kind of sucks as they had ok trade deals sometimes
 
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Gamerguy84

Member
A future when there are no brick and mortar stores suck.

There will only be Amazon drones dropping off and picking up from your home.

I want to go somewhere to buy things.
 

cryptoadam

Banned
Used to love the place. Buy a game, trade it in a after done with it, get another game. Rinse and repeat.

then they started dropping would they give you so you would get like 1.50 for the game you bought 2 days ago.

Anyways by the end of this gen most likely be mainly digi, like PC games. Barely anyone is buying physical computer games and there sure as hell are not many people buying floppy disc games at ComputerLand anymore.

They should pivot to becoming those cell phone kiosks selling digi codes and console monthly sub plans.
 
Gamestop model is done, and I've always hated how they treat customers and their employees (although I don't want anyone to be out of work). Going into their stores when I did go was like being attacked by telemarketers by the cashiers and floor staff.

Weren't they the ones who tried to qualify for "necessary status" during COVID to stay open?
 
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