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[dolabla]

In their defense, I think a lot of it is caused by acquisitions. The three I mentioned were at one time Babbages, EB Games, and FuncoLand.

Man, I miss going into all three of those stores and buying legacy games.

True.

The one in the mall here used to be EB Games, but the other two were just built within the last 13 or so years.

I've mentioned this in other GameStop threads, but I don't want them to go under. I love the idea of having a gaming only store and as someone who will never support the idea of digital only, it would be a blow for physical.

They definitely need to change some things. Ridiculous used game prices, shady practices like opened games as "New", etc. I've mostly had good experiences with my local store, but the online part, they did ship me a "New" game opened and that pissed me off. I took it back and they gave me a refund. That was the only time that's ever happened to me. I've never had it actually happen in store.

 

[Ron Mexico]

As a former EB manager (a job I took after leaving Blockbuster-- go figure), there were significant threats that threatened the business at least as far back as the early '00s.

There would be talks galore about revamping the business model (brought such lovely ideas as the Game Doctor), paid product placement, etc. Back then it was big box retail disrupting their business. Now you have online disruption to both your physical sales as well as the transition to more digital-only consumers.

No shit, right? Exactly. It's always been the same issue-- a stunning failure to adapt that will ultimately kill them off.

 

[Mattyp]

I hope the entire chain goes under honestly.

I want them to fail so another, better company will come along and take their place.

A better company came along in Australia no idea how EB is still in business here now.

 

[*Nightwing]

As a former EB manager (a job I took after leaving Blockbuster-- go figure), there were significant threats that threatened the business at least as far back as the early '00s.

There would be talks galore about revamping the business model (brought such lovely ideas as the Game Doctor), paid product placement, etc. Back then it was big box retail disrupting their business. Now you have online disruption to both your physical sales as well as the transition to more digital-only consumers.

No shit, right? Exactly. It's always been the same issue-- a stunning failure to adapt that will ultimately kill them off.

I agree as a former manager who got out a long long time ago, I'm still surprised at their dedication to refusing to evolve with the ever-changing market. kinda even more surprised how they haven' gone belly up in the past 5 years already, like the herpes of retail

 

[dolabla]

GameStop’s New CEO Adds Couches and Tournaments in Comeback Bid

GameStop Corp.’s uphill fight to regain relevance may lead right through Tulsa, Oklahoma.

www.bloomberg.com

GameStop Corp.’s uphill fight to regain relevance may lead right through Tulsa, Oklahoma.

The retailer is testing new store designs in that city, aiming to become a place where gamers come to hang out and socialize. Under new Chief Executive Officer George Sherman, the beleaguered chain is adding couches, vintage video games and tournaments to a handful of locations.

Sherman picked Tulsa as a test market because it’s representative of Middle America, he said. Company stores there will be redesigned under several formats. One, an arena gaming concept, will include an area where customers can compete against one another and a viewing area where others can watch them play. A “couch co-op” will offer visitors a place to sit and play games. Another “retro” store design will let the public come in and play vintage console games.

“We’re trying a lot of different approaches,” Sherman said. “This is 100% a laboratory for learning.”

 

[Bakkus]

That's less than 5% of their stores.

 

[SLoWMoTIoN]

I'm not gonna applaud people losing their jobs.

The alternatives for GS here are

Walmart
Best Buy
Target

Fuck having to wait for packages man.

 

[angelic]

No but I recognize bad spelling. Besides I've dealt with serious Gamestop defenders / shills here before so it's hard to tell at times.

You clearly dont recognise bad spelling, seeing as I'm English, I speak the Queen's English, and yours is American English, a corrupt bastardisation of it. And it's "recognise". Yes, in a US based forum, recognize is more common, but you'd have to be a moron to not know there are two acceptable spellings of the word.

Apart from that, great stuff, you really took me down.

 

[Deleted member 738976]

You clearly dont recognise bad spelling, seeing as I'm English, I speak the Queen's English, and yours is American English, a corrupt bastardisation of it. And it's "recognise". Yes, in a US based forum, recognize is more common, but you'd have to be a moron to not know there are two acceptable spellings of the word.

Apart from that, great stuff, you really took me down.

Clearly spell check doesn't think it's acceptable so it's wrong.

Spoiler

Lighten up already good lord. If I'd known you'd get in a pissy fit with me responding to sarcasm with sarcasm I wouldn't have done it.

 

[angelic]

Clearly spell check doesn't think it's acceptable so it's wrong.

Spoiler

Lighten up already good lord. If I'd known you'd get in a pissy fit with me responding to sarcasm with sarcasm I wouldn't have done it.

It's the internet, we must now be mortal enemies. Have at thee.

 

[magnumpy]

who cares if gamestop dies videogames are still alive and the corporations that distribute them are worth less than 0 to me

 

[SLoWMoTIoN]

You clearly dont recognise bad spelling, seeing as I'm English, I speak the Queen's English, and yours is American English, a corrupt bastardisation of it. And it's "recognise". Yes, in a US based forum, recognize is more common, but you'd have to be a moron to not know there are two acceptable spellings of the word.

Apart from that, great stuff, you really took me down.

How Americans preserved British English

Americans today pronounce some words more like Shakespeare than Brits do… but it’s in 18th-Century England where they’d really feel at home.

www.bbc.com

 

[KellyM]

 

[KorbinDallas]

Gamestop opened a "Store of the future" in Palo Alto, CA in 2010 which tried to revitalize their retail presence. That once closed 3-4 years ago.

 

[IbizaPocholo]

GameStop Closing Dozens Of Stores Throughout America

gamingbolt.com

 

[PocoJoe]

We have 17 gamestops in Finland, and them all are closing on May is what I have heard.

Gamestop is only "real" gaming store chain here, only some random private owned stores on few cities.

Kind of sad even when their prices are usually high, now there will be no place to trade stuff at.

My city is on the bigger end of our cities, 80 000+ citizens and now there isnt any gaming retaled store here after gamestop quits, closest gaming store is probably 3-4h away.

At least super markets will sell games and consoles + few electronic stores but those have less games than some super markets.

 

[diffusionx]

GameStop lost like 70% of their customer base and business as people moved to digital. No business can survive losing 70% of their customers in five years.

Ultimately in the end the publishers who implemented dumb shit like multiplayer passes to control distribution and keep people from trading games have won.

 

[wolffy71]

What possible reason would I need to get off my couch and go to Gamestop? There's almost literally zero reason. I own absolutely no games on disc so I never sell. So I also buy everything digitally. So whats left? Used hardware? Amazons better.

This is gonna be the story of nearly every brick and mortar. It sucks but its unstoppable.

 

[Bryank75]

GameStop lost like 70% of their customer base and business as people moved to digital. No business can survive losing 70% of their customers in five years.

Ultimately in the end the publishers who implemented dumb shit like multiplayer passes to control distribution and keep people from trading games have won.

They lost customers also with their extortionate pricing, poor customer service and lack of distinct quality products.
Anything you can buy there can be bought elsewhere for far less.
As a specialist gaming store, they should sell high grade gaming equipment but most of what they sell is either standard or cheap games top knock-off imitations.

If they fixed their policies and hired people that seemed more genuine and customer focused, their image may have turned around.

It's going to be hard to save now...

 

[diffusionx]

They lost customers also with their extortionate pricing, poor customer service and lack of distinct quality products.
Anything you can buy there can be bought elsewhere for far less.
As a specialist gaming store, they should sell high grade gaming equipment but most of what they sell is either standard or cheap games top knock-off imitations.

If they fixed their policies and hired people that seemed more genuine and customer focused, their image may have turned around.

It's going to be hard to save now...

No, that honestly has nothing to do with it, people went to digital because it is faster and more convenient.

Again, 70% or more of sales these days is digital. Even if GameStop was objectively the best store in the world they're not going to beat that in the long run. This is an issue that is plaguing the entire retail space and has been for decades. It's much bigger than GS, just as it was much bigger than Circuit City, or Blockbuster, or your mom and pop hardware shop, or what have you.

 

[Deleted member 471617]

Disappointing but thankfully, the two main stores in my area aren't on that list which is great news for me since I have over $1000 in trade in credit. I'm expecting them to continue closing down the stores that are either losing money or too close to one another. At the very least, im hoping they survive 2020 so I can use all my trade in credit. Worse case scenario would be if the two stores close down, I'll buy a few Switch consoles and just sell them on Amazon for a minimal loss. Of course, I prefer that not to happen as im planning on buying the next gen consoles there and a bunch of games.

 

[TacosNSalsa]

Even with all these closings there are still an absurd amount of stores . I live in Brooklyn and I just checked there are 66 stores within a 15 mile radius from me. That is just outside NJ so if you add another 5 miles for a round 20 you'd include Paramus NJ and I am almost sure that number would rise to over 100 easy. After buying their competitors and before digital games became ubiquitous they should've started liquidating these properties . WTF yo

 

[VGEsoterica]

I can’t imagine GameStop holding out for much longer. Amazon is killing them + digital as well

 

[Bryank75]

No, that honestly has nothing to do with it, people went to digital because it is faster and more convenient.

Again, 70% or more of sales these days is digital. Even if GameStop was objectively the best store in the world they're not going to beat that in the long run. This is an issue that is plaguing the entire retail space and has been for decades. It's much bigger than GS, just as it was much bigger than Circuit City, or Blockbuster, or your mom and pop hardware shop, or what have you.

Well vinyl has recently made a huge comeback... People like physical products, it would be foolish to eliminate it because 'trends'.

Still sells plenty and will for as long as its available. Imo

 

[TacosNSalsa]

Well vinyl has recently made a huge comeback... People like physical products, it would be foolish to eliminate it because 'trends'.

Still sells plenty and will for as long as its available. Imo

Even in with physical games they are significantly behind. Amazon will ship you games for free 2 days without prime , if they are over a price threshold (can't remember what it is) and games are regularly found cheaper there . Maybe just a few bucks but still cheaper. Gamestop has the gall to charge $9 for it at full price . If you have prime you can even get the games same day for no extra cost.
Walmart same thing . I think if you actually go into the store it's even cheaper . I've seen brand new games marked at $49.99 in store. Best Buy gives $10 store credit for buying certain games like FFVII remake .

Gamestop has to do something . They can't just say $59.99 for a game take it or leave it anymore . The only thing I can see that is in their favor is that publishers still give them exclusive perks like pre order stuff or things like that .

 

[diffusionx]

Well vinyl has recently made a huge comeback... People like physical products, it would be foolish to eliminate it because 'trends'.

Still sells plenty and will for as long as its available. Imo

Vinyl never went away, but it is a niche of a niche. There is no chain of Sam Goody or Tower Records selling tons of vinyl. It's in a few stores mostly in big cities. Even here in NYC I do not know where the closest music store is to me.

The same thing that happened to CDs is happening to physical vidya TBH, and it will kill off physical vidya just like it killed off CD. And the market will not be able to support a specialized chain selling physical videogames any more than it can support Sam Goody or Tower Records anymore. In the end it has nothing to do with how people felt GameStop operated.

Physical games will still exist I guess, but for how long I don't know. If somebody came from the future and told me the only videogame stores are retro videogame stores, I wouldn't be surprised.

 

[DynamiteCop!]

Vinyl never went away, but it is a niche of a niche. There is no chain of Sam Goody or Tower Records selling tons of vinyl. It's in a few stores mostly in big cities. Even here in NYC I do not know where the closest music store is to me.

The same thing that happened to CDs is happening to physical vidya TBH, and it will kill off physical vidya just like it killed off CD. And the market will not be able to support a specialized chain selling physical videogames any more than it can support Sam Goody or Tower Records anymore. In the end it has nothing to do with how people felt GameStop operated.

Physical games will still exist I guess, but for how long I don't know. If somebody came from the future and told me the only videogame stores are retro videogame stores, I wouldn't be surprised.

Now if only Laserdiscs would get popular then I'd be rich!

 

[Bryank75]

Even in with physical games they are significantly behind. Amazon will ship you games for free 2 days without prime , if they are over a price threshold (can't remember what it is) and games are regularly found cheaper there . Maybe just a few bucks but still cheaper. Gamestop has the gall to charge $9 for it at full price . If you have prime you can even get the games same day for no extra cost.
Walmart same thing . I think if you actually go into the store it's even cheaper . I've seen brand new games marked at $49.99 in store. Best Buy gives $10 store credit for buying certain games like FFVII remake .

Gamestop has to do something . They can't just say $59.99 for a game take it or leave it anymore . The only thing I can see that is in their favor is that publishers still give them exclusive perks like pre order stuff or things like that .

My perspective is different since we have no Amazon in Ireland, we have to use Amazon. Co. UK.
Then our government charges loads for postage/delivery. It really sucks.

If we had the service you describe, I'd use it all thee time. We get ripped off here.

 

[TacosNSalsa]

My perspective is different since we have no Amazon in Ireland, we have to use Amazon. Co. UK.
Then our government charges loads for postage/delivery. It really sucks.

If we had the service you describe, I'd use it all thee time. We get ripped off here.

Ahh okay .that makes perfect sense .

 

[Zimmy68]

After almost nothing in 2019, I had two interactions with Gamestop in November/December and they both went horribly wrong.
1st was trying to buy COD:Modern Warfare on PC when it was on sale during BF. I tried at least 50 times and it would never accept my payment. No explanation, just a canned "something went wrong" message.
Then I bought the Xbox One X 2k19 Bundle that was supposed to come with a free white controller.
The sales drone told me they had it, I drove there, traded in my OG Xbox One and a controller (which he dinged me $20 because it had some drift).
Come to find out they didn't have the white so he said no problem, here is a black one.
It wasn't until I got home that I noticed he happily charged me for that, $50.
Instead of correcting their mistake, they were ready for me to drive back and return the entire system that I already opened.
Plus, I couldn't get my old system back, just the credit amount (which I would never use).
So I ended up returning the controller he charged me for and they lost a customer.
Of course, the price was too good to be true for the console but they will never see me again anyway.
They can close all the stores by me for all I care.