GameStop Closing 250 'Unprofitable' Stores

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Holy cow, I had no idea GameStop had so many unprofitable stores. Something must be seriously wrong if you can't make money with minimum wage employees crammed into tiny stores that give customers $5 store credit for used games and that you resell for 8x - 10x that amount. :eek:

"Closing 250 stores enables us to deal with the very small percentage of stores that we have that are unprofitable, but also to close marginally profitable stores and actually make more money by moving customers to other nearby stores," said GameStop CFO Rob Lloyd at yesterday's Goldman Sachs conference in San Francisco. "We've been successful at that for two years, and we'll continue that program in 2013."
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Fuck that store, no loss. Software Etc. Used to get used PC games there... it was awesome.
 
I wonder if this has anything to do with them slowly downsizing in preparation for the new DRM internet always required CD-key protected games that are coming with the new consoles...

Just a thought...
 
For all the Gamestops run by snotty teenagers that get written up in the Consumerist all the time, there are a lot of smaller branches run by ordinary people who are nice to their customers. It sounds like those are the ones getting hit. I guess they weren't meeting their employee misery quotas or something? :|
 
I do wonder how Gamestop will fare if these persistent "Won't allow used games" rumors become true.
 
Those 250 stores only amount to 2% of all stores. Supposedly, 200 are in the US and 50 are in France. Another note in the articles says they are opening up 60 to 70 new stores mainly in locations that GAME in the UK has closed up shop.

Not quite the Gamestop apocalypse though I'm sure that's coming in the next few years.
 
I wonder if they are cutting stores that are negative profit or those that are below their profit margin goal.
 
They have about 6600 worldwide, 4400 alone in the US. I know of three within a five mile radius of me( Brandon Fl), two of which are a seven minute walk apart. Ya, I would close a few too, especially if they weren't doing to well.
 
I can see this there are 2 stores where you can see the other one from the parking lot where I live. What the hell kind of sense does that make.
 
I love how this forum jumps all over this stuff like flies on shit.

They needed to do this there are too many stores that are literally across the street from each other.

Used games are not going anywhere unless every game company adopts a steam pricing model.
 
They can eat shit and die... went in one day and they have this sign off, says "50% of game with regular game purchase".. so I go grab 2 games.. He gets snarky and tells me I have to buy 2. I show him the 2 games, and he tells me I have to buy 2 at regular price, like Im retarded.Another sign directly behind him says VERBATUM "Buy 1 game, get 1 game @ 1/2 off" .. so I tell him "Fuck you ..". I hand him the 2 games and walk out "Have fun restocking those"
 
what happened to the ability to edit our posts? My phones autocorrect always makes my posts a train wreck, and I can't ever fix them LOL
 
Hazard said:
Those 250 stores only amount to 2% of all stores. Supposedly, 200 are in the US and 50 are in France. Another note in the articles says they are opening up 60 to 70 new stores mainly in locations that GAME in the UK has closed up shop.

Not quite the Gamestop apocalypse though I'm sure that's coming in the next few years.
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They closed one in my local mall here in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
 
DoggyDaddi said:
what happened to the ability to edit our posts? My phones autocorrect always makes my posts a train wreck, and I can't ever fix them LOL
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Don't worry about it. Your post would be a train wreck even if the spelling was perfect. "I had a bad experience with a Gamestop employee which means all Gamestops suck, waaaaaahhh!"

As for the topic, in the mall that I visit there are 2 Gamestops separated by a 2-minute walk. It wouldn't surprise me if they closed one of them but the couple of times I've visited both (usually just for the sake of walking, sometimes looking for older out-of-production games) they've both been pretty busy.
 
goodbye gamestop, you will not be missed. they are having the same fate as blockbuster.
 
How come it seems I'm the only one never have any issues with Gamestop. And I go to them often
 
caddys83 said:
How come it seems I'm the only one never have any issues with Gamestop. And I go to them often
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I go there all the time as week they get 98% of my business both new and used my local store is always friendly and great to talk to.
 
because they sell you a new game for $60, buy it back from you for $20, sell it back to you for $55.

I understand they have to sell games for more money than say amazon but I think they could have much better prices.
 
Just went to gamestop last weekend to find a special game-time card with a gamestop exclusive in game item. The lady there looked at me like I had asked for a phased plasma rifle in the 40 watt range.

I just went to the display where all the other game cards were and found what I needed myself. Thanks for nothing.
 
I have never had any problems with the Gamestop employees at the location near me but I don't go there often either. There are 4 locations within 15 miles of my house and the town I live in isn't that big...that always seemed a bit over saturated to me.
 
Good riddance, I haven't go in gamestop long time because they no longer carry any used pc games.
 
HisSvt76 said:
I love how this forum jumps all over this stuff like flies on shit.

They needed to do this there are too many stores that are literally across the street from each other.

Used games are not going anywhere unless every game company adopts a steam pricing model.
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The console market don't need those people who buy used games because they don't see a single dollar from those sale, so it makes no difference to them whether these gamers buy their games or not.
 
r3awak3n said:
because they sell you a new game for $60, buy it back from you for $20, sell it back to you for $55.

I understand they have to sell games for more money than say amazon but I think they could have much better prices.
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Why are you buying a game new from them, then selling it back to them, and then buying it right back :confused:
 
Sucks for the employees, but who didn't see this coming 10 years ago? I doubt Gamestop will be around 10 years from now, they seem to be dedicated to following Blockbuster into the ground.
 
Forgot to mention this in my first post but EVERY game company is going to adopt a Steam-like DRM scheme. Used games are going away, but that doesn't mean price competition is going away. I expect we'll see older games get progressively cheaper like they do on Steam. I mean, they've already paid for development so any sales on old products are gravy.
 
Of course you have 250 unprofitable stores, that's what happens when you "aquire" the across-the-street competitor, instead of ACTUALLY competing.

I'm surprised the number is only 250, because there were a lot more than 250 babbage's
 
Greenfield, WI has 4 that I know of. 2 in the mall, one outside next to the mall, and one across the street from the mall. I've always wondered how any of those stores could maintain any kind of profit. Brookfield has almost the same situation (1 in mall, one outside mall, 1 a bit down the street).

I'll bet one of those was an EB, and another was a Funcoland. It seems like Gamestop never actually closed any of those stores when they bought them out. It must come down to "location loyalty" or something.


Come to think of it, the sheer amount of used games all of those locations have is through the roof. It would be difficult to consolidate all those stores into one (unless it it had a lot more floor space). I must be seriously underestimating the used game market since I never buy used, so if all those games were to go up in smoke with the new console releases, I can see why Gamestop would diarrhea themselves.
 
GAMESTOP SUCKS.

Every time I tried to buy something there they hand me an opened dvd/Blu-ray that has obviously been used by the employees. But they say they can't put the cases on the floor because of theft.

Good riddance.
 
Can't get help in that store and it sucks anyway. They actually tried to sell me a used game as new one time. When I called them out on it the store manager told me that it was only played in their demo machine. So it was opened and played? By every customer that walked in the door that day? They put new shrink wrap on it that was in no way like what new games come in. Does the car dealer try and pass off a demo as anything other than a dealer demo. I mean how would these people like it if we demo'd their GF or wife while they were at work and tried to pass her off as "unused" or new?

I'm not glad when people loose their jobs, but Gamestop and all the other brands they own need to be shut down. Maybe they could combine with BB and Walmart to create the worlds worst customer experience?

The sad part of this situation is these stores probibly arn't loosing money. The company just isn't getting the amount of growth they want. I know for a fact that they get their games at a far lower price than independent game stores and pay less. So now if someone wants to go in and get a game in their tiny ass stores they will get to contest with more customers? How is that going to help thier bottom line? It is just going to drive people to buy elsewhere like online and other shops.
 
About time! There are two malls in the Portland area that have TWO gamestops inside.
 
I for one cannot stand the dumb ass punks at Game Stop and that's from coast to coast. I've visited lots of them buying up odds and ends to resell on craigslist / eBay and I am always met with that elitist jerk attitude that most employees display proudly.

I cannot tell you how many times I've been told I couldn't get something because I didn't pre-order it only to turn right back around and say, "well, I already have it pirated and burned off, cool game btw and since it's good, I would like to go ahead and buy it" which of course takes the shit eating grin right off their faces every time.

One interesting story from a handful of years ago. I was at a Game Stop in Kansas City and to my delight, found 3 x copies of SNES Earthbound and a copy of Orge Battle - Black Queen, worth about $500 - $600 total ( Iater made I think around $450 on them ) quietly bought them, then afterwards, asked the 3 people behind the counter why they were selling such valuable cards for so cheap at which point 2 of them looked up the games with one quickly saying, those carts were priced wrong and should have not been put out. One of the clerks had the balls to tell me he would need to issue me a refund to which I said yeeeeeeh right, ummm ... no. He then said I was banned from the store to which I said, "how about I call the district manager, give him your name and tell him what you just told me?" Again, shit faced smirk vanished right off his face.

I'm torn between absolutely wanting to see Game Stop go under / close stores and lose major profits because of how they consistently rape customers out of the value of their games. Clearly, it's pissed off Sony and Microsoft and many many MANY developers.

On the other hand I remember back to the day where my friends and I would try and coordinate with our parents around birthdays or Christmas to get different games so we could trade them with each other after we had beat 'em. I have a hard time seeing the new upcoming consoles take that ability away from customers. Games are expensive, $65 with tax?

Personally, I think it will hurt consoles and in turn, the PC if they do this.
 
I've always wondered if the reason they have so many stores is to make sure they get as close to 100% of the used game market as possible, since that accounts for 50% of their sales..I think they want to make sure that people don't go pawn shops etc or Trade-IT! style stores to sell their used games and accessories..
 
Read thread to see random retarded gamestop flaming. Was not disappointed.
 
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