GameStop, Not Hot Topic, To Acquire ThinkGeek For $140M

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Good news! It looks like GameStop, not Hot Topic, will be buying ThinkGeek. Whew!

Remember the long, long-ago of, er, just last week when we thought Hot Topic was planning to buy the parent company of online specialty retailer ThinkGeek? Well, now they’re not. A mysterious new suitor showed up just a few days later, and it appears they have the better bid. And so, Geeknet today announced that their brief fling with Hot Topic is over, and they will be joining up with GameStop instead.
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Hot Topic would have been a better match since they and ThinkGeek sorta sell in similar markets (with slightly different ages...ThinkGeek being more for a 30-something crowd and Hot Topic being more like a 20-ish store). It would have been nice to see them merge (though I admit I had no idea that was even a thing until today).
 
I wouldn't step foot in a hot topic...it turned all gothic. on top of that I am 30 years old...I would just be a perv.

I will step in a Gamestop and would step in more than once a year that I already do, just to peruse the Thinkgeek crap.

I think it may be a smart move on Thinkgeek's part.
 
Seeing as the average customer of either store is incapable of lucid thought, I don't see how one is better than the other.
 
Phoenix333 said:
Seeing as the average customer of either store is incapable of lucid thought, I don't see how one is better than the other.
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That might be true of GameStop, but not Hot Topic. The people who shop there at least patronize a business that can put a space between the two words of the store name, which is a lot more than you can say for that other place.
 
Manaknight said:
hot topic is probably the lesser of two evils here.
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I just went into a Hot Topic looking for a TARDIS nick knack for my 6 year old and 2 year old (they LOVE The Doctor) and was shocked it is not the place from 15+ years ago. It is more like nerd central than angsty teen central.
 
While Hot Topic isn't exactly a store I frequent, I'd rather go into one than a Gamestop.
It's tough to walk into a Gamestop without being overwhelmed by people that were put through a Sales 101 class and have their job riding on poor spending habits.
 
Spidey329 said:
I always thought Hot Topic was a goth clothing and accessories store.
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It was (and the one locally at my mall still is with some of their products and clothing lines) but they've branched out into other stuff too since goth-y types also make up a big chunk of the tech/nerd subgroup too. Since they're getting pretty solidly established with well paying jobs and whatnot, they're also a good source of retail money as their buying power grows and the older generations prior to them have to pinch pennies to pay for mortgages, kid college, open heart surgery, and deal with fixed retirement income.
 
Viper16 said:
I wouldn't step foot in a hot topic...it turned all gothic. on top of that I am 30 years old...I would just be a perv.
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Calling it "gothic" is a joke.

It turned "mall goth". Kitchy, plasticky, terrible junk.

No self respecting industrial / goth aficionado would be caught dead in a hot topic.
 
There are two Gamestops within 15 minutes of my house. I have no idea where a Hot Topic is. I call this a win.
 
Wait, Gamestop has $140 to spend? Must be from all those stores they closed. :D
 
CreepyUncleGoogle said:
That might be true of GameStop, but not Hot Topic. The people who shop there at least patronize a business that can put a space between the two words of the store name, which is a lot more than you can say for that other place.
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You have a point there...

*Throws CreepyUncleGoogle a turkey sammich*
 
After video games inevitably stop being a physical item that can be stocked on a shelf, they are going to need something to fill their stores with.

This is a good move on the part of GameStop, if they want to avoid the fate of Radio Shack.

I think the demographic is similar enough between Think Geek and GameStop that they can slowly transition from games to gadgets without alienating too many customers.
 
The owners of thinkgeek didn't think twice about dealing with hot topic. Hah hot topic has got to do an overhaul on the theme of the retail stores it's too..fake?
 
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