Earlier this week GameStop hosted its 2014 Investor Day, at which it outlined some core business plans for the coming year. What does that mean for gamers? Less stores, basically.
It's not a mass closure, but the company is clearly looking to streamline its business — it's planning to close 120-130 stores in the coming year, out of a current worldwide total of 6,457. Not a major dent, but the company appears to be looking to markets larger than the dedicated gaming space; it currently has plans to expand its Spring Mobile, Simply Mac and Cricket brands with hundreds of new stores across the franchises. These are focused on the mobile device and Apple consumer gadget sectors.
This movement into new fields has been described as an era of "GameStop 3.0" by CEO Paul Raines, due to its attempts to expand its non-gaming business to more closely resemble its primary business.
GameStop is clearly a major game retail presence around the world, particularly in the U.S. Are you a fan of its stores, and would you miss your local if it's one of those that gets closed down?
[source gamesindustry.biz]
Comments 123
Not surprised. It amazes me just how many Gamestops there are around me.
I know a place where i can go to 3 gamestops that are less than a mile apart from each other. Close down this infernal business >:0
power to the players!
@Barbiegurl777
Regardless of what you think of Game Stop, it's still upsetting to see people lose their jobs.
I love the ability to trade in games at Gamestop. That's the only reason I shop there.
@Link-Hero
It does not. They have $4 billion in assets & $1.8 in liabilities. Last year was the first year in 2 years they had positive cash flow. This is just streamlining the business.
@Agent721 My local Best Buy's starting to buy used games. Not really a replacement to Gamestop but it's a start at least.
@Link-Hero I fail to see people losing their incomes and family's struggling financially a good deal.
I don't ever sell games, so they are just a haven of cheap used games for me. I'd be bummed if my local one closed.
@DiscoGentleman
I got slightly under $20 for Mario Kart Wii about one month ago...but on the same day, they offered me 20 cents for Wii Play. So it depends. I kept wii play...the duck hunt game is cool.
I usually get a street pass in there, and they are much more knowledgeable than any other store around here. They are my first stop for Skylanders merchandise for that reason (I just get a blank stare at Wal Mart and Target never bothers to put their merchandise out half the time). Still, I buy most of my games at Best Buy because of a better reward program and Gamers Club Unlocked.
I only buy on GameStop for pre-order bonuses.
Personally I just look for the best deal out there. I never trade in my games. Would rather just keep them or give them away.
@PrincessEevee9
Just kids with zero life experience hating company X for whatever infantile reason they might have...
I was in Buffalo in the fall and I went to a Gamestop that had another Gamestop across the parking lot. So yes, this could make some sense.
I don't hate GameStop, I hate their trading policy. "Okay, so a fully-functional DSi in great condition... we'll give you five dollars." It is sad that all those people are losing their jobs.
Good riddance.
@FJOJR
Well, trading games allows you to get some money back on your purchase, but it is smarter to sell them. I understand your viewpoint, though.
I have like 4 stores in my area that are fairly close to each other, so I wouldn't be surprised if one closed for good.
I usually shop at them because it's conveniently close to my work, but it's understandable that there's too many of them in some cities. Hopefully those employees get transferred to other locations because it would suck to loose their jobs.
Ah... I miss those days when "Gamestop" was just "funcoland" and playing Jet Grind Radio (dreacast) out on display. Ok nostalgic rant over
thank the heavens... i hate going to this damn store target and bestbuy for me only.. they are rude, and very pushy with pre orders and are just overall morons that work there will not be missed.. hope all of the stores close soon lol
I saw this a few days ago. I personally think GameStop is a sleezy box of rats and am very excited to see this fanless dump go he way of all the earth. There is little to no reason for me to shop at GameStop as compared to a local store who employs individuals with at least a half wits knowledge of something other than Call of Duty and Halo. I asked for WindWaker HD when it came out and he asked me if I wanted it on PS3 or 360...
Please don't close my local GameStop! D:<
I am definitely a fan of GameStop. While they do stuff that I am not proud of... that's life and that's business. They are a dedicated video game store and I don't want them going anywhere. I do miss EB Games and Rhino Games being separate entities, but at the same time, they all fit right in.
@DiscoGentleman I have no "local media sales shop".. I have GameStop and Wal-Mart....
@Ryo_Hazuki-san Uh, if you hate GameStop, don't go to GameStop! Ugh!
@SphericalCrusher Wow, a fellow GameStop fan! That's rare.
Only because I've been using them for so long. I am not one of the diehard fanboys, because I admit to their mistakes, but they do have good preorder deals. I actually buy the majority of my games at Toys R Us now.
I have 17 Gamestops w/in 10 miles of me (I just checked) so they probably have gone a bit overboard w/ expansion and need to pull back on some of the under performing stores. Considering how much Sony pushes digital on PSN and Wii U consists almost solely of indie games and VC on eShop it's kind of surprising they aren't closing a lot more stores than 120 out of 6,000.
Gamestop - everybody hates them, but we shop there anyway.
My local mall has two Gamestops in it. Not sure why?
I only use to buy older used games when they have the Buy 2 Get 1 free deals. I would never trade in games with them. I either use Amazon or sell on Ebay.
Yikes, lots of hate in these comments. The GameStop near me is full of very knowledgeable employees who are always friendly and excited to help me find what I need or order something for me if they don't have it. I don't follow the franchise's business model so I don't really know if it's a "good" company or not, but I'd hate to see the employees at my local store lose their jobs. It's the only one in town.
They expanded far to much. Every city doesn't need one in major metropolitan areas. Blockbuster did the same and look at them! I can hit about 10 GS in an hour where I live. At one point there use to be 4 in a 5 min walking distance.
Eh, whatever.
@BinaryFragger I don't really think many will be affected by this. I was made aware of the lack of hours most workers have...
I dont hate gamestop and this isnt gonna affect me at all since there are only 4 gamestops near me so they are all prob relatively profitable hah
Clearance sales?
Just for the knowledge of anyone outside the United States: Gamestop is it. Seriously. They have a monopoly over here.
@FalconPunch EXACTLY! "Ok so you have 10 Wii games? I'll give you 5 bucks!" (true story.) Hmph.
I honestly like GameStop, sure they make shady decisions but, then again what business doesn't? It sucks for those who lose their jobs and I hope it doesn't affect my area, the guys at my local GS are nice guys who even though, look on a little disappointingly when I buy Wii U games, are still pretty cool.
This is not good news at all! I feel bad that someone else has to either join me in the unemployment line or join me in begging for change in order to be able to catch public transit just to go to the next job interview...this is not good news at all. Who ever wants them to close is probably either 1) not very pleased with their business practices(and who would be anyway) or 2) obviously callous individuals who get handouts from family or trust funds from family or the like and completely have no real visual idea of what it's like to try and make it in today's America...let's face it life is hard. There's no reason to make it harder on the next man or woman tryin' to come up. I will miss them if any of the stores around me close even though i have gone digital I still believe the midwest and other states in The U.S. should have dedicated gaming stores. Like another individual pointed out earlier in the comments...funcoland and eb games got bought out by gamestop so this is what we're left with and that's not a bad thing just a misadventure for us common folk..sigh!
I hope the one near me doesn't close. While they do have some questionable business practices, they're one of the few stores I can still swipe Wii games from without buying them online, and you can sometimes find nice used items in there.
P.s. I know this is late but Congrats to you Thomas whitehead for your promotion at the job! I have thoroughly enjoy your articles that you post on this site. Keep up the good work...you guys hiring?
Hopefully not the one by my Walmart. I hate getting games at Walmart. The are not cheap. Definitely not shopping at Kmart, tho. They still have Kirby's Epic Yarn for $50.
I find Gamestop has a much better selection then Best Buy, Wal-Mart, Target, and K-Mart, especially for older games or mid-level titles. I wouldn't mind if the one in the local mall disapears though. Tiny hole-in-the-wall, crap selection, and too many jerks manning the counter, always acting surprised that a girl is buying some hardcore game, nevermind the fact that I was playing the Genesis when they were in diapers. So long as I can keep the big store nearby, I'm happy.
I understand some people have their issues with GameStop. I am lucky enough to have an excellent one in my town. It is very well managed. They know their stuff most of the time.
I think in the business world this means going lean. You trim what you don't need, now. This helps you through the first round of a bad market. Most retailers do this in one form or another. For instance, a large store like Walmart might trim employee's hours just after the busy Christmas season. Other companies like GameStop in this case close stores that are not performing. I can guarantee that the stores that close are all in the red. I am sorry for the people who lose their jobs, but unfortunately, that is the nature of this economic beast we have created.
This is why the economy will never get better, because of stupidity like this.....EVERYTHING has to be online.
LMAO. Stick to gaming.
I enjoy and hate Gamestop at the same time, I like finding non-major game release in their stores and I also like that Gamestop has a big selection of games, unlike Wal-Mart & Target that only carry popular titles like (Halo, Call of Duty) in their stores. What I don't like about Gamestop is how they rip people off in game trading, they also should give better incentives for shopping in their stores. Most of my video games shopping now goes to Amazon with there awesome deals.
@LDXD I Can't stand how GameStop rips every game out of its packaging, I like my new games clean and free of fingerprints.
I mean, welcome to the United States, where every CVS is bordered by a Walgreen's or a Rite Aid. And just as every bank is next to another bank, no two Gamestops will ever be far apart.
@NintendoDolphin
I rest my case.
Sounds like a good time for them to change their name back to the much better Electronic Boutique. Then they could really expand their offerings.
Hope mine doesn't leave. The people who work at my Gamestop are very kind abd helpful.
@Link-Hero So you'd rather have over thousands of people to go out of work than rather just not going to gamestop? That doesn't make sense at all.
One of my best friends works at a Gamestop.
We only have one where I live and I've been shopping there since I was 12 and it was Electronics Boutique. I'm 26 now. It's even got some of the same staff from then, so they know me really well. I was just in there the other day and a new guy asked if I wanted to trade in any games and the manager just laughed and said, "She never trades in her games! She has an amazing collection."
Gamestop as a company is garbage but on a store to store basis it's full of good folks and I'd rather not see them lose their jobs.
Sad I would support game stop over best buy any day
As much as people like to hate Gamestop, I'd be sad if they ever went out of business. It's nice knowing that gaming is large enough to actually have brick and mortor stores dedicated to just that- gaming.
Personally, I buy all my games at Best Buy due to their overwhelmingly attractive Gamer's Club Unlocked program, which grants members 20% off all purchases of new games and 10% off all used games, as well as various other perks that I don't use like trade in bonuses and the like. But 20% off is hard to beat- I'm sorry but Gamestop just can't compete with a program like that. ESPECIALLY when BB runs pre order rewards anywhere from $10-20 back ON TOP OF the 20% off. That's effectively getting brand new $60 games for $27.99-37.99.
I love Gamestop, but I really wish that if they were going to branch out, they should re-introduce the policy for buying and selling for older systems again. I miss walking in to my local store to look at Xbox games next to a bin full of 99cent NES titles. Much cheaper than eBay.
I don't think this means that much people. They do have a lot of locations, and can see why it might be a bit much. I personally have very good experiences at GameStop. Most of the employees at mine are very good and know what they are taking about, and the best one even knows me now because I'm a regular.
And to the poeple who bash what they give you for games. They give you a smaller price, and you have a very easy and convenient way to sell them. If you want a better price, you can sell them yourself. They are a pawnshop that only deals in games and of few other related electronics.
@fortius54 Yup. I had a bad experience a long time ago, but they're a lot better now in my area at least. For those unfamiliar, not everyone of them is run by a manager that bends over to corporate greed. There's a couple small game stores by me that specialize in used games, but if I'm going for a big new game, then I'll get it at GameStop. I hate cynics that clamor for extreme abrupt actions, like closing down all GameStop stores. Do you put much thought into it from all sides, like what of the employees or if all locations are evil? Heck, even Zynga closing would be bad, with all the inevitable job losses in this day and age of execs laying off their workforce for a cash bonus.
I live in the Boston, MA area (North Shore) and off the top of my head, all within a 20 min drive from me: 2 in Peabody, 1 in Saugus, 1 in Malden, 1 in Everett, 1 in Somerville, 2 in Woburn, 3 in Burlington. If you have a car it's very easy to find one so I imagine they won't be going the "way of the Blockbuster" anytime soon.
72nd post and nobody has said it yet? Ok, fine.
Gamestop is DOOMED!
I actually buy most of my games from either Best Buy or Toys R Us because I am on their rewards program, and $5 is $5. The only time I check GameStop is as a last resort when a game isn't carried by one of the other 2 stores, or around Black Friday as they tend to have pretty good deals.
They better not close down the ones near where I live. >.>
I'd be disappointed if the local GameStop gets shutdown. Granted there's still a Target, Walmart and Best Buy I could go to but I do like to pre-order and pre-ordering with those 3 stores has been a nightmare the few times I tried it.
I gave up on GameStop a year or so ago. Amazon all the way (that is, if you don't mind waiting a couple days for the Prime 2-day shipping)!
@LetsGoRetro I'm just outside of Boston and I completely stand by your statement. We're overrun with GameStops out here.
@AshFoxX They should definitely go back to old titles. It's the only way they can differentiate themselves from the walmarts and bestbuys. I mean, how much space do gameboy and gamecube games take? Especially in how much they can turn around a profit from each one because walmart and bestbuy cant be bothered with such small niches.
i really hope they dont close down the gamestop i go too cause thats where i buy my games every year and walmart is not a option for me to buy games there.
yeah they need to sell more retro games, and stop having the employees be so annoying
@Swiket The people who need to be paid are the dev / publisher and platform holder and that is it. Due to the family sharing that MS were going to do the overall cost for me and my two brothers (Presuming it could be on the same account in different locations). Would have been only paying for one game in three each. Much better deal (Along with the convenience of digital). All used games do is leech money away from the people who need to be paid. (At least Amazon tries as much as possible to stock new).
In my area, GameStop and Wal*Mart are the only places that sell video games.
No surprize..minium wage goin up..they makin cut backs..soon gas food and other things go up..more good people lose their jobs..
Gamestop is truly an awful company
@Unrandomsam
Except the 'evidence' that the second hand market hurts the industry is mostly based on speculation. Its based on the assumption that if it didn't exist most people would just buy new instead. Pachter even crunched the numbers once and proved Gamestop's used sales make up a small percentage of the over-all games sales, something like 5%-10% I think.
As 'horrible' as Gamestop is made out to be the industry as a whole seems to think otherwise. If its so horrible why are there so many GS exclusive deals? Simple, they need a monster to blame when things go wrong. They need a scapegoat to justify changes when things don't meet their expectations. Gamestop is good when its making them money, and its evil when its not.
One just opened up outside my neighborhood.
oh great, gamestop is turning into apple x.x
Not the biggest fan of Gamestop, but I don't like the idea of game stores being replaced with more cell phone stores. I was very disappointed when one of the few arcades left near me became a cell phone store.
I hate gamestop, overpriced games and unknowledgeable, or rude employees. However i don't enjoy downloading games as i prefer physical copies,
However i also hate cellphones, well i guess i only hate them for there app stores full of shovel ware garbage.
@Barbiegurl777
That's fine if that is how you feel, as no one can change your previous retail experiences. It's just distasteful to wish bad fortunes on others, regardless if you think they deserve it or not.
Good riddance. FuncoLand was better.
Although I am sorry to see people lose their jobs.
Well, hope none of the ones around me get close down! D:
At the mall near my house there are two gamestops. It will suck people will lose their jobs but there are so many so close to each other it is almost as bad as Starbucks. ( there are only 120 closing but still)
I hope mine doesnt close cuz i want there pokemon exclusives when they get some
I second the idea that they should get back into the Retro market.
It would correct the prices of games on eBay, It would give GameStop an advantage over big box stores, and we would probably see more retro games out there besides sports games.
The more Gamestops that close down the better. I honestly can't wait for the day that company goes out of business completely.
@kensredemption Because Amazon, eBay, and other online stores is a monopoly?
I hope that our GameStop doesn't close in Baraboo, WI because we don't have that many places left in our fair city to shop for video games because we already lost our Sears, K-Mart, & JC Penney within the past 3 years. We only have The Spin Shack, GameStop, The Media Warehouse & Wal-Mart to buy video games. Our Wal-Mart has a lot of shovelware & high priced games that should be lower than what they think the price should be regardless of how old the game is while our GameStop has reasonable prices on the games that you love to play. Our GameStop has a very friendly atmosphere with the customers & the employees are very knowledgeable about the video game industry. We are also losing 370 Family Dollar Stores that carry a variety of third party handhelds like the Atari Flashback & Sega Genesis Systems by AtGames Software. I dislike it when everything you need or want to buy locally isn't in our stores anymore because everything is online at very high prices, but it's helpful when you have a good idea of who's going to give you the right price for the product.
My local GameStop is a very enjoyable place. I can talk about upcoming releases with a couple of the employees and bring my 3DS for occasional StreetPass encounters. I don't know what people have wrong with it, but that may just be an outcome of my good experience. Regardless, I doubt that it would ever close, because there is only one in the city.
I hope none of the 4 GameStop's i live nearby will close.
Its been good for me. It helped me recover a few of my Gamecube games i lost.
I've never had any bad experiences. Other then the scratched Sonic Adventure DX disc i got one time, But i was able to get a exchange for a disc in better condition with no troubles at all,
The people i have dealt with in GameStop have been pretty nice. I guess some are unlucky to get the bad ones..
I'm not worried. There are 3 GameStops within a 15 minute drive and just as many of my preferred local game store chain.
I always hear people spew about how terrible GameStop is. Perhaps I'm extremely nonobservant (which is completely false) or everyone who works at the ones I go to are cool. And I've been to countless stores hundreds of times and I've never experienced the extremely horrible service many speak of. Perhaps I'm lucky? o_O
Let's get one thing straight. Wal-Mart, Target, Best Buy don't carry all the games! When Lego Hobbit came in no one had the 3DS or Vita version in stock! Well except GameStop. They carry the biggest selection of Vita games so I shop their a lot. I know the staff and they like friends now. I do admitt we have lots of stores though in my area. Two are within 3 mins drive of each other. I hope my favorite location stays open though.
Down with GameStop, I have myself and my friends boycott GameStop since they decided to OPEN "NEW" games and slap a "NEW" sticker on it. I bought I "NEW" edition of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass, with a file already on the card named 'naruto'. Since then....literally Best Buy all the way...
@DiscoGentleman their game trading isn't there to enrich the gamers it's to make money for the company.... Nobody is forcing you to trade with them. That's the wonderful thing about capitalism, you can CHOOSE to participate in the transaction, or you can choose not to.
A better question is why are most gamers Marxist?? They believe companies should only exist to kiss their asses and give them free shizzle but when a company wants to make money they are accused of being evil.
If gamers didn't like gamestops practices they would go out of business, but they are still here, which means they are doing something right. I personally don't care for them and buy my games online, but I would never complain about a company that wants to make a profit, I mean that's the whole reason for a companies existence.
It's like gamers graduated from the Barack Obama school of Marxism where they are brainwashed to hate profit for some reason, much like the anti-capitalist himself.
I hope my gamestop is safe, it's my sanctuary
@Barbiegurl777
Your "endless stories" are irrelevant to my point. I'm finished debating this. We clearly are not on the same level of thought.
Over here we have a mall with TWO gamestops in it.. one on the bottom floor.. and one on the second floor... and then .25 miles away from the mall is another gamestop in a plaza..
Century III mall if anybody is familiar with that..
@Barbiegurl777 Then stop shopping at Wal-mart, Target, Best Buy, etc. because their employees are bad (at some stores)
i actually prefer gamestop for used game purchases. unlike best buy, gamestop actually guarantees their used games. i purchased metroid other m used from best buy 2 years ago, i returned an hour after purchase because the disc didnt work which happens sometimes when they clean the disc for redistribution. not only was i met with hostility at best buy, being told i was in violation of licensing laws or some nonsense and that there was nothing they could do for me so i spoke with several managers and even best buy on social media and finally after 3 months was told i would be sent another used copy. that was 2 years ago and im still waiting. every now and then ill run into the district manager at wawa and he never makes eye contact with me. i dont consider myself the greatest best buy customer but as someone who spents thousands every year there for a almost a decade its foolish they lost a customer over a 10$ faulty used game.
where as at gamestop i can return the game within a week for store credit, easy replacement or whatever with little to no hassle.
also i love other m. dont hate. lol
Am I the one person in the world that likes gamestop?
I understand that Gamestop owns the EB Games brand in Australia too (though I don't think there's ever been an actual Gamestop in Australia) and there is definitely no issue with overcrowded store locations for me. Until last year the nearest EB Games was 1 hour away (now its 30 minutes away.) New release games are always full price, but there's always some good finds in the sales or used games. They carry a fair amount of gaming merch too. It's also the store Nintendo lets have all the exclusive pre-order bonuses. Staff appear to be nice and friendly too, although they never appear to be busy, so I don't imagine they hire too many people... I even heard one guy hating his Xbox One and wanting to sell it, so he can't be that evil.
I love GameStop and I'm freaking upset that this is happening.
GameStop was a place I could go to to buy games and converse with other people about games. It was also a place I could go to get used games with a guaranteed-to-work-or-your-money-back deal!
This is dumb. I'm so mad...
Sux for the employees but its a practical decision for the company, given how many there are in a single town. Just in this town where i work there are 2 less than 3 miles apart.
I don't go there anymore anyways so doesn't matter to me if it closed but I do feel for the employees that lose their jobs. As much as I don't like the digital age of gaming, it seems the media really want that to happen so digital gaming is becoming more common. GameStop at this moment is like the Blockbuster of videogame, once the digital process took over, you either had to sink or swim. They are probably still swimming at the moment.
I lost my zeal for Gamestop a long time ago. Browsing their used game section is like visiting a very well stocked but disorganized yard sale. I can usually spend less to get the same used games, in much better condition, off eBay. Plus their stock only goes back about one generation.
I hope one just downtown from me doesn't close down. I'm not a fan of their business practices either, the people they staff are often of the "dudebro" gamer variety and it depresses me to see people ignore Nintendo, especially if that person is representing a gaming store and thus can be blindly depended on by the misinformed to represent the business. But I do like flipping through the preowned Wii games and seeing if I spot any gems I missed back then. The best part about buying Wii games used is that a lot of good third party games are ignored, decreasing demand and thus decreasing preowned price down to $10 or less. I'm pretty sure they're the only place close to me that stocks used games, so I'd hate to see all the ones close to me go down.
Bad news for residents of Arizona, 20 Phoenix/Mesa locations, 3 Flagstaff locations, and 2 Prescott locations are being shutdown next month. I got this info directly from the regional manager that works at my local Gamestop when I asked on behalf of the website I run.
I wonder why so many are closing in such a close proximity and are the closures a part of this restructuring?
I've had my good experiences and bad experiences with GameStop. The few closest to me are great. It's the ones that bother me where the employees don't pick up the phone, or when they lie when you ask somebody to do a physical search for a game that shows up as being in stock on the computer only to be told it's not there; only later to find out it actually was there(I've come by anyway a few times in the past to check) and the person was just being lazy. Then again, these people mainly get paid minimum wage, so what do you expect? On the flipside, I have had experiences where the employees went above and beyond and have been very knowledgable and accomidating to my gaming needs.
@eleccross No, You're not. I like GameStop as well.
This seems like a reasonable move considering that, in my area, many malls have TWO GameStops.
I understand the decision, but man! Some of you have a real loathing for GS. I have one local Gamestop and a couple others within reasonable driving distance and they all have friendly, knowledgeable staff. They are all well-stocked. Yeah, sometimes their prices can be a little high but, honestly, that is usually overcome when they're running deals. I got Zombi U, Ninja Gaiden Razor's Edge, and another copy of Twilight Princess (since my original stopped working) for $35 altogether. I just got $82 in trade for my copies of Tomb Raider and Second Son for PS4, which is two dollars more than I would have sold them for on craigslist or eBay, because of a deal they were running. They always ask if I want to preorder anything, but that's their job. They get incentives for people preordering. They're never pushy about it, though, and I usually preorder something there anyway. It surprises me so many people dislike them so much. Anyway, maybe I'm just one of the lucky ones to have such good stores in my area.
@FalconPunch So do I.
@KingKoopa1982 "Anyway, maybe I'm just one of the lucky ones to have such good stores in my area.'' How right you are.
@BinaryFragger I see what you did there
Most of the time, I've had a decent experience at Game Stop. One time an employee gave my wife and I a display sign for Pokemon X and Y. It was completely awesome.
I hope my local Gamestop stays. It's the only one in a 40 mile radius. I like buying some cheap games.
I've shopped there for years and there are a ton of Gamestops in Las Vegas. its nice if one store doesn't have a game another will. I bet at 120 stores closing half of the Vegas stores will close I will miss them as they start to close 1 by 1 and the digital only era starts sadface
Id rather urinate on roadkill than spend my money with gamestop
In the UK we have GAME, they have the same practises as GameStop. I never shop there as a result, I also live far away from my nearest shop so internet ordering is more convenient anyway. I also find the best deals online anyway, so I have no incentive what so ever to trek to a high street chain.
I have to been to many EBs, both in Canada and the US, and I have yet to witness any horrible service that all of you guys seem to be getting. They're my main store for my gaming needs and I hope the ones near me don't close.
I bought my Vita there once and was a dollar short or something, and the guy offered to pay the rest for it for me. That was a very nice gesture.
I sure hope this doesn't effect mine. When you live in a smaller town and your options for games are Walmart & Gamestop you love gamestop a lot. At least I can preorder any game I want and have a guaranteed copy on launch day unlike walmart which may or may not get the game I want in even.
I personally don't want anyone out of a job, or struggling financially. I do wish GS would not get far away from gaming. Some of their policies might need altering. Staff should be held to high standards for employee-customer interactions, although I've never encountered nasty staff, maybe young, or obviously unfamiliar with gaming in general, but never nasty, to me anyway. I also wish GS would have a specialized branch of stores, or segment of their current stores for retro gaming. It was always fun going into FuncoLand building up my Nes collection. I used to go in there frequently back then. No to job losses, or financial troubles for people. I hope my local one doesn't go. I love options, that includes GS.
Local gaming shop my arse, we used to have one here in Hawaii and then the owner retired so they are gone with the wind now. I surely hope none of the GS here go out of business unless they are in a obscure place. This year we already lost two; anymore and I'll end up driving farther than 15 miles to get to one. I have no qualms with the employees since I've been a customer at one specific location when it still was Software etc. Nowadays they know me just from a glance so they're always polite and nice. I really hope people don't lose their jobs and are able to transfer to another location. :/
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