Topic: YO, Gamestop is turning their stores into arcades

So I saw this https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2021/04/gamestop_ceo_report... article from thursday talking about that short squeeze thing that happened earlier this year, (apparently that's a thing where lots of people need to buy shares to cover shorted stocks, which causes the price to go up which then forces more people to cover short stocks), and I thought that gamestop was doing pretty good because their stocks went up so much, but then this article said that the CEO is getting laid off so I was wondering if gamestop is really going out of business like the comments were saying, so I looked up the reddit forums to see what was up and GOOD GOD gamestop is popping off, here's some of the things that I read about.

So first of all there's this guy called Ryan Cohen, this guy made an online pet shop that became so succesful that they actually beat Amazon and are now the biggest pet retailer in the USA https://www.businessinsider.com/chewy-cofounder-how-he-create...
Amazon right now is worth $314.9 Billion, while Chewy is worth $33.32 Billion but apparently Chewy is still beating them in the pet market.
So this Ryan Cohen guy, he's the kind of guy that's obsessed with customer service, he randomly makes paintings of pictures of their animals that people posted on their profiles and then just sends it for free, the customer service for Chewy is godlike https://www.reddit.com/r/Pets/comments/a26npv/chewycom_has_an...
This is what happens when someone's pet dies while an order is being shipped, they give people a refund, they tell them to donate the food to an animal shelter, and they also send flowers with a condolence card, this guy treats customers like he's their servant or something https://www.reuters.com/business/retail-consumer/pet-food-vid...

So that's what he's like and he wants to turn gamestop into the same kind of company Chewy is, where people can buy every product that exists so they don't have to shop somewhere else, and then he makes the customers keep coming back with godlike customer service, and he wants to make gamestop BIGGER than Amazon, he's absolutely nuts.

So he bought into gamestop half a year ago and since then he's been cleaning house, he's kicked out all of the old board members https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/mu6y3m/ the CEO from the NLife article is last guy that used to work for gamestop before cohen took over, and right now cohen is the Chairman of the Board which means he tells the CEO and everyone else what to do, he's also been hiring people who he used to work with at Chewy and he's even hired executives from Amazon and Google; why would Google and Amazon executives work for a dying retailer? This is why: https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/mt0b2k/gme_revis...

THEY'RE TURNING GAMESTOP STORES INTO ARCADES
In the future you can just go to a gamestop and play in tournaments against other people and hang out, it's amazing, and they're doing other things as well in the USA, like same day delivery where you order something and it gets delivered to your house in 2 hours https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/mt056n/a_gamesto... and they're adding tons of things to their catalogue https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/mm1jk3/gamestop_...
You can already buy PC parts at gamestop and in the future you can also go to the stores and the employees will help you by building a PC for you, it's like a build-a-bear but with PCs https://www.reddit.com/r/wallstreetbets/comments/kypuyb/gme_d... or you can just fill out online what parts you want your PC to have and then they'll built it and sent it to your house, it's amazing and they NEED to start doing this in europe as well.

I saw some of the comments in the NLife article say that they're "loosing money left right and centre" so I looked up how they're doing and you know what? THEY'RE DOING AMAZING:
https://news.gamestop.com/news-releases/news-release-details/...
They had $635 Million in Total Cash, and since then they've bought back all of their debt 2 years EARLY meaning that they can do whatever they want without having to worry about having to pay off their loans.

You guys need to make an article about this, gamestop is not going to be a simple retail store in future, they're turning the company into gaming-amazon and they're going to use the stores as dispatch points and gaming hubs, there's this professional investing firm called DOMO capital who's been tracking gamestop for years, they have a twitter so you can ask them about what else gamestop has been up to.
@SwitchVogel @KateGray

This all sounds amazing. I'm worried it's too ambitious, but I really hope it works out. Always satisfying to see some crazy genius prove a bunch of cynical brats wrong.

As fond as I am of arcades, I'm aware it's mostly nostalgia, and current day arcades seem to struggle. So, I'm skeptical of this, but I'm totally open to being wrong. If someone can make it work, I look forward checking it out.

Thanks for sharing @Axioms

I know right!? I'm so hyped, it just looks like a genius play; you get the customer loyalty from the gamestop hangouts, and as long as you break even with those you can get your profits from the e-commerce business.
I swear I read this article some years ago that the most expensive thing about starting a business is getting customer loyalty, but gamestop already has customer loyalty AND they've also managed to keep a big market presence DESPITE having had crappy management for years, they just need to make some small adjustments and they'll blow every other gaming store out of the park, I'm so hyped right now.

@WoomyNNYes I think the problems with current day arcades is that they aren't getting enough money from other parts of the business, it's just too niche. But a big company like gamestop having it on the side, and using it to grow their other more profitable business, that should be enough to keep the lights on.

Oh Gods, I can imagine the smell walking into one of those GameStop arcades. Like going to a Smash tournament and all the BO.

at least they're not turning their stores into vape stores. There was a used game shop near me a while back, and they started selling vape, allowing people to light up in the store itself. Stopped going there when you could barely see anything, and when the games were getting water vapor all over them.

Living here in Ireland, I don't think that turning Gamestops into arcades would work that well. Unless they closed about 2/3rds of their stores which have a miniscule amount of space, there just wouldn't be room to facilitate such a change.
Plus the only way most arcades make any money here is to operate a food and alcohol license to increase profit margins.

I hope this is successful. All the GameStop’s within 5 towns of me have closed. I hate going to Best Buy or Target to get video games.

Oh my gosh were in the freakin world did you hear this? The Gamestop in my town is normal and appears to be doing well. I have been a customer of there quite a bit.

I refuse to shop at GameStop since the pandemic hit. I only shop at local retro games stores or Best Buy and Target for new games. Sometimes I'll pre-order on Amazon too.

@Axioms

It's about darn time. Sounds like the guy of chewy has the right idea. 👍 They should treat there customers right. The old expression the customer is always right. As a customer I prefer being treated with respect as opposed to being treated like white trash in gamestop. That was gamestop's biggest downfall disrespecting there customers with cold attitudes told there customers & not knowing any thing about the games they were selling. I remember being in there store year's ago looking at different games & asked them if they knew what the game was about. If it was a third party title they could have cared less & told me to read the back of the box of the game but if it was a first party title they knew every tid bit about the game & were eager to sell that. It got to the point if I shopped there. I started looking up the games online & trying to read reviews & watch game play videos before buying the game because I know asking an employee there is useless. It's sad the gamer has to look up the information as opposed to the employee actually knowing the games there selling. I was not impressed with gamestop & greatly miss the days of Electronics Boutique where they treated there customers with respect & gladly tried to help the customer on knowledge of a game if they could. 🤷‍♀️✌️👍

@HyrulesHero42

Why not get the games at other stores? Walmart, Half Price Books, retro game stores. If shopping online they deliver the games straight to your house~ 😉🤣👍

Happy Gaming! (^_^)

thanks for informative post

@VoidofLight LOL

@HyrulesHero42 All the gamestop stores in the entire country closed a few years ago here. (Sweden) I think in the other nordic countries too. Arcades sound cool but no stores to turn into arcades here i guess.

@Simon97

This is making me wonder one thing if all the gamestop's are closing. Where do we get video games? At local stores or online? I'm already doing that right now but like looking around once in a while at gamestop. Haven't got a chance yet since I got my switch because busy with other stuff... Hmm... 🤔

Happy Gaming! (^_^)

👍

@Barbiegurl777 In Sweden, mostly online but there are some other stores who sell physical games too like Elgiganten, Webhallen and so on. They usually do not just sell games and consoles, they sell other stuff too. Hardware, tv s, cell phones and so on. Kind of like Best Buy maybe.

But mostly online if you want to buy physical games.

Arcades are quite hard to find in sweden too i think. If there are any sometimes they are run by people on their spare time as a sort of club, not a commercial business. Then there are some commercial businesses and they might have arcade games but also pool tables, pinball, computers (LAN), a bar and so on. And there could be some arcade games at amusement parks.

welp. gamestop are closed now in the republic of ireland

Blockbuster sold sodas, candy, and popcorn...right before they went extinct. I think I'd rather play video games from home than brave through the juvenile wasteland that is our local mall.