GameStop in bad shape

[DialSforSam]

I wonder if Best Buy is headed down the same road. The last time I was in there, not only was the video game selection scant but there was NO PRICES on ANY of them! It was ridiculous. What was I supposed to do, take it to the front, wait in line, and have them scan them for me? Or just go to Amazon? Easy choice there.

I used to love Best Buy. They used to have a massive selection of DVDs and their cd and game selection were quite good for the most part.

Now, the store almost seems empty.

The Best Buy in my area used to be the same way too. There were rows of movies, but after reorganizing the store, it's down to just two rows of movies.

And the Gamestop at the local mall is sad looking.

[Retro STrife]

There's a GameStop in my town's mall closing down as we speak. I passed by it yesterday and saw 20-70% off signs.

Supposedly, that same mall used to have two GameStops in it.. one on the 1st floor and one on the 2nd floor. Yeah, GameStop was like the Starbucks of video game stores.. Well, one of those stores closed down years ago, which was probably a good business decision. As for this new closing, I think it's more a sign of GameStop's weakening business.

There is another GameStop across town, like 5 minutes away. So I'm sure that contributed to the decision. But funny that years ago one mall could support 2 GameStops, and today one town can't even support 2 GameStops.

[LS650]

GameStop is just “riding it out to bankruptcy city”.

Yep. I was in an EB Games last weekend. They had more silly dolls and trinkets than actual gaming items.

I think it's clear that with COVID most sales are moving online; their brick and mortar outlets are bound to disappear.

[Voor]

Just got back from game stop after not having been to one in probably five years. The second with the critic said, it is shocking how little actual games they have. It’s sad.

And I don’t understand the concept of selling a used game for five dollars cheaper than a new copy. It’s bizarre.

I will say that in all of my experiences, The workers have been friendly and accommodating. That said, they have their hands full with the clientele there. I was in there for five minutes and he answered questions nonstop over the phone from random customers, I imagine a full day there is exhausting.

But one thing really bothered me: I went there for two games that their website both indicated were in stock, and I got there and neither was on the shelf. I asked about it and he gave me some wild explanation of how that works, but I was pretty disappointed

[velcrozombie]

And I don’t understand the concept of selling a used game for five dollars cheaper than a new copy. It’s bizarre.

I usually just check in when there is an event going on and you will see some bizarre pricing sometimes, like a brand new game on sale for $39.99 or even $29.99 right next to the same game used for $54.99. You'd think they'd at least lower the used game accordingly but no. What's even worse is that the promotion may require you to buy a certain number of used games within a price range to receive an additional discount and you can't do it because the used copy remains at an elevated price while the ineligible new copy is now low enough to qualify.

Often the used game isn't even $5 less. Once a game's price starts to fall you'll see, say, a new copy for $29.99 with the used copy for $26.99, or even the absurdity of a new copy for 19.99 next to a 18.99 used copy. Who would bother with the used game at that point?

[Herschie]

I went to Gamestop with a hundred dollars worth of gift cards from Christmas and couldn't even get two games. I remember when it was Funcoland you could go in there with twenty dollars and get 5 NES games, a PS1, 3 games for it, and a second controller. You can't do that anymore at Gamestop. Too many security cameras.

[Retro STrife]

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Some good news for GameStop’s potential survival. Financially it’s suddenly doing well out of nowhere. It’s stock price, after dropping since 2015 and going as low as $2.80 in 2020, has suddenly shot up and gone up as high as $40 recently. That’s still below its peak in 2007, but this is the highest it’s been since 2015, and the first positive spike since then too. Anyway, seems weird posting a stock chart here, but I was glad to see there’s finally some optimism that it’s not on the verge of bankruptcy.

[MSR1701]

Nice to see some positive news for ol' GS, though unless they have radically redesigned their focus/business plans, I don't see this being a continued trend.

[Breaker]

Is there some sort of private equity offer out for GameStop? That kind of spike only makes sense to me if someone is offering that price to buy out the company...

But, frankly, I don't know what the draw would be for that private offer. GameStop doesn't own it's buildings as far as I know, so there's no real estate play. I don't think there's much goodwill to be had in the brand name.

[ActRaiser]

Is there some sort of private equity offer out for GameStop? That kind of spike only makes sense to me if someone is offering that price to buy out the company...

But, frankly, I don't know what the draw would be for that private offer. GameStop doesn't own it's buildings as far as I know, so there's no real estate play. I don't think there's much goodwill to be had in the brand name.

My guess is at has to do with the backend deal with Microsoft. They'll get a cut of Xbox Live revenue for every console they sell. Now, who knows how much the actual cut is. It could be minuscule.