Funcoland still exsists ???

[rajchakrabarti]

Have all the Funcoland's become gamestops ??? I have heard that some are still around ?? I thought they all were gone.

[SilveRaven]

All of the ones near me have become Gamestops, I thought they were all gone now also.

[Duo_Maxwell]

Some may have kept the title probably, but they are still all owned by the same company. I'm pretty sure Babbage's, Software Etc., and Funcoland were all part of one company before all the name changing anyhow.

[Rodego]

FuncoLand will always exist in my heart, as I worked there when I was in high school (which was a while ago...)

[Wlogan31]

I have a FuncoLand about 15 min from where I work. Most of the other game stores owned by that company have officially become GameStops though.

[SilveRaven]

I know babbages and funcoland were owned by the same company previous to them all becoming gamestops (Funcoland had babbages price tags at mine :wink:)

[Renzokuken]

I havent seen a Funcoland in a while. Im glad they changed it tho, my little cousin used to call it "Fuckoland"

[ex0]

All of ours got changed to Gamestop.

[Mr. Anderson]

The same company also owns Planet X.

[Jaket]

wtf is a planet x

[Smell]

i used to have planet X but then it turned into Gamestop

FuncoLand is the best name they should have kept it

[Dead of Knight]

My friend used to work at one that is still, to this day, called Funcoland. His store was one of the most popular, though, and it was number two in that Game Informer subscription thing a few years back. All the ones around here have changed to Gamestop, though.

[Journey]

Theres a mall in Freehold NJ that has a GameStop, Planet X, and a Funcoland.......It's one stop shopping!

Also in East Brunswick NJ theres a strip mall with both GameStop and Funcoland.

[dtcarson]

I think we've still got a Funcoland nearby, it's way the hell onthe other side of town though, and offer nothing I couldn't get at EB or GS or BB.
Funcoland. That's a stupid name for a store anyway. Reminds me of that evil little Funzo.

Planet X?

http://www.mgm.com/mgm/images/box-dvd/MANFROMP-box_full_dvd.jpg

[WildWop]

There's also Supr Software, which is owned by Babbage's. There's a Gamestop/Software Etc. and Supr Software in the SAME MALL near me, within 100 yards of each other.

Slightly different pricing too.

Ridiculous.

[bookishboy]

Funcoland at the Mid-State Mall, Rt 18 Northbound, in East Brunswick NJ

Strangely, it's in the exact same strip-mall as the Gamestop there, because both were already there before Funcoland was bought. I have a feeling that the continued presence of both stores in the same location is a function of lease obligations more than anything else. I would not be suprised to see one of them (probably Funcoland) be eliminated when it next comes up for lease renewal.

This all resulted as a rebound effect from a failed warehoue/distrobution acquisition on the part of Barnes and Noble.

B&N was planning on buying Ingram, Inc, its largest supplier of warehousing/wholesaling services....if I remember, the purchase price was going to be somewhere in the neighborhood of $600 million. The FTC kind of stopped it though, because Ingram also provided services to the competition, most noticeably Borders/Waldenbooks. The FTC investigations into the proposed merger didn't absolutely block the merger, but they made it clear enough that they would require that the move would be monitored very closely, to the point where the acquisition would be more of a hinderance than a benefit to the company. So, B&N backed away from the deal, and used some of the funds to instead increase its holdings in the software retailer division.....they already owned the chains Babbages, Super Software, Software Etc. They bought Funcoland, and I think this is about the same time that "Gamestop" popped up onto the grid. I think that "Gamestop" is the ultimate brand-name that the other chains are being aimed to be merged into. After all, this is the one with the greatest web-presence. If you search for "Gamestop" stores near you on the website, you will still find some Funcoland stores in some areas.

B&N also owns B Dalton, and Ink newsstands.

As an aside, even though Funcoland is still there, it doesn't feel like the same place. Back in the day, it used to really be the only store chain that dealt with used games. I have fond memories of stopping by, picking up the current copy of their newsprint-style weekly listing, and browsing the used prices for SNES and Genesis games, and even prices for new-fangled systems like the Playstation and Saturn. The world-wide-web was out there, at this point, but Funcoland certainly hadn't taken advantage of it's ability to do wide-scale sales. Once other chains started carrying used games as well with standardized pricing, and websites like EBGames and Gamestop.com started rising, well, Funcoland "as we knew and loved it" just sort of died a quiet death.

[Moxio]

All the Funcolands by me have becoime Gamespots. :(

[Cornfedwb]

Funcoland at the Mid-State Mall, Rt 18 Northbound, in East Brunswick NJ

Strangely, it's in the exact same strip-mall as the Gamestop there, because both were already there before Funcoland was bought. I have a feeling that the continued presence of both stores in the same location is a function of lease obligations more than anything else. I would not be suprised to see one of them (probably Funcoland) be eliminated when it next comes up for lease renewal.

This all resulted as a rebound effect from a failed warehoue/distrobution acquisition on the part of Barnes and Noble.

B&N was planning on buying Ingram, Inc, its largest supplier of warehousing/wholesaling services....if I remember, the purchase price was going to be somewhere in the neighborhood of $600 million. The FTC kind of stopped it though, because Ingram also provided services to the competition, most noticeably Borders/Waldenbooks. The FTC investigations into the proposed merger didn't absolutely block the merger, but they made it clear enough that they would require that the move would be monitored very closely, to the point where the acquisition would be more of a hinderance than a benefit to the company. So, B&N backed away from the deal, and used some of the funds to instead increase its holdings in the software retailer division.....they already owned the chains Babbages, Super Software, Software Etc. They bought Funcoland, and I think this is about the same time that "Gamestop" popped up onto the grid. I think that "Gamestop" is the ultimate brand-name that the other chains are being aimed to be merged into. After all, this is the one with the greatest web-presence. If you search for "Gamestop" stores near you on the website, you will still find some Funcoland stores in some areas.

B&N also owns B Dalton, and Ink newsstands.

As an aside, even though Funcoland is still there, it doesn't feel like the same place. Back in the day, it used to really be the only store chain that dealt with used games. I have fond memories of stopping by, picking up the current copy of their newsprint-style weekly listing, and browsing the used prices for SNES and Genesis games, and even prices for new-fangled systems like the Playstation and Saturn. The world-wide-web was out there, at this point, but Funcoland certainly hadn't taken advantage of it's ability to do wide-scale sales. Once other chains started carrying used games as well with standardized pricing, and websites like EBGames and Gamestop.com started rising, well, Funcoland "as we knew and loved it" just sort of died a quiet death.

Your story is right, but something's wrong.. Waldenbooks used to or currently owns Software Etc (now Gamestop).. either B&N owns Walden, or its Walden that did all this.. I think.

[bookishboy]

Waldenbooks doesn't own Software Etc, nor I think did it ever own them. I think that there MAY be some sort of affiliation between Borders/Waldenbooks and Electronics Boutique, but maybe not, and not outright ownership. (Waldenbooks, btw, is owned by Borders Bookstores)

Maybe you're thinking of B Dalton? Dalton is owned by B&N, and B Dalton is often confused with Waldenbooks in people's minds, because both retailers occupy the same business niche (both are mall-based book retailers, both are owned by larger parent retailers, etc).
:)

[Dok Diamond]

mine just turned into gamestop.

[Cornfedwb]

Well I know for sure in the past you could use gift cards from Waldenbooks at Software Etc. I'm pretty much basing it off of that.

[Cornfedwb]

Well I was wrong, according to SEC filings, Gamestop is a partly owned subsidiary of Barnes & Noble. B&N owns 100% of Gamestop's Class B Common Stock giving them a 80% share in the company.

[Ledhed]

Well I was wrong, according to SEC filings, Gamestop is a partly owned subsidiary of Barnes & Noble. B&N owns 100% of Gamestop's Class B Common Stock giving them a 80% share in the company.

True that. That's why I get a %30 discount at B&N (and %50 at any Starbuck's within a B&N). One of the only real perks left to working for GS.