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CONFIRMED

I found out this afternoon that Rhino has been bought out by Gamestop. It was announced to the Store Managers this afternoon. Starting January 14th, Rhino's will be converted to Gamestops. If you have any games you're saving for the 2 for 1 deal you have a little over a week to get it done. Today my Rhino let me do the 2 for 1 on Pre-Order games. There is a meeting in Chattanooga tomorrow for all the Rhino Store Managers to let them know how the transition will take place. I almost cried when I heard the news.......

UPDATES:

Originally Posted by hxhawkeye Okay, got some info. Treat it as hearsay, but I have no reason to doubt the authenticity. - Rhino HQ in Gainesville, FL is dead. Sacked. Gone. I understand that district leaders are being kept, but anything higher appears to be no more. - Inventory teams will be going to Rhino stores and starting fresh with the inventory counts and the Gamestop POS. The Rhino software and data will not be used at all. - Meetings are being held in each district. The Chattanooga meeting mentioned is just one for that district. - It seems that no one had any idea. Not the majority of HQ, not district leaders, certainly not store managers. Apparently it was a shock to everyone. - Store credit is safe. I understand that there will be an incentive to convert it to Gamestop credit, i.e. you will get a 25% bonus for converting your Rhino credit. (Don't hold me to that percentage, though). So you may want to instead HOLD ON to your Rhino dollars and even trade in some things now for more credit later. - Kiss 2-for-1 and free lifetime warranties goodbye. - I expect all prices and trade values to mirror Gamestop's by the 15th. That's just my speculation based on the other information, however. - No word on the merchandise that GS doesn't sell. It will probably go to clearance or simply be removed from stores and sold on other markets. Again, none of this has been officially confirmed. Treat as speculation until official word is out. In the words of Jack Bauer, "DAMMIT!"

Seriously? Can any other Rhino employees confirm?

Damnit.

Thanks for the deal....

Edit: Wow, looks like gamestop is absorbing everything like Walmart.

Um... what?

Since when?

If this is true, it's going to take alot longer than a week to transform all the Rhino's into Gamestop's, and what are they going to do with all old school systems and games, since GS dosen't sell those at all?

NOOOOOOOOOOOO There's already an excess amount of EB/GS's around here in the same small area. I actually liked how Rhino doesn't go through the usual sell preorders and magazine subscription during the checkout process. Now they're gonna be the same...

Wtf

Originally Posted by darth007 NOOOOOOOOOOOO There's already an excess amount of EB/GS's around here in the same small area. I actually liked how Rhino doesn't go through the usual sell preorders and magazine subscription during the checkout process. Now they're gonna be the same...

This is ing bullshit if it is true. Rhino was a great store all around, I shopped there so I didn't have to shop at EB / GS.

Even when I had my differences at their store, their customer support came through for me in a big way, much more than ing GS ever did.

I really really REALLY hope this is some kind of huge misinformation on the OP's part.

I'm calling BS here until I see a press release. Why would GS buy something owned by blockbuster?

Well, guess I'll ask tomorrow to see.

Originally Posted by mtxbass1 I'm calling BS here until I see a press release. Why would GS buy something owned by blockbuster?

Easy... they are further eating the competition. Aren't most Rhino's in great locations? The one here is in a great spot.

And Blockbuster has been hurting for money for awhile now... Gamestop comes, offers to buy Rhino from Blockbuster, Blockbuster agrees and gets a nice fat check from Gamestop.

Gamestop has now eaten another competitor, one that isn't big but is still big enough to draw away business.

All that's left now is Gamerush (not a threat at all), Gamecrazy (a threat but there is nothing they can do), and places like FYE (again, not a threat).

This actually makes some sort of sense as Rhino is potentially a threat to EB / GS. A standalone video game store with great trade-in deals and tons of games available? That's not too good for them.

I really hope this is fake though... the good news is, if it's true, I'd expect Rhino to clearance out all their old video games.

While I won't call BS, as Blockbuster is a giant turd and I expected them to do something like this, apparently this guy has scoop of the year, because Bloomberg and everyone else has no clue.

RIP Rhino if true, I guess I'll be paying my final respects soon.

It would be really easy to call BS, but Gamestop has been absorbing regional chains for years now...

First Software Etc, then Funcoland.

We all know of EB, even though they aren't regional.

It seems Gamestop likes to kill off its competition before it gets too big.

I just want to know how the OP knows.

Dont have a Rhino around here, but from the Rhino topic i can see they have great trade in. This is a very logical move for gamestop, as they already got funcoland, EB, and other game store. Gamestop can charge extra for games like they are currently doing, and they can probably get away with it because big retail store like Best buy and walmart are not going to carry some of the lesser known games.

Originally Posted by Roufuss It would be really easy to call BS, but Gamestop has been absorbing regional chains for years now... First Software Etc, then Funcoland.

Funcoland itself absorbed Software Etc and Babbages, I think. When it was bought out by Gamestop, it further grew, and then added EB Games.

Too bad there isn't a Rhino in my state. Closest store is 2 states away.

Originally Posted by Caliburn Funcoland itself absorbed Software Etc and Babbages, I think. When it was bought out by Gamestop, it further grew, and then added EB Games.

Well, according to the Wiki, the chain first started with Babbage's... eventually, they merged with Software Etc, and only after accquiring Funcoland did they take the name Gamestop.

It's an interesting read:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamestop

The other thing I am wondering, can the US gov. do something about this? I mean it can't be good for the customer when one company buys up everyone. Now video games is far from a necessarily so they are not likely to do anything.

Originally Posted by 62t The other thing I am wondering, can the US gov. do something about this? I mean it can't be good for the customer when one company buys up everyone. Now video games is far from a necessarily so they are not likely to do anything.

They will step in if it is a monopoly, but it's not.

As long as Gamecrazy, Gamerush, FYE, anyone else still buys and trades used games it's not a monopoly at all.

Now, FYE and Gamerush suck ass, but that dosen't matter. As long as there is a competitor somewhere out there.

Originally Posted by Roufuss If this is true, it's going to take alot longer than a week to transform all the Rhino's into Gamestop's, and what are they going to do with all old school systems and games, since GS dosen't sell those at all?

Agreed. This seems extremely odd. You would think you would hear about this just like we heard about the Gamestop EB thing for awhile before it happened.

Originally Posted by schuerm26 Agreed. This seems extremely odd. You would think you would hear about this just like we heard about the Gamestop EB thing for awhile before it happened.

I want to think its fake but the OP isn't someone who made an account this month and this is his first post... he's been here for over two years, has a few posts to his credit, and is pretty detailed in the OP about some meeting going on tomorrow.

But still, if the managers found this afternoon, they have to drop everything they are doing to go to Chattanooga (why there? Corporate HQ is in Gainesville?) the very next day?

Originally Posted by Roufuss I want to think its fake but the OP isn't someone who made an account this month and this is his first post... he's been here for over two years, has a few posts to his credit, and is pretty detailed in the OP about some meeting going on tomorrow. But still, if the managers found this afternoon, they have to drop everything they are doing to go to Chattanooga (why there? Corporate HQ is in Gainesville?) the very next day?

Yeah, I was just reading through the OP's other posts, and he majority of his posts are in the Rhino Trade 2 thread. I'm inclined to believe that this would be a pretty bizarre board suicide if it isn't true, though of course I'm not totally convinced until there's a link or multiple reliable confirmations.