All Game Crazys Are Closing

S

stonetoad

CAG Veteran
Found this on my local Craigslist.

Bend Game Crazy Closing: First and foremost, a heartfelt and whole hearted "Thank You" to Central Oregon for choosing us for the past 6 years. In approx. two weeks ALL Game Crazy and Hollywood Video stores will be entering liquidation. As the store manager, and employee since (almost) inception till the last day I wanted to thank all the many, many, many people who have been like our extended family. You have made a job a 2nd home. We will miss all of your faces and down to earth kindness. We have always striven to be your "neighborhood" game store and provide you with excellent customer service and I feel we have done a pretty good job. Your loyalty has inspired us to provide you with the best possible experiences when in our store (CoDMW2 Midnight Launch chest flasher, HALO 3 Megaline around the store, Super Smash Bros. Tourneys and many many more). You have made the long waits till midnight launches and the 4AM Black Fridays well worth it. I also thank the many employees who have been with us over the years, the part time seasonals to the full timers who have moved on. We wish to see your faces all one last time before we close that gate for the final time. So come on down, pick up that game you've been wanting or just come down and shoot the breeze with Dan, Cody, Chris or myself. We would love to see you and say thank you and goodbye.

Bend Game Crazy Store Director,
Glenn J.

Bend Game Crazy Shift Leads (and a better group of employees than I could wish for),
Cody J. & Dan H. & Chris M.


P.S. As I'm sure many of you have some questions I'll try to answer what I know here and save our phone (and sanity) from blowing up.

Q. I have deposits on preorders, credit on my account, a gift card to GC and Hollywood. What do I do?
A. All cash deposits can be refunded for cash or used towards a purchase. All credit deposits/trade credits must be used up, credit is not transferable to cash. I recommend using your gift cards as there wont be any other location to use it at.

Q. Are you still taking preorders?
A. No, we will no longer be taking preorders on future titles, nor offering the MVP membership, offering game guard or console service contracts.

Q. What if I purchased one of those things?
A. Preorders see answer to the first question, as for MVP's and game guard I assume those will be unrefundable. In the case of service contracts I am unsure at this time how the company will handle them. I will have more information after my conference call on Monday.

Q. Are you still taking trades?
A. Yep, most definitely, however, we are no longer doing cash for trades. We still guarantee the best trade price in town and if we come in lower we'll top our competitor by 5% as always. But, if it wasn't obvious, you'll want to use that credit same day.

Q. What/When are your liquidation sales?
A. The sales wont start until the liquidation firms finish bidding on the company's assets *apx. 2 weeks. As for what the sales will be I couldn't tell you at this time. However expect by the time they begin some of our stock may have been shipped out, and expect much of the "better stuff" to go fairly quickly, so don't expect the good/decent/rare(er) games to last past the first or second weeks. Moral of the story, best to just come buy it now rather than try to wait for it to hit bottom dollar pricing as it wont be in stock then.

Q. What do you guys have in stock?
A. Honestly, everything up to date including a few Splinter Cell Elite 360 and Bowsers Inside Story DSI bundles. We have a pretty awesome selection of used games right now (I raided one of the Eugene stores that absorbed a lot of product from another closing store a few weeks ago so we have a lot of hot stuff in). A bunch of refurbished Wii's for $150, a ton of refurbished 360's $160-250 and a bunch of new consoles/handhelds as well.

Q. So what now?
A. We are kicking around a few ideas about a Store Closing BBQ when all is said and done and we'd really love to have anyone who has been a regular or has a fond memory to come down and write it down or sign on the store banner. We might also practice moonwalking and juggling and putting a video on YouTube, we'll see. :)

THANK YOU CENTRAL OREGON, YOU'VE MADE IT AWESOME!
 
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It's no surprise to me. It looks like the first time I'll actually walk into a GameCrazy is for its liquidation sale.
 
You know how liquidations go... mark the product up 50% then offer 30% off! Don't expect too many great deals on this one.
 
It's not just Game Crazy. It's every Game Crazy, Hollywood Video and Movie Gallery. Without going into a long story, the company's bankrupt and will liquidate remaining assets to pay off debts. The guy shouldn't have posted it since the company still hasn't done an official press release, but I don't think it really matters at this point.

You know how liquidations go... mark the product up 50% then offer 30% off! Don't expect too many great deals on this one.
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I'm not sure if that's how it is at other companies, but that's never been the case at GC/HWV/MG.. unless the employee lied to you.

Now, there are some games that haven't dropped in price. Section 8, for instance, still sell for $60 new and $35 used.. you can walk into Wal-Mart and pick it up for $20 new. There's a few situations like that, but the majority of prices are on par or better than Gamestop B&M.
 
As someone who went through the entire liquidation of CircuitCity, I'll tell you to be very aware of these "sales". Granted, video games MSRP aren't as varied as something like TVs, they can still be tricky.


Fun example: We had a 52" XBR(forget which one exactly) Sony around Christmas time for roughly $2200 or so. Once we hit liquidation just about EVERYTHING went up to MSRP/List price. This means that the 52" XBR shot up to about $3500. Every week or so we'd have to put up new "X%" signs. People see 10% off a $3500 TV, they bite despite that we had a much better sale going on it before liquidation. It just shows you the power of seeing a sale sign and impulse.


Like I said, I don't expect this to be TOO similar but just a warning for everyone.
 
Q. Are you still taking trades?
A. Yep, most definitely, however, we are no longer doing cash for trades. We still guarantee the best trade price in town and if we come in lower we'll top our competitor by 5% as always.
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Why are they still doing this?
 
My Gamecrazy left town with the Hollywood Video almost half a year ago. For such a tiny location I was actually surprised how much they stuffed in it. Good memories.
 
Trades are supposed to be immediately stopped once the actual liquidation process begins, which is scheduled for a week or two from now.
 
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No, liquidation sales always go through the company that bids to do the liquidation for the company. As you can see in the OP post, HWV/GC are in talks with various liquidation companies. These companies mark crap up 50% then roll out "discounts" over a period of a couple of months until all merchandise is sold, knowing there are always enough dumb consumers to buy something on "sale".
 
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Also, I have a point to counter from the original post -

However expect by the time they begin some of our stock may have been shipped out, and expect much of the "better stuff" to go fairly quickly,
Click to expand...

This was true in older instances.. product was pulled to the DC and redistributed to other stores. I don't think there will be a pull this time, though, I think they'll sell everything. Why? I mean.. where's the product going to go? The whole company's going under. We can't pull them to another store. We can't send them to the Canadian chain (which, btw, the Canadian Movie Gallery chain is doing just fine) due to region restrictions on games and movies. I think they're just going to sell through whatever the hell they can.

No, liquidation sales always go through the company that bids to do the liquidation for the company. As you can see in the OP post, HWV/GC are in talks with various liquidation companies. These companies mark crap up 50% then roll out "discounts" over a period of a couple of months until all merchandise is sold, knowing there are always enough dumb consumers to buy something on "sale".
Click to expand...

I'm not arguing this with you because I've sat through more than 4 store closings at HWV/GC/MG. I know how this liquidation process works and I know what's going on. The liquidation company is making a bid for each store's inventory and will cut MG a check. They will then sell through what's in the store. No game is deliberately marked up in price. To start, they will sell off the older movies at Hollywood Video at $10.98 each (which is overpriced, yes, but this is the price they would've sold at regardless - the prices weren't marked up for a clearance) and the prices will only go down from there. During the last few days, the movies end up being 6 for $5. Games sell at their current price with a discount marked off. Most stores start at 20% off. The last day, things are 90% off, but by that time, all you're left with is a ton of 50 Cent: Bulletproof and Enter the Matrix (and that's not a knock against either game - I thought they were both perfectly okay - they just sold like crap).
 
[quote name='alexanderpink']You know how liquidations go... mark the product up 50% then offer 30% off! Don't expect too many great deals on this one.[/QUOTE]

I actually went to a store that was closing up the other day and that's not the case at all. All the games were 70% off.
 
D: This makes me really, really sad. The guys working at my Game Crazy have been an awesome bunch- definitely the kind of people I'd go to to hang out with on occasion. I hate it for the company, but I hate it for the guys working there now more. I think we can all agree that we knew it was only a matter of time before it all went under. I just didn't expect it to be this soon. :[

I'll be waiting for further details on the liquidation details, but unless it's something really great, I'm not sure I'll be able to buy things from the guys there with a straight face. Best of luck to all those GC employees out there, especially Scorch! You've done your fair share for the company and CAG.
 
Alright guys let me explain this, since many of you seem to misunderstand how liquidations go. When HWV/GC decide they are going out of business, they need to satisfy their creditors. They will typically first attempt to get rid of some merchandise themselves by having sales, which is likely what you experience now. This is the best time to get a deal. Eventually, they will contract with a liquidation firm, a second comany who is actually in charge of liquidating the product. They purchase all the remaining product for a set amount to cover HWV/GC debt. At this point they own all of the product, and can sell it at the price they would like to. Typically new crap will be returned to the vendor if possible, or even sold to other businesses. Whatever doesn't go that route will be marked up then placed at a "discount" to get the initial people in there to buy it as they hear liquidation and seemingly don't understand the value of the items. I couldn't tell you why, but people buy stuff for more than it costs online or even in best buy (read all the stories from previous liquidations, i.e. circuit city). Then over the weeks the liquidation firm will mark down remaining products more and more. Eventually everything will be 90% off, but likely only crap will be left by then. As the OP noted, HWV/GC are in talks now to find a firm to handle this (taking bids), so likely some deals could be found now before that happens. After, I wouldn't count on many great deals.
 
Jackie - I did what I could to help drive attention to the store.. I loved those unadvertised sales they had multiple times last year.. they'd only last three or four days but it'd be insane stuff, like Punch Out for $20, Red Faction for $20 (when retail was still $50), etc.. it was a great time. I'll miss shopping at GC/MG/HWV for sure.
 
I'll have to stop by the local Game Crazy tomorrow. Sad to hear...the workers in Cookeville, for the most part, were pretty awesome.
 
Yes, but a store closing is different from the company going out of business. They will bid for ALL hollywood video product and can price that product at will when they are done with the purchase. Look at every other liquidation sale in the past few years, most of which seem to be done by gordon brothers (compUSA, circuit city, linens and things, and the last HWV store closing) and you will see the same pattern. An example: http://consumerist.com/2008/01/photos-compusa-raises-prices-for-liquidation-sale.html
 
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Those were definitely some great sales, and I know a lot of people really appreciated you sharing them. :D The awesome thing is that, especially new, those are still some great price points. I'll miss the store, the promotions, and especially the guys working there.
 
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I realize that they can price the product at will - and I'm telling you that, at least as far as games go - they do not mark the prices up. I'm not speaking for movies or anything, I'm just saying.. for the games, prices are whatever they are in the POS - they do not get marked up.

Anyway, this thread is going to blow up, and I'm not entirely sure that this is the right forum for this. I'll leave you with this, because, once and for all, I'm done talking about Game Crazy (though I'll help answer any questions anyone has if they PM me) - Yes, stores are closing. It's been a fun ride.
 
[quote name='Mastastic']I'll have to stop by the local Game Crazy tomorrow. Sad to hear...the workers in Cookeville, for the most part, were pretty awesome.[/QUOTE]
I agree 100%. I'm certainly going to try and stay in touch with them after the store shuts down for good. They're a really good bunch, so I don't think it'll take them long to get other jobs... It's just going to be a huge transition.
 
[quote name='Scorch']I realize that they can price the product at will - and I'm telling you that, at least as far as games go - they do not mark the prices up. I'm not speaking for movies or anything, I'm just saying.. for the games, prices are whatever they are in the POS - they do not get marked up.

Anyway, this thread is going to blow up, and I'm not entirely sure that this is the right forum for this. I'll leave you with this, because, once and for all, I'm done talking about Game Crazy (though I'll help answer any questions anyone has if they PM me) - Yes, stores are closing. It's been a fun ride.[/QUOTE]

Fair enough, let's all hope there ARE great deals to be had :)
 
I worked there for a few years, but they closed our store way back in probably 2008. Good memories. It was a good shop. Not as competitive on price as gamestop or as ubiquitous, though.

I don't think any are left in the milwaukee area, but I will check.
 
well crap, I used to be a manager for a gamecrazy.

glad I got out when I did. I don't know about any other districts, but they treat their employees like shit.
 
I had 1 local Gamecrazy and have 2 local Gamestops that are somewhat down the road. The Gamecrazy closed down, which was a severe disappointment since the 2 local GameStops are full of asshats who gloat their game knowledge and comment on what you're buying. It's ridiculous.

GameCrazy was a GREAT store with good people. It's sad to see it go.
 
I'm definitely sad to see them go. I really loved my GameCrazy back in Tennessee, they were always nice and helpful when I needed something and were always totally cool enough to give me any extra promo t-shirts they had lying around.
 
[quote name='decon']Too bad EB/GS is still around.[/QUOTE]

Yeah. I hate 50% trade in bonuses, stacking 25%/10%/Edge glitches that last a week, and the fact that they're now running better sales than Amazon online. They really suck.
 
[quote name='crazedracerguy']Yeah. I hate 50% trade in bonuses, stacking 25%/10%/Edge glitches that last a week, and the fact that they're now running better sales than Amazon online. They really suck.[/QUOTE]
That's why I shop Amazon, they matched everything and no tax.
 
[quote name='decon']That's why I shop Amazon, they matched everything and no tax.[/QUOTE]
but dewd

Gamestop has liek 50% trade in so i can trade my video games and consoles [lol why do i need those for anyways?] at a minimal loss and that Edge card too that covers partial tax ..
and those lolgiftcards that do not stack with a single order!

you are such a tool! ;)
 
I'm surprised mine didn't close long ago. We have 2 Gamestops within 1 mile of one another. One in the mall, and one in the wal-mart shopping complex. They are both in the area most people go to. Gamecrazy, on the other hand, is a few miles away, and a bit out of the way of where most people are going.
 
[quote name='alexanderpink']You know how liquidations go... mark the product up 50% then offer 30% off! Don't expect too many great deals on this one.[/QUOTE]

Usually the way they do it with games is even more trickery, though its only yourself doing the tricking. The signs will say like 30%-70% off games, but there will either be no more of the games that were marked off at 70% off or they would have never existed to begin with. There can be multiple reasons why the top % off isn't on the shelves, but either way you be hard pressed to be the first one to nab something before an employee. At least thats what I seem to find in regards to any type of primarily tech/game stores.
 
oh lol
"As always Zelda, you are a lawsuit just waiting to happen!"

Game Crazy.
Retailer of the Year. All Years!
 
sad that all stores seem to be closing. I used to work at a store in St. Louis. Some good friends still work there, and 2 of them are store managers. I had a GREAT time working there. I feel bad for all the employees.
 
haha, my wife and mother-in-law just said, "I thought they all already closed down." this is no surprise, all the ones in Houston have been gone for 8 months now...

next will be Blockbuster, but they will shift to streaming and mail to rival netflix, and what I hear of their streaming quality, could beat out netflix. Imagine if BB could deliver release day movies via streaming and jack up their fee just a little, I would contemplate leaving 'flix for that..pretty easy to get customers..just pull an ECA move, when they close shop, convert everyone to the mail/streaming program w/ no hassle..
 
It's always sad to see a business close up shop, but it's not exactly surprising. There's one store left in St Louis (I think there's only one) and they did no advertising what-so-ever. It's kind of hard to know if its worth going in when they don't advertise. From the one time I was at the store, it looked pretty nice, but the prices were a bit high. I guess I'll go in and see if I can get a deal.
 
Ouch. I've never been to a GC but I know how that manager feels. I worked for an independent bookstore for ten years, right up until the abysmal 2008 holiday season put us out of business for good. Sounds like these guys had a good relationship with the local community... I hope that Store Closing BBQ is one hell of a bash, guys.
 
Sad day for Game Crazy employees. I've always felt they were a much more passionate, non-asshole bunch who actually cared about games and their customers. This leaves the complete opposite as pretty much the only games-specific retailer around here: the dreaded Gamestop. Sad day indeed.
 
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