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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[quote name='Gbear09']Talked to a manager at one of the closing GCs who said the point/subscription cards are the only things that will not be on sale. The reason being that upon sale it is still valued at the full price, and they will be charged that amount since the cards have to be activated at the register, and at that time is when the company is charged for it. Sucks, was looking to load up on psn points[/QUOTE]

I wanted to stock up on points and $$ for all the systems. I asked Scorch and he confirmed what you just said. They will not be putting out the cards that need activation. He didn't however say if they would do the ones that are already activated. Those were the ones I got from Circuit City.

I might drive by mine today to say goodbye to the workers. Great group of people.
 
He didn't however say if they would do the ones that are already activated. Those were the ones I got from Circuit City.
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yes i did

The only ones that would be safe is the OLD one in the bubble packaging if your store still has any of those.
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= they should work. the discount should apply whenever the coupon is scanned if it's the old bubble packaging.
 
[quote name='dabamus']I picked up a crapload of disc only games for $1/each. YMMV as always though, since that was the only store I saw such deals at. (some of them were because I already bought the display cases, but I'm not complaining) :p[/QUOTE]

How much did the display cases cost? I've been looking to get a Halo 3 ODST, Forza 3, and some other display cases.
 
Display cases varied from store to store price-wise. Some were 10/$1, and one was 20/$1. (the 20/$1 was where I bought 200)

Oh, random funny event for the day: I just opened a case from one of the $1/disc only games from HWV, and it had Matrix Path of Neo instead of Enter the Matrix(what the cover said) which is a good thing because I got ETM in a trade.
 
I picked up blazing angels 1 for ps3 for about 6.20 I like it any other good titles too check out fellow CAGS
 
I went to the one on High St in columbus today, had a good selection, had every console in stock 20% off besides a ps3.
 
I am sorry for all the employees losing their jobs over this although I wish our local Game Crazy had been half way decent. The liquidation sales have been insane, I scooped up a ton of games for between $5-$10 once it hit the 80% off mark. Movies same thing, I scooped up a ton for .99. Another one is closing up near me soon and I plan to attend that as well.
 
[quote name='kendall55993']It would have been better if there was detailed informative list about the things that are available.[/QUOTE]

How exactly would that be possible? You are talking about him listing thousands of items on multiple consoles. What you are asking is simply not possible until maybe the last day when they have next to nothing left.
 
[quote name='speedy5044']Whelp, I have set up camp in panera for about 30 minutes until they open. :D[/QUOTE]

Let us know what you get/what prices you see!
 
[quote name='speedy5044']Whelp, I have set up camp in panera for about 30 minutes until they open. :D[/QUOTE]

Are you mocking me?

All GC stores should be open at this points in the day no matter where you are...
 
[quote name='Bucknut']I went to the one on High St in columbus today, had a good selection, had every console in stock 20% off besides a ps3.[/QUOTE]

Off-topic, but I love High Street. Last time I was there, we stopped at the Taj Mahal for drinks and the guy there unloaded all kinds of free Indian food on us. No idea what any of it was, other than tasty.
 
Even It's no surprise to me too. It looks like the first time we will actually walk into a GameCrazy is for its liquidation sale.
 
I went to my Hagerstown GC two days ago with a few friends of my. I went ahead got a few things. Everything is still 20% off. Wanted to grab an original Xbox but they were already sold out.

Got a PS3 memory card adapter, FF13, Ninja Gaiden II on 360 (for a friends b-day gift), a fable 1 guide, and a GTA IV guide. Funny thing about it was that the GTA IV guide was a penny, while the Fable 1 guide was 20% off of $4.99 (making it $3.20)

I'm not sure how the guide prices are going, and I couldn't ask the only employee there since he was busy right when I was about to leave.
 
Our Hollywood and Game Crazy died earlier this year,and all the good games were shipped away. We were left with a bunch of old sports titles and 30% of prices other older titles only.
 
My local Hollywood Video went out of business last year, and my local Game Crazy even further back than that. I am somewhat shocked to hear the chains are still open.

Anyhow, I think I am good after an only slightly discounted copy of Fire Emblem Radiant Dawn from them back when.
 
[quote name='kendall55993']It would have been better if there was detailed informative list about the things that are available.[/QUOTE]

um.. it's a game store.. so.. everything prior to May 1st.

how often do they change the percentage off?
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are you serious? put forth an ounce of effort and read the replies in the thread. they usually update every week but for the first couple of weeks it may stay at 20%.

My local Hollywood Video went out of business last year, and my local Game Crazy even further back than that. I am somewhat shocked to hear the chains are still open.
Click to expand...

Why? Just because yours went out of business, you think the whole company will?

I'm not sure how the guide prices are going, and I couldn't ask the only employee there since he was busy right when I was about to leave.
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GTA4 was pennied out almost two months ago, so those all should've been destroyed. The original Fable guide has been $4.99 for a while, I'm surprised a store still had it. As I said before, most guides are $9.99 and more recent guides are still $19.99, the exceptions being Halo 3 ODST at $12.99 and Final Fantasy 13 at $24.99.

Everything is still at 20% off, you guys should calm down and read replies I make. I'm giving you legit information and trying to help out but you're asking the same questions over and over. You know that I'll post when I hear anything about percentages going up. The whole company is on the same liquidation schedule now so all stores percentages will increase as the weeks progress.
 
[quote name='Scorch']


Why? Just because yours went out of business, you think the whole company will?

[/QUOTE]

Which turns out not to be a bad assumption actually, considering... Hollywood Video had been in trouble for awhile now, though I am sad to see them go. I hated the early return time of Blockbuster, so I stuck to HV until, well like a lot of people, just stopped renting videos.
 
[quote name='"Scorch"']Why? Just because yours went out of business, you think the whole company will?[/QUOTE]

No, not due to that whatsoever. I simply never gave the chain a second thought as cold as that sounds. I have the habit of doing that when a local shop closes, nothing more and nothing less.

However now I think of it the thought sprouted because I was friendly with a guy who worked there, and he had told me that more and more of the Game Crazies and Hollywood Videos were closing.
 
[quote name='Nesrie']Which turns out not to be a bad assumption actually, considering... Hollywood Video had been in trouble for awhile now, though I am sad to see them go. I hated the early return time of Blockbuster, so I stuck to HV until, well like a lot of people, just stopped renting videos.[/QUOTE]

It's all about netflix and redbox, ma boy!
 
Thanks for the reply, Scorch.

I've been reading through most of the pages here, and forgive me if I didn't see the post where you may of said this, but what are you at Gamecrazy? A employee? a manager? or something else?
 
[quote name='Survivalism']Off-topic, but I love High Street. Last time I was there, we stopped at the Taj Mahal for drinks and the guy there unloaded all kinds of free Indian food on us. No idea what any of it was, other than tasty.[/QUOTE]

Yeah North High is good, South High is a little too ghetto for me though lol.
 
this has less to do with redbox and netflix and more to do with hollywood video and game crazy incurring movie gallery's outstanding debt when they were purchased by movie gallery.
 
Portage, IN GC has started liquidation and has 10 DSXL in stock still... I'm stopping in every afternoon on my lunch and buying one when there is a couple left. Hoping to get one at 40% off!
 
good and bad news. Someone posted that everything went to $1 at their store. Well my store is doing that tomorrow....HOWEVER our liquidator has a guy who he lets grab everything (cuz the guy flips it online for a lot more) so thankfully us employees could hold all our stuff (ive held mine since beginning so got real good stuff) and i still get the deal, but this chump got to come in today and take ANYTHING he wants so others cant get it, then tomorrow we only stay open until he shows up then we close the doors and he buys what he picked out today PLUS whatever remains...

AND we had strat guides left (2 for $1 at my store) and he gets them for FREE where as i have to buy my stackif i want them. kind of lame,i mean i got 22 guides so its only $11 for those but still, its the principle. So keep an eye out for sales like this as they all close but be forwarned about this type of stuff. we had like 80 games left, dude left about 6 on the wall. mostly ps2 and old sports titles.

SO all in all i get 24 games, 8 rental copy dvds, 3 new sealed dvds, 22 strategy guides, 1st season of a tv show i wanted (6 discs), wii speak mic, ds headset for pokemon, Spock bobble head figure, two wii fit board rechargable batteries for a grand total of $57.99 after all taxes... simply amazing. Got some good RPGs and stuff for DS and PSP, and a few good games for wii and DS and 1 ps3 game. good times. gonna miss it badly.
 
and to answer some things i saw people posting about, the whole company is gone in 8 weeks. every single store in the united states hits liquidation starting today except those that have already been in liquidation such as mine. our last day is thurs, but tomorrow some dude workin with our liquidator gets to buy tons os stuff he put on hold today and also the rest.

But EVERY Game Crazy/Hollywood video IS CLOSING DOWN. in the USA. Canada stores so far staying open. lol but yea i worked at my store from the 4th day they opened, and ill be working there til last day they're open, sad sad day, but as u can see, i got amazing deals by the end, not to mention all 5 and a half years working there. good times.
 
[quote name='Scorch']this has less to do with redbox and netflix and more to do with hollywood video and game crazy incurring movie gallery's outstanding debt when they were purchased by movie gallery.[/QUOTE]

Blockbuster isn't actually do so well either, and i assure you, redbox and netflix, streaming services... they all have a fair amount to do with it. That B&M video rental business is just dying. Maybe the debt pushed out Hollywood first... but I don't have high hopes for Blockbuster. They're still trying though... with different services Hollywood never even tried to shift to a new model.

Our Gamecrazy had always been sort of tacked on though, very small, never had any advertisement locally either.
 
Thanks for the updates, GrimmTrixX. I'm hoping things last til a $1 sale here at my GC- but it's been pretty busy the past few days, so I'd imagine not much is going to last after 40 or 50% off. Still hate to hear how this is all unfolding, and wishing the best for all you GC employees out there. :[
 
[quote name='Jackie Chandler']Thanks for the updates, GrimmTrixX. I'm hoping things last til a $1 sale here at my GC- but it's been pretty busy the past few days, so I'd imagine not much is going to last after 40 or 50% off. Still hate to hear how this is all unfolding, and wishing the best for all you GC employees out there. :[[/QUOTE]

Well if that guy didnt come in and grab EVERYTHING we still had some decent blu-rays and a handful of good games, many wouldve lasted til tomorrow, but nope. THis guy was a douche too. Tellin my boss "oh well at the OTHER store they charged me THIS price" blah blah blah when he admitted all he does is get them for $1 a piece, and flip them either on amazon.com for the sealed and perfect stuff, or at a flea market where he has a spot at. dirtbag. cant say its not a bad idea, just sucks cuz if you did an "everything $1" people would friggin FLOCK to the store for a 1 day, $1 sale.

Dude should be forced to get the remains but nopppppeee. I cant complain though gonna get all 3 monster hunters for PSP, soul calibur psp, final fantasy echoes of time and ring of fate for DS, etrian oddysey 2, fire emblem shadow whatever, steambot chronicles for psp, patapon 1 and the patapon 2 that had a box but is a download card. whole bunch of great stuff at $1 each. cant complain too bad, just feel bad for our long time customers who wouldve loved it.
 
[quote name='GrimmTrixX']Well if that guy didnt come in and grab EVERYTHING we still had some decent blu-rays and a handful of good games, many wouldve lasted til tomorrow, but nope. THis guy was a douche too. Tellin my boss "oh well at the OTHER store they charged me THIS price" blah blah blah when he admitted all he does is get them for $1 a piece, and flip them either on amazon.com for the sealed and perfect stuff, or at a flea market where he has a spot at. dirtbag. cant say its not a bad idea, just sucks cuz if you did an "everything $1" people would friggin FLOCK to the store for a 1 day, $1 sale.

Dude should be forced to get the remains but nopppppeee. I cant complain though gonna get all 3 monster hunters for PSP, soul calibur psp, final fantasy echoes of time and ring of fate for DS, etrian oddysey 2, fire emblem shadow whatever, steambot chronicles for psp, patapon 1 and the patapon 2 that had a box but is a download card. whole bunch of great stuff at $1 each. cant complain too bad, just feel bad for our long time customers who wouldve loved it.[/QUOTE]
Yeah, it does kind of suck to have that guy come in to do that. But imagine if it was open to the public and they knew when it started. It would be CRAZY. People busting in doors at opening, knocking others down to grab all the games on the racks, not even looking at what they're grabbing- then waiting in line, praying that everyone around you is civilized enough to let you buy what games you have in your hands. I'm sure that's why they leave it to that "one guy" to clean everything out.

Still, glad to hear you get to take advantage of it. :] It seems like some stores are more strict about that than others. My Game Crazy's manager said he found a stashed PSP 3000 hidden in the back he knew someone was trying to get for cheap, and he put it right back out on the sales floor. Imagine getting a system(s) for just $1. o_O;
 
My HWV is getting cleared out at 20%. I'll probably go in later on when Scorch lets us know when the getting's good. I just hope they don't clear out of niche titles before then.
 
[quote name='GrimmTrixX']Well if that guy didnt come in and grab EVERYTHING we still had some decent blu-rays and a handful of good games, many wouldve lasted til tomorrow, but nope. THis guy was a douche too. Tellin my boss "oh well at the OTHER store they charged me THIS price" blah blah blah when he admitted all he does is get them for $1 a piece, and flip them either on amazon.com for the sealed and perfect stuff, or at a flea market where he has a spot at. dirtbag. cant say its not a bad idea, just sucks cuz if you did an "everything $1" people would friggin FLOCK to the store for a 1 day, $1 sale.

Dude should be forced to get the remains but nopppppeee. I cant complain though gonna get all 3 monster hunters for PSP, soul calibur psp, final fantasy echoes of time and ring of fate for DS, etrian oddysey 2, fire emblem shadow whatever, steambot chronicles for psp, patapon 1 and the patapon 2 that had a box but is a download card. whole bunch of great stuff at $1 each. cant complain too bad, just feel bad for our long time customers who wouldve loved it.[/QUOTE]

You should have told the guy what a douche he was. I mean honestly what are they going to do fire you ;)
 
[quote name='EvilIA']I would have made him buy the whole store. Either you buy everything or nothing at all.[/QUOTE]

That I could have understood too. I mean its not bad to let someone come in and buy up stuff in a store before the sale is over...but make sure he is buying EVERYTHING. I mean honestly I gurantee if they let 90% of cheapassgamer members go into the store and give us the prices that guy was getting we would have bought the exact same stuff as that guy....everything except the sports and a few turd titles. The guy buying up stuff is not the problem, the store being stupid enough to let him SELECT what he wants and be rude to boot was.
 
So I've seen two vancouver stores at 20% off now. Should I check back in a week when it might be down to 40% or will the drop happen sooner than that?
 
Went to a Game Crazy and Hollywood Video today (they are connected to each other). Only 20% off, but there's lots of stuff left in both stores. Hope there's still a lot there when it gets up to 40%+.
 
A few closing MG's I've been too have made some type of wholesale deals for big lots of movies, etc...cutting prices below the current discounts for mega-bulk purchases. Of course, from what they told me, all of this is up to the manager's discretion, and I've approached a few stores about something similar and have gotten a stern NO.

As it is, I have spent quite a bit of $ from these sales, usually hitting stores with decent game selections left at 70-80% off, DVD's 10 or 12 for $10, and Blu-rays $2-4. If you know what to do with all of different stuff you can make pretty nice margins on some of this stuff, you just have to buy in bulk since the actual profit is such a small dollar amount.

I guess my point is, if I had an in with a liquidator, I would be doing the exact same thing that guy was, and I think a lot of other CAG's would, as well. I mean, even if you weren't buying to flip, you can literally pick up an entire small video game library at some of these stores for a few hundred bucks. What gamer wouldn't pass that up if they had the opportunity?
 
Got Mass Effect, Fear 2 (2 copies, me and my friends), Dark Void (PS3), a GTA IV guide for.... $18. Lol 80% off the whole store
 
[quote name='GrimmTrixX']good and bad news. Someone posted that everything went to $1 at their store. Well my store is doing that tomorrow....HOWEVER our liquidator has a guy who he lets grab everything (cuz the guy flips it online for a lot more) so thankfully us employees could hold all our stuff (ive held mine since beginning so got real good stuff) and i still get the deal, but this chump got to come in today and take ANYTHING he wants so others cant get it, then tomorrow we only stay open until he shows up then we close the doors and he buys what he picked out today PLUS whatever remains...

AND we had strat guides left (2 for $1 at my store) and he gets them for FREE where as i have to buy my stackif i want them. kind of lame,i mean i got 22 guides so its only $11 for those but still, its the principle. So keep an eye out for sales like this as they all close but be forwarned about this type of stuff. we had like 80 games left, dude left about 6 on the wall. mostly ps2 and old sports titles.

SO all in all i get 24 games, 8 rental copy dvds, 3 new sealed dvds, 22 strategy guides, 1st season of a tv show i wanted (6 discs), wii speak mic, ds headset for pokemon, Spock bobble head figure, two wii fit board rechargable batteries for a grand total of $57.99 after all taxes... simply amazing. Got some good RPGs and stuff for DS and PSP, and a few good games for wii and DS and 1 ps3 game. good times. gonna miss it badly.[/QUOTE]

So wait, they let him pull stuff till the last day (like an emplyee)? That's not fair
 
[quote name='sgaldis']A few closing MG's I've been too have made some type of wholesale deals for big lots of movies, etc...cutting prices below the current discounts for mega-bulk purchases. Of course, from what they told me, all of this is up to the manager's discretion, and I've approached a few stores about something similar and have gotten a stern NO.

As it is, I have spent quite a bit of $ from these sales, usually hitting stores with decent game selections left at 70-80% off, DVD's 10 or 12 for $10, and Blu-rays $2-4. If you know what to do with all of different stuff you can make pretty nice margins on some of this stuff, you just have to buy in bulk since the actual profit is such a small dollar amount.

I guess my point is, if I had an in with a liquidator, I would be doing the exact same thing that guy was, and I think a lot of other CAG's would, as well. I mean, even if you weren't buying to flip, you can literally pick up an entire small video game library at some of these stores for a few hundred bucks. What gamer wouldn't pass that up if they had the opportunity?[/QUOTE]

As i stated before I think 90% of gamers would buy things on the cheap the same way that guy did. The problem I and many others have is not that the guy is getting unfair treatement, but that 1. He is allowed to pick and choose vs having to take everything and MUCH MUCH more important 2. That he was such a douche.

If I got the chance to go into the store and buy anything I wanted at the ultra discounted rate ahead of other people then I totally would....but I would not treat employees or costumers like they were beneath me or bitch and moan about how I "got better prices at another store".
 
Our Gamecrazy/Hollywood Video closes tomorrow and has absolutely NOTHING left. I was there on Sat and they still had some titles left and quite a few guides. In the matter of two days..whammo...gone! Makes me wonder if something similar happened here whereby someone came in and bought the lot? Ohh well...got my fair share of good stuff in their closing but I wasn't greedy or flipping anything either. Bye Bye GameCrazy it's been a fun ride!
 
The straight thuggish HWV in Albuquerque was only doing 20-30% off. Most PS3 titles were between $15 and $25. Didn't find anything worth grabbing.
 
[quote name='kidray666']Portage, IN GC has started liquidation and has 10 DSXL in stock still... I'm stopping in every afternoon on my lunch and buying one when there is a couple left. Hoping to get one at 40% off![/QUOTE]

Hey!! You stay away from my store!! :lol: Nice to see fellow cag'ers in my area. Let me know if that DS deal works out. I wouldnt mind getting a DSXL.
 
My gamecrazy/hwv closed down last friday. It was $1 for all movies but I don't know what games were going for (I didn't go in since I have too much to play). When I was in there on last wednesday they still had a pretty huge selection.

I wouldn't be too shocked if someone bought the lot, for $1 a movie they can sell them for even $3 a piece and make $2 profit (there is a video store in Bloomsburg, PA which sells movies for $3 a piece).
 
Neither HWV or GC want to sell me display cases:/

I think they actually raised the prices though on some games, because they had Marvel Ultimate Alliance :xbox: for $18.99 (before 20% off).

Also I saw a whole shelf-full of strategy guides; probably around 200 or more but all around $10 still. Hopefully a few of those will last 'til the $1 point.
 
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