GameStop in Trouble?

Yea... a friend who works at EB told me about this, really trying to push the profits.

Gamestop is expanding too far too fast, in my opinion. They are already talking about closing his store, even though it's only been open a few months. They built it ACROSS THE STREET from Gamestop, in a plaza but it's kind of tucked away and hard to find.

I mean, there are at least 7 Gamestops / EBs around here now, when there only used to be 1 or 2, and they seem to build them in out of the way locations if they aren't in a mall.
 
I wish i was closer (not really...) to the guys down the shopping center block to get some more info, and the one guy I know (yeah, him) no longer works for the company.

It'll be interesting to see what ends up happening, since gamestops outnumber eb's around here 2-1
 
I also think that maybe GS / EB needs to get more competitive... I've never seen any type of advertisement by them, be it radio, television, very rarely EB will have a flyer in the newspaper.

It's just like, they are kind of there, they never really have great sales like Best Buy / Circuit City does, and there is no point at all to preordering anymore when the aforementioned stores sell the games two days later $10 - $15 cheaper, and you can often get in and out alot quicker with less hassle.

If Best Buy starts doing trade-in's nationwide, then it's the end for Gamestop.
 
[quote name='WhipSmartBanky']Sweet...here's hoping at some point this'll trigger a massive clearance the likes of which CAG has never seen before.[/QUOTE]
honesty i dont think it is a good idea to have a store close down. would you rather have one larage out of business clearance and miss out future smaller clearance and sales?
 
[quote name='62t']honesty i dont think it is a good idea to have a store close down. would you rather have one larage out of business clearance and miss out future smaller clearance and sales?[/QUOTE]

When has Gamestop / EB EVER had a really great clearance / sale on par with TRU, Best Buy, Circuit City, K-Mart, etc etc etc.

Sure, every once in awhile they have a good deal, but I'd rather see one large out of business clearance then the stuff they do now.
 
I have had nothing but problems with Gamestop so I could care less if they go out of business.


I feel bad for the good people who might be out of a job but the people who work for GS here suck.
 
[quote name='Jaket']I can confirm this as well... i got shit for hours, and we were told it will be like this for at least a month[/QUOTE]

Same here. Hours were cut all throughout the month of December, and it doesn't look like anything is changing in the future.
 
I hate to see all the people at store level lose their jobs but upper management fuck them. They sit around and make millions, it just not GS all corporations. However if GS close I don't care this would give me a better chance in the game business if I opened a store.
 
Man it just seems like an impending USA financial crash is just around the corner. First Media Play then TRU, KB isn't doin so hot, KMart is down sizing, now Game Stop. Plus with all the "Video game crash" Rumors floating around it seems like hards times are coming sooner than later for everyone
 
The reason Media Play's closing is because they're dumbasses, the kind of people that price Platinum Hits games for $29.99 and the latest DVD's "on sale" for $22.99. Everything was severely overpriced.

Ironically, wasn't it TRU that caused a ton of KB stores to close?
 
[quote name='62t']honesty i dont think it is a good idea to have a store close down. would you rather have one larage out of business clearance and miss out future smaller clearance and sales?[/QUOTE]
There'll be more where that came from. There's always another retailer willing to try to make a buck selling video games.
 
[quote name='SpottedNigel']I wish i was closer (not really...) to the guys down the shopping center block to get some more info, and the one guy I know (yeah, him) no longer works for the company.

It'll be interesting to see what ends up happening, since gamestops outnumber eb's around here 2-1[/QUOTE]

I think it's funny though... At the Scheoner and Hall Road, there is a Gamestop or EB on EVERY corner of the intersection. I mean, they can't be doing that much business that you can support 4 storefronts within a few hundred feet of each other.

In that situation, I don't get why they don't close two of the stores, buy one of the large empty storefronts in some of the plazas and have one massive gamestop and then the EB in the mall.
 
They just can't compete with the big box stores in terms of volume. Also, I'm sure their recent practices in pushing used games and trade-ins as turned customers off....it has for me, I don't shop there unless I have to.

With game development costs rising and game prices not changing much, I'm sure the profit margin for game stores is decreasing. Places like BB, CC, Walmart have other products to sell, but EB/GS?? That's all they got...their money comes from used games for the most part.
 
To be honest I'm really surprised that Kotaku would run a post like that. It's pure rumor and speculation - there is no concrete evidence at all that would indicate that GameStop is doing poorly. Reducing hours and upping sales quotas may just mean that the reorganization is making them leaner, and the whole part about "rumors" and emails that make them "nervous"? All this from an "insider"? Hmm...

I mean I have no doubts that GameStop is probably having difficulties, and Kotaku is usually pretty reputable, but this article just makes them look really unprofessional to me. Seems like it could potentially get them into trouble...
 
Oh great. I work at EB although I'm not a big fan of either store. However, in my opinion, the more companies that go bankrupt/close, the less the competition, and the higher the prices (or maybe there would be less sales?).
 
yes, people who work at game stores say a lot of things...they totally understand what's going on with upper management...they just choose to be managers. nobody has mentioned that it might be something to do with the merger.
 
im glad i left there and got a better job, i hate gamestop they can go fuck them selves i hope they close down.
 
[quote name='InuFaye']im glad i left there and got a better job, i hate gamestop they can go fuck them selves i hope they close down.[/QUOTE]

Possibly the worst job I've ever had, I was working at Funcoland and it was awesome...then Gamestop bought the company and it became the worst job ever. No one wants biased Game Informer!

EB/Gamestop never have good sales, the best they do is extra TIC % but even now those %s have been going down.

As far as a video game crash? I don't think it would happen anytime soon. People are talking about the $60 price tag of next gen games but I recall having my aunt pay $80.00 for Super Mario RPG when it came out.
 
Sucks for the people who work there. But I hope alot of employees start quitting with those kind of hours. Sucks even more for the managers who will be working 80 hours a week because there are no employees if they did quit. :p

Maybe it would be a good thing if EB/GS closed down, or maybe it would be bad? Only time will tell. I'm guessing they are just gonna close a bunch of stores in the future if It's that bad.
 
i'm just too mad at gamestop to buy anything from them for a good long while. I went into one and the salesman was a total dick. I actually had something in my hand to buy and put it back because he was such a dick. It went along the lines of i have an xbox 360 i rock ha ha ha (mind i am waiting cuz i'm a cheap ass and want to buy it it at the military store so i don't have to pay taxes) and you arn't a gamer cuz you didn't camp it out your just a fake bla bla bla trash talk trash talk trash talk your computer can't play Wow trash bla bla bla (i play eq2 on high quality give me a break i can play wow) and so on and so forth for about 3 min which is when i put down what i was going to buy and left. It is my opinion he was such an ass because i'm a woman, ass hole!
 
how come people exept the fact that they sell those bundles when they wont honor there own pre orders they should be sued so many times that they go out of buisness its a joke that people just take that shit without throwing a fit everytime.
 
A lot of people have had really bad experiences with Gamestop, as have I in the past (though I have had quite a few good experiences as well). There is a lot of inconsistency and at times very poor customer service associated with Gamestop and their "deals", which is often frustrating.

To whoever talked about the economy - everybody you mentioned is/was extremely inefficient. What does K-Mart have the Wal-Mart doesn't have at the same or better quality level (I know, Wally World isn't the best, but it's certainly not WORSE than K-Mart) for less money? Additionally, Wal-Mart is certainly not known for their customer service, but I've never seen anything so bad as the service at K-Mart. KB and TRU are pretty much the same in my eyes. I saw Nintendo 64 games for $60 at KB as recently as a year ago. NINTENDO 64 GAMES!!!! I know, we all love their clearance sales, but you've got to understand - stores getting themselves in these situations means bad Management and a bad business plan. It is the beauty of the American economic system that inefficient businesses are allowed to die out to be replaced by more efficient, "better" businesses.
 
When I worked at Blockbuster many years ago, they did the exact same thing with the rewards plan. Stores just urge the retail monkeys to push their side products all the time. Selling people stuff for pure profit.
 
[quote name='Skelah']how come people exept the fact that they sell those bundles when they wont honor there own pre orders they should be sued so many times that they go out of buisness its a joke that people just take that shit without throwing a fit everytime.[/QUOTE]
Problem there is that GameStop.com and GameStop are two different entities. So if they decide to allocate items for GameStop.com, it's far different than if they sold those bundles in the stores before filling the preorders.

And it all makes sense if you think about the merger. There is pretty much an EB or GS every mile in most areas. There's no way that's sustainable and I don't think they plan on it. Once they consolidate stores and close the ones that overlap in coverage, I think these problems will probably fix themselves for the most part.
 
[quote name='orphicblue']To be honest I'm really surprised that Kotaku would run a post like that. It's pure rumor and speculation - there is no concrete evidence at all that would indicate that GameStop is doing poorly. Reducing hours and upping sales quotas may just mean that the reorganization is making them leaner, and the whole part about "rumors" and emails that make them "nervous"? All this from an "insider"? Hmm...
[/QUOTE]


I worked in retail and there was constant rumor that our store was going to be closed. Hell, every one was banking on unemployement at one point.


Well, its been nearly a year since I quit and the store is no closer to closing down than the day it opened.

Just because managers feel threatened doesn't mean anything. All this is just rumor and bullfeathers. I'll wait for real news rather than mysterious insiders.
 
This is the direct result of oversaturating the market with B&M stores. For people like myself this works (despite my recognition of oversaturation, in addition to the nausea felt realizing just how lazy we have become, cultrually, that I have access to over 10 GS/EB's within a 15 minutes drive. That's just awful.

It works for me b/c I like to sort through the PSOne games and pick up harder-to-find games (complete only, of course). The inventory varies from store to store, and it makes for a fun hunt. Why doesn't that work? Well, I don't spend shit there. I'll spend under $30 most times, and it will be for several (2-4) older titles. While some of you are like me, I don't imagine the majority of gaming consumers are like that. So, they're not making a great deal of money off of collectors, while OTOH, every store has the precise same assortment (give or take) of current-gen in demand titles. Their business model didn't take into account the highly boring and predictable purchasing decisions of most gaming consumers (or they highly overestimated the lifespan of the resale market, the profit generated, or the sustainability - there are only so many Lunars to sell, after all).

Or, perhaps, it's simply corporate greed. Their profitability last year, combined with a sluggish holiday season, ruined expectations. Their excess capital was all dumped (presumably) in EB, and god knows some white-collar corporate fuckwit isn't going to take a reduction in their already-exorbitant salary to help keep the company floating. So the cost-reduction starts at the bottom rather than the top. Pure genius.
 
I agree with the oversaturation thing there are 3 gamestops and an EB within a 2 minute drive of each other back home. It is the job of upper management to be as greedy as possible, just as it is the job of regular management to grill their employees to sell GI (which IS worth it in most cases) and preorders. I think it's just an attempt to raise profits as well.
 
That article was obviously written by a newbie to GS. Every quarter GS goes into profit protection. This is because the company announces expected earnings like every public company does and the easiest controllable expense is labor.

The company isn't going anywhere. The stock right now is at the highest its ever been. The 9 week holiday sales period was record sales of 1.3 billion dollars with same store sales in December up 8%. Imagine what this would have been if these stores had 360s in the quantities they had pre-ordered. If anything, the only thing that hurts GS is merger costs which was to be expected.

As for store closings, even if two stores are 3 feet from each other, if both are making money, they won't close.
 
Hours being cut is retail in general guys. Keep in mind the holiday's are over...last month I was working with 250+ hours...now for the next 4 weeks I'm looking at only 172.
 
While I would feel bad for the employees that lose their jobs if Gamestop closed stores, otherwise I wouldn't care if every Gamestop closed. They never have great deals it seems. At least EB marks down games to $2.99 - $4.99 new (like Culdcept last year or Robotech Battlecry Collector's Edition for $4.99) and their website usually has some cheap new games. Other than old sports games or junk like Kabuki Warriors, I have never seen a new game for $4.99 or less at Gamestop. I think the last game I bought at Gamestop was over 5 years ago.
 
I agree with above posters. At my local mall, there are a Gamestop and an EB within 200 yards of each other. WHAT'S THE POINT? It's stupid - Tallahassee has 1 Best Buy, 1 TRU, 1 CC, like 5 Wal-Marts, 1 K-Mart, 1 CompUSA, 3 or 4 EB's, 1 Gamestop, 2 "Games4Less" (Games usually cost more there), 1 'Gamezone' at Movie Gallery...WHO THE fuck NEEDS THAT KIND OF SELECTION? Keep in mind these are all in the same 20-square-mile area (Tallahassee is pretty small)...it's just annoying. I can deal with maybe 10 retailers for games, but this is out of hand. Or maybe this amount would be okay for a decent sized city, but Tallahassee has MAYBE 200,000 people. MAYBE.
 
From the article...

I have heard rumors that they aren’t making enough to cover the large salaries in the upper management.

That's all I needed to hear. Upper management should have THEIR shit cut. Not the grunts.
 
It's stupid, they'll overbuild in areas with alot of Game/Electronic stores, but in where I live (Belleville) Theres like only 1 Blockbuster, 1 Wal-mart, and 1 Meijer (Which either A. Don't have the title for 3 - 4 weeks or B. Never sell the game, as in the area Blockbuster is not renting out Xbox 360 games :bomb: ).

There is no Ebgames/Gamestop/Circuit City/Bestbuy.

Belleville is an un-tapped market for electronic items, with the recent housing expansion and building of restaurants (O'Charleys opens on the 24th).

These Gaming/Electronic companies could make a fuck ing killing out here! Driving to Ann Arbor/Westland just to pick up a game that is released that week is a gas killer!
 
[quote name='Roufuss']When has Gamestop / EB EVER had a really great clearance / sale on par with TRU, Best Buy, Circuit City, K-Mart, etc etc etc.

Sure, every once in awhile they have a good deal, but I'd rather see one large out of business clearance then the stuff they do now.[/QUOTE]

Probably never on par with the TRU or Circuit City clearances, but EB has had quite a few good sales/clearances in years past. When this site first started we were seeing Rygar $5, Primal for $5, 1080 and Wario World for $10 (when they were still $50, at EBgames.com all the time. They used to have mini-clearances once a month, and you had to be quick to catch them because they would lower and re-raise the price daily. It seems like they stopped those sales once they merged.

I think the $5 Rygar was one of the earliest CAG deals.
 
[quote name='GuilewasNK']That's all I needed to hear. Upper management should have THEIR shit cut. Not the grunts.[/QUOTE]

A voice of reason, indeed.

The closest GS to me is not in a good neighborhood. As a result of their "profit protection", they decided to cut the security guards for the holiday season. When the manager complained about it (among other things), they FIRED him.

I haven't been in a GS/EB since, and I'm never going back.
 
I remember the last time this happened, atari days baby!

Anyone see gaming hitting a peak this year and then downsizing? I mean, with as much as people want out of games, but dont want the prices to go up...and all that while having to invest in the biggest and best Dev kits for consoles and whatnot... the industry is changing to rapidly with no end in sight.

I love games and all, but if a small company makes a game thats not based in the NFL, it fails and then they go bankrupt. You can kinda see all the old game companies giving it a last hurrah... I mean, .... how many systems will still have games coming out for them in July?

PS2 / PS3 / Xbox / Xbox 360 / GBA / DS / PSP / PC / MAC / Gamecube / (Rev around the corner) / maybe small timers like the AIWA machine and the phantom?

This market is getting extremely oversaturated and small companies cant invest millions to put into a blockbuster...

Then with content download, piracy pretty rampant , rentals, the fact games get sold for 1/2 the price in 2 weeks now... I dunno, the Revolution could bring it back... but this is a pretty bloated industry. And it still doesnt have the respect of the others.

Time will tell, but it seems like all the stores are packing up and moving on, not a good sign. It's like watching the all forest critters scatter across the woods before a hurricane...
 
"I have heard rumors that they aren’t making enough to cover the large salaries in the upper management."

Get the pee-ons working more! I require another million for my golden parachute you bastards!
 
[quote name='Darkside Hazuki']A voice of reason, indeed.

The closest GS to me is not in a good neighborhood. As a result of their "profit protection", they decided to cut the security guards for the holiday season. When the manager complained about it (among other things), they FIRED him.

I haven't been in a GS/EB since, and I'm never going back.[/QUOTE]

I normally try to be cool headed about most things, but I am a grunt at my job and I swear that the only thing upper management gives a shit about is their vacation homes and their whores on the side. The FIRST thing almost any company does is shit on the people that do the most work and deal with the stupid ass public all day. That's about all I'll say right now because I could easily go on a rant that even the vs. board couldn't contain and that really isn't like me.
 
[quote name='GuilewasNK']From the article...

I have heard rumors that they aren’t making enough to cover the large salaries in the upper management.

That's all I needed to hear. Upper management should have THEIR shit cut. Not the grunts.[/QUOTE]
You and I both know that's never going to happen.
 
[quote name='Mookyjooky']I remember the last time this happened, atari days baby!

Anyone see gaming hitting a peak this year and then downsizing? I mean, with as much as people want out of games, but dont want the prices to go up...and all that while having to invest in the biggest and best Dev kits for consoles and whatnot... the industry is changing to rapidly with no end in sight.

I love games and all, but if a small company makes a game thats not based in the NFL, it fails and then they go bankrupt. You can kinda see all the old game companies giving it a last hurrah... I mean, .... how many systems will still have games coming out for them in July?

PS2 / PS3 / Xbox / Xbox 360 / GBA / DS / PSP / PC / MAC / Gamecube / (Rev around the corner) / maybe small timers like the AIWA machine and the phantom?

This market is getting extremely oversaturated and small companies cant invest millions to put into a blockbuster...

Then with content download, piracy pretty rampant , rentals, the fact games get sold for 1/2 the price in 2 weeks now... I dunno, the Revolution could bring it back... but this is a pretty bloated industry. And it still doesnt have the respect of the others.

Time will tell, but it seems like all the stores are packing up and moving on, not a good sign. It's like watching the all forest critters scatter across the woods before a hurricane...[/QUOTE]
Just because the next-gen systems are coming out doesn't mean that smaller companies have to move right up to them. The current gen systems are still viable systems to develop for and they're good ways to get capital for next-gen projects for the future. Hell, there's plenty of markets to develop games for that don't require millions of dollars to develop games for. The Xbox Live Arcade is a great example of a way for smaller developers to still make games for the Xbox 360 and not have to be an EA-sized company to do it. There's still room to grow, and there's still more platforms than you've listed.
 
[quote name='GuilewasNK']I normally try to be cool headed about most things, but I am a grunt at my job and I swear that the only thing upper management gives a shit about is their vacation homes and their whores on the side. The FIRST thing almost any company does is shit on the people that do the most work and deal with the stupid ass public all day. That's about all I'll say right now because I could easily go on a rant that even the vs. board couldn't contain and that really isn't like me.[/QUOTE]

I was a victim of the tragedy you speak of :(
 
Actually keeping a GS next to an EB and owning both makes a bit of sense. You keep both stores stocked with slightly different used titles which encourages gamers to browse both stores and in the end buy more. Still that only really works well for high traffic areas like malls.
 
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