UPDATE 10/16: Movie Gallery files bankruptcy, GameCrazy stores NOT affected

[quote name='hiccupleftovers']Know offense, but who are you?:D I've never seen you around, nor did I ever know that you were a mod. Cool. I guess me and good ol' scorcho got passed over again for modship, but oh well;)[/QUOTE]

Scorch was considered for a mod....?

Hmm...
 
All the stores in the greater Austin area arent going anywhere THAT THEY KNOW OF. Naturally can change overnight.

I think the Texas stores do pretty good business.
 
Only Gamecrazy store 'near' me is about 35-40 miles away, so it's no big deal for me to lose them. Although, I would kind of miss the Hollywood Video stores if they went out, since I nabbed some good games with their 2 for $20 a while back.

Only good part that would come out of the sale of GC to GS would be that all the classic plastic would be dumped into GS's inventory and clearanced @ 75% off.
 
Sucks. I live on the east side so I've never even been in one. Would've been cool though. It's about time for a new game store to open up and branch out in the east. Getting kind of sick of gamestop, as I have 2 gamestops within like 10-20 miles of me.
 
I just have to laugh.

Back in 2005, I tried to set up a business relationship with Movie Gallery.

On my own, I had flipped enough of their used game inventory on eBay to put a meager downpayment on my house.

I wanted to buy hundreds if not thousands of games from them on a weekly basis to save myself the hassle of driving around.

The district manager was fired up about the idea of moving excess inventory, but the regional manager shot us both down.

Movie Gallery did this to itself. They stayed huddled in their B&M, ordered fewer games, raised prices on rentals and hoped Netflix et al would collapse.

Movie Gallery = Dinosaur

It's a shame they're going to take Game Crazy down with them, but GC has been shooting itself in the foot for years.
 
It'd be cool to see a netflix b&m even if it's just the use of the name. That would be huge in terms of competing with Blockbuster.If anything is going to happen with Hollywood and GC this is what's going to happen. They're going to downsize and close stores that don't do good business and keep open the ones that do and get rid of some of some GameCrazy's and just have the video stores.

Gamestop, EB, Gamecrazy and any used video game retailer makes most of their money off of used games. I honestly don't think most GC are actually profitable. They don't really make money off of selling new systems or new games and when people do buy those form them, they ususally trade a bunch of stuff in. You'll most likely see a bunch of GC close down and then have the Hollywood's just sell the proviously rental games like they do their dvds, in the store. This way they don't have to pay an extra 6 - 10 employees and operate something that's marginally profitable if it even is.

I know my area safe though. I literally have 6 grocery stores within 4 miles from my house. Two of them are Vons, There's also 2 Blockbusters within that range, a Hollywood and GC and we still even have a K-Mart and that K-Mart wasn't even close to being considered to close down when they were downsizing a few years ago.
 
[quote name='dallow']Give it up man! You aren't gonna be a mod.[/quote]

Who the fuck are you and the hell asked you!?!?:D I've been reading more and more of your posts lately and I really could care less from what I've read of you posts.
 
I found out some good news today about my Hollywood Video/GC is that even if they start to close the other stores, my store is a franchisee from the guy that first owned Hollywood Videos so it's not going anywhere.
 
[quote name='Dr Mario Kart']I only know of 3 offhand, if I recall correctly in the maybe 10 states that I've been in that have had Gamecrazys.

1. Garland, northeast Dallas area.
2. Southeast/East Houston
3. downtown St Louis, Missouri.[/quote]In the time I've known about GC, we've had two close down and one open. Total of 5 of them around here.

Used to have a store 5 minutes from my old work location and my current residence, and now the closest one to me is the one that's 10 minutes from home. I have multiple EB/GS stores within that distance, so there's a huge strike against them.

Remind me not to renew my MVP card next month, too.
 
Expect a $10 price increase across the board on used games at gamestop once this happens.

I don't like gamecrazy, but I'd hate to see them go.
 
[quote name='jer7583']Expect a $10 price increase across the board on used games at gamestop once this happens.

I don't like gamecrazy, but I'd hate to see them go.[/QUOTE]

So they're gonna charge $64.99 for used Xbox 360 games now?!?! God damn it!
 
Hey everyone. This site and forums rock. If I knew about this place while I ran a Gamecrazy perhaps I could have raised the billion Movie Gallery needed. :D

Regardless, for the interested I'll cut and paste my blog on what went wrong with Movie Gallery/Hollywood Video/ Gamecrazy.

Will Gamecrazy survive? Sadly probably not.

Movie Gallery, the parent company of Hollywood Video and Gamecrazy is dying a very slow, painful, and inglorious death. I would compare trying to save Movie Gallery is about the same as giving Chemotherapy to a cancer ridden death row inmate. Since such an individual is going to die soon anyway, why bother. A bit of a morbid comparison, I know. The video store is meant to die. You got Netflix, Blockbuster Online, Apple TV and iTunes, Amazon unbox, and Cable and Satellite On Demand. Even if your local store has a good selection and a nice staff, how can they compete with sitting on your ass at home and pushing a button to watch the movie you want to watch? Especially with gas being $3 a gallon?

Sadly I don't see it possible to sell Gamecrazy as 99% of the Gamecrazy's are store within a store concepts. They are tied to the fate of Movie Gallery, unless some really bizarre buyout occurs. But who would buyout a company when they are a store within a store and the store its within is about to go belly up. I suppose you could throw a wall between the Hollywood and Gamecrazy and install a bathroom. Good luck with that.

Movie Gallery has had two years to sort out this mess. In this time they have.

Ignored and closed Gamecrazy's. When the videogame industry was primed for explosive growth.

Not closed enough of their money losing stores.

Failed to start up a service similar to Netflix and Blockbuster Online. Hell they could have thrown game rentals on it too and made it so people wouldn't need Netflix/Blockbuster online and Gametap. Good luck starting one now with Netflix and Blockbuster Online in the middle of a price war.

Mostly just stood still and did nothing. Gee, there were no big movie releases this quarter and that led to softer than expected revenue. No fucking Duh, you could see what movie theaters are going through right now and then prepare for the future.

I will always have great memories of my time at Gamecrazy, but my departure could not have come at a better time. Movie Gallery is in my opinion an ineptly managed company that made the decision to see if the boat could survive hitting the iceberg when it was visible for miles.
 
Additional thoughts from what I read here.

If and when it does happen, Texas should be the last GC closing as those stores were consistently profitable.

Mark Wattles/Netflix/Whoever would be HIGH to buy a B&M video rental chain in 2007. Unless you got a Mom & Pop with a porn section catering to a local community, all B&M video stores are doomed.

I suppose some landlords would be willing to allow a buyer to build a wall and separate a Gamecrazy from Hollywood, but with 630 diiferent landlords, thats alot of negotiating and contracting to do. It would probably be cheaper to move into a different property across town just for the GC.

There are 17 stand alone Gamecrazys (I ran one of them) but that hardly makes a chain into itself, considering the stand alone stores are scattered across the country.

I would advise anyone who has store credit at a Gamecrazy to use it asap.
 
[quote name='Doomed']I used the trade 2 get extra 50% deal to preorder Mario galaxy and Brawl. Am I in danger? What should I do?[/QUOTE]

Keep reading this thread for updates....Or simply cancel the POs and spend the money now. But I'd keep up to date on this before you do anything drastic.
 
Do you really think gamecrazy won't last out the year? I've got a few games paid off from the big 50% deal.

I'll miss not getting price gouged on older high demand games like Ico, MvC2, Suikoden 3, Any nintendo published title on gamecube, and such that aren't really rare, just sell well. Can gamestop ever be stopped?
 
[quote name='blueweltall']One in Northglenn and some more later.[/quote]

Thanks, stopped into the Wadsworth / 88th for resurfacing and they were preparing for inventory taking place today.
So, it looks like Monday for this one...?
 
I don't shop at GameCrazy all that much, but I did notice the GameCrazy store by me had closed down and had re-opened as a Verizon telephone store months ago. At the time I didn't think much of it as I thought maybe the lease was just too expensive and they moved......I had no idea they were in financial trouble.

I did like GC a whole lot better than GS/EB....I just wish it was GS/EB that was going under.
 
I'm fairly close with a GC store manager in Central California. After reading this thread last night, I went in today to buy TMNT for 360 (advertised $19.99, printer's error-they won't honor, even for employees) and ask him about it.

When I asked him about it, he looked puzzled. He showed me a new 'corporate guidance' memo about how to handle the midnight release party for GTA IV tentatively scheduled for late Feb 08 (showed it to me in the big binder-it was dated 10 August). He said some stores are closing, but they've been doing that for unprofitable stores since mid-2005, according to him.

If it is happening, it either isn't anytime soon, or it is being held from store managers. Think about it, though: all they'd have to do is declare bankruptcy and they'd get the institutional creditors off their back. Maybe that's what the new Chief Restructuring Officer is for.

Those who claim to be in the know, how did you get the info?
 
[quote name='vectorscalar']I'm fairly close with a GC store manager in Central California. After reading this thread last night, I went in today to buy TMNT for 360 (advertised $19.99, printer's error-they won't honor, even for employees) and ask him about it.

When I asked him about it, he looked puzzled. He showed me a new 'corporate guidance' memo about how to handle the midnight release party for GTA IV tentatively scheduled for late Feb 08 (showed it to me in the big binder-it was dated 10 August). He said some stores are closing, but they've been doing that for unprofitable stores since mid-2005, according to him.

If it is happening, it either isn't anytime soon, or it is being held from store managers. Think about it, though: all they'd have to do is declare bankruptcy and they'd get the institutional creditors off their back. Maybe that's what the new Chief Restructuring Officer is for.

Those who claim to be in the know, how did you get the info?[/quote]

With all due respect to you and your friend. How is a company that is 710 million in debt, with no help coming to pay the bills or delay paying the bills, that now is on a cash only basis with vendors going to stay relevant and competitive? The creditors are going to force Movie Gallery to liqidate so they can recoup some of their owed money.

Movie Galler are certainly not going to tell the Store Managers the ship is sinking.

Here is some reading material for you and please print it out or forward it to your buddy.

http://investing.reuters.co.uk/news...0_MOVIEGALLERY-RESULTS-UPDATE-2-CORRECTED.XML

http://www.reuters.com/article/consumerproducts-SP/idUSN1029770320070810
 
I feel good knowing the asshole DM who fired myself and a friend for not selling enough MVP cards will soon be out of a job.

Unfortunately that also means that the awesome store manager who stood up for us might also be too.
 
My store didnt get Persona 3 or Luminous Arc in D:

Gamestop got them both in today, I can only wait so long before I have to buy them elsewhere.
 
The movie gallery near me is so ghetto I stopped renting there.

Was tired of the dvds being scratched all to hell and people that let their kids play frisbee with the dvds using their PBJ covered fingers to handle em sucked as well.

Not to mention the haggard ass women that work there and thinking they run shit like theyre the top stripper at Score's.
 
[quote name='jer7583']I feel good knowing the asshole DM who fired myself and a friend for not selling enough MVP cards will soon be out of a job.

Unfortunately that also means that the awesome store manager who stood up for us might also be too.[/quote]

Yeah I hear ya. My store was above average and I would still get shit. I was never threatened with my job or got written up for lagging controllables, but damn, they expected us to drill MVPs and Pre-Orders into every person who came in. Alot of stores forced their guests to buy MVPs in order to get a Wii, which I was opposed to. I ran a clean, organized, honest, and no bs store. Every store I ran would have revenue shoot up dramatically, but controllables would increase modestly. But since other managers were either shady or scared for their jobs, they would find ways to puff up their numbers so their percentages were higher than mine. Before I left the big thing was getting pre-orders but not being concerned whether or not the guest would pick up the game. So philosophically the leadership of Gamecrazy (under the watchful eye of Movie Gallery) encouraged us to get pre-orders for product that may not be sold. So if you were a regular you were encouraged to pre-order stuff you didn't really have an interest in to only roll over the pre-order to something else later. Like a revovling door deposit used to just puff up numbers. My store was usually number one in pre-orders for the district I worked in, but when it came time to not be concerned about whether the game would sell or not, my store (because I refused to puff my numbers) dropped in pre-order ranking and I got lots of shit from my DM over my "poor numbers". I left before my honest, profit-oriented, and loyal guest retaining behavior would have gotten me fired. Gamecrazy culturally at one time was a fantastic place to work and shop. I strongly believed that the average Gamecrazy would smoke the average EB/Gamestop anyday of the week in gaming culture, service, and pricing/trade value. As Hollywood and Movie Gallery's fortunes began to wane a culture of shucking and jiving began to develop that pushed me into other gainful employment. So yeah, the thought of all those (Tony Montana) cock-a-roach DMs/RMs/Zone VPs being unemployed even for a short period of time does bring joy to my heart. It says alot when the Loss Prevention officiers have more of a clue to running a successful store than the management team.
 
[quote name='hiccupleftovers']No offense, but who are you?:D I've never seen you around [/quote]Never? I've seen your avatar here and there. But since you asked so nicely, this is who I am.

[quote name='fatherofcaitlyn']I just have to laugh.

It's a shame they're going to take Game Crazy down with them, but GC has been shooting itself in the foot for years.[/quote]Nice work, foc. And while I don't know much about GameCrazy (though HV used to be well managed, all their store locations were paid for, no leases) Movie Gallery seems to have made even more monumental errors than BB.

[quote name='emceelokey']It'd be cool to see a netflix b&m even if it's just the use of the name. [/quote]I don't see that happening. Netflix has a nicer profit margin working out of their two (I believe it's still just two) warehouses. MUCH lower overhead not having to pay hundreds of leases each month and thousands of payrolls for staff to man each building every moment.

[quote name='jer7583']Do you really think gamecrazy won't last out the year? I've got a few games paid off from the big 50% deal.[/quote]It really depends on the final word from their lendors. I don't know if they'd close right away, but I wouldn't waste time holding onto credit ifyou have any.
 
[quote name='eaglebeak']
I did like GC a whole lot better than GS/EB....I just wish it was GS/EB that was going under.[/QUOTE]

i wish all of them would go under, and they liquidate everything on the cheap. that would be awesome. GS/EB/gamecrazy are sort of like loan sharks. People trade games into them for $3 and they put them on the shelves and sell them for $30. i would say good riddance
 
I think I caught onto the tail end of when GameCrazy was okay. I heard all kinds of awesome stories about the place but not long after I got there it was all about the pre-orders, pre-orders are bread and butter, pre-orders blah blah blah.

I thought a business was about selling shit, not about interest free loans.
 
When I went there for the extra 50% deal, I gave the guy 2 preorders and he still wouldn't leave me alone about the MVP. They were still better than GS even though that was my only experience. Their trade in values and prices are higher and lower respectively.
 
i live 5 minutes on my bike from game crazy.2 employees therea re nice the others stink. i usually ride my bike up there when i got nothing to do.and play 360 with them. the only positive i see from this if they go out of bussiness there closing down sale.

why does evryone have a problem with gamestop, i go there twice a week to hangout while my friends are sleeping, the employees are uber nice,friendly and game knowledgeable. just the other day as i was shuffling through the 9.99 and under gc bin, he told me to pick up the bongos for 3.99.
 
[quote name='hegor']With all due respect to you and your friend. How is a company that is 710 million in debt, with no help coming to pay the bills or delay paying the bills, that now is on a cash only basis with vendors going to stay relevant and competitive? The creditors are going to force Movie Gallery to liqidate so they can recoup some of their owed money.

Movie Galler are certainly not going to tell the Store Managers the ship is sinking.

Here is some reading material for you and please print it out or forward it to your buddy.

http://investing.reuters.co.uk/news/articleinvesting.aspx?type=marketsNewsUS&storyID=2007-08-11T001404Z_01_N10297703_RTRIDST_0_MOVIEGALLERY-RESULTS-UPDATE-2-CORRECTED.XML

http://www.reuters.com/article/consumerproducts-SP/idUSN1029770320070810[/quote]
Read those and a few other similar articles. I'm thinking chapter 11. That's likely why they set Bill Kosturos as the CRO. Is there anything new since the early July statements? Other than Pachter, I mean.
 
Then why did movie gallery buy Hollywood video/ Gamecrazy. Pretty stupid business decision if you ask me, didn't anyone run the numbers on how the purchase would appreciate?
 
I saw a memo that was sent down this morning titled "In Memorandum". My heart skipped a beat.

It said that 70 Movie Gallery and Hollywood Video stores across the country will be closing. They didn't give a list of ones closing.
 
Glad I got out when I did, I went back the other day and found out that my manager, DM, and RM were all fired. That brought a smile to my face. They did this to themselves. I hope they do some crazy going out of business deals for their MVP members though because my card is good until 2011.

BTW I'm the guy that leaked news about the 360 Elite ( price, release date), I used to work at Game Crazy in Ohio and quit when they told me the raise in minimum wage was my actual raise.
 
Wow, I had no idea Gamecrazy was in such danger. My GC is literally 5 minutes away from my house, and the guys that work there are nice, and I don't get the sense that they are going out of business. I go there often, so I'm sure that if they were in danger, they would tell me, even if I didn't ask. The Hollywood Video seems fine, too. My GC has been around since 2004, and hopefully it won't be going anywhere.
 
[quote name='blueweltall']One in Northglenn and some more later.[/QUOTE]


Oh damn! I better use my credit! I didn't know there were more people in CO on here.
 
[quote name='sying']Then why did movie gallery buy Hollywood video/ Gamecrazy. Pretty stupid business decision if you ask me, didn't anyone run the numbers on how the purchase would appreciate?[/quote]

Sheer stupidity.

Well, the problem was Movie Gallery was slightly profitable with their rural niche. They decided that online rentals was a fad and that Hollywood Video was a key to growth. So they bought our Hollywood and got Hollywood's debt as well. Its not so much that buying Hollywood was bad, they just didn't do anything to make the acquisition worthwhile. They should have closed out every unprofitable Hollywood, fire-saled the inventory to pay off debts. They also should have grown Gamecrazy (both stand alone and more key locations in Movie Gallerys/Hollywoods), and started an internet rental service offering games as well as movies.
 
[quote name='M1C13']Glad I got out when I did, I went back the other day and found out that my manager, DM, and RM were all fired. That brought a smile to my face. They did this to themselves. I hope they do some crazy going out of business deals for their MVP members though because my card is good until 2011.

BTW I'm the guy that leaked news about the 360 Elite ( price, release date), I used to work at Game Crazy in Ohio and quit when they told me the raise in minimum wage was my actual raise.[/quote]

Like many employees the pressure to meet weekly goals in MVPs was so strong that many employees renewed their own cards to meet quotas. Unless of you liked to read lots of video game magazines.

As for breaking the Elite, aren't you quite the rabble rouser! ;)
 
[quote name='vectorscalar']Read those and a few other similar articles. I'm thinking chapter 11. That's likely why they set Bill Kosturos as the CRO. Is there anything new since the early July statements? Other than Pachter, I mean.[/quote]

Many vendors are on a cash only basis with MG/HV/GC. Good luck to GC with being on a cash only basis with all those fake pre-orders.
 
[quote name='hegor']many employees renewed their own cards to meet quotas[/quote]
employees can't get credit for renewing their own MVP card. you're not supposed to ring up anything on your own account, you have to get another employee to do it. they're not strict on MVP quotas at all. The only time you can really get fired is if you go a month or two and you're consistantly selling low (i'm talking like.. 50 transactions with 0 mvps and 0 preorders, its almost impossible to get that low). At one point, they were going on a week-by-week thing, making a quota and saying "three strikes and you're out". Employees raised such a fuss that they did away with it. They're more lax on things like that now. Nothing like EB/GS.
 
I always thought Movie Gallery was just a small semi-nationwide chain. Had no idea it owned Hollywood Video. Hate them both though so no biggie.
 
Shift Leader Joe would ring out Store Director Bob. Store Director Bob would ring out Shift Leader Joe. The DM gets the exception report and if the DM doesn't give a shit or is clueless (like many of them) then it would count and another day would pass. Yeah, its not as bad as EB/GS but it still pretty sorry way of doing business.

I didn't do any of that shit, but like I said in previous posts other people out of fear or shadiness did. You can get away with alot at Gamecrazy if your shady and clever. One Store Director who finally got fired, for almost a yeah had multiple dormant accounts where he would roll over the credit from pre-orders to other upcoming titles.
 
[quote name='Scorch']employees can't get credit for renewing their own MVP card. you're not supposed to ring up anything on your own account, you have to get another employee to do it. they're not strict on MVP quotas at all. The only time you can really get fired is if you go a month or two and you're consistantly selling low (i'm talking like.. 50 transactions with 0 mvps and 0 preorders, its almost impossible to get that low). At one point, they were going on a week-by-week thing, making a quota and saying "three strikes and you're out". Employees raised such a fuss that they did away with it. They're more lax on things like that now. Nothing like EB/GS.[/quote]
My old district you were expected to achieve 12% pre-order and 7% mvp. Perhaps your DM wasn't a lazy ballbusting prick. This was as of 2007 before I left.
 
[quote name='LilPaintballer']i live 5 minutes on my bike from game crazy.2 employees therea re nice the others stink. i usually ride my bike up there when i got nothing to do.and play 360 with them. the only positive i see from this if they go out of bussiness there closing down sale.

why does evryone have a problem with gamestop, i go there twice a week to hangout while my friends are sleeping, the employees are uber nice,friendly and game knowledgeable. just the other day as i was shuffling through the 9.99 and under gc bin, he told me to pick up the bongos for 3.99.[/QUOTE]

Can I ask how old you are.
 
[quote name='A Happy Panda']Can I ask how old you are.[/quote]

LOL, are your friends sleeping at the Gamestop as well?
 
Thats the same way mine was, we would just sell POs and MVPs to each other, family members, etc. I got 6 different magazines sent to my house until I moved. I need to call them to change my address...
 
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