GameStop closed 52 stores in past three months

http://www.gamespot.com/news/gamestop-closed-52-stores-in-past-three-months-6413658

GameStop closed 52 stores across the world during the quarter ended August 3, the retailer announced during a recent earnings call. The company also opened thirteen stores globally.

"We ended the quarter with 6,505 stores," GameStop chief financial officer Rob Lloyd said. "We opened seven and closed 46 in the U.S., and opened six and closed six internationally. We still expect to reduce our store base by about 2 percent this year."

GameStop announced in February that itplans to close 250 stores total in 2013, reducing its overall global footprint by 2 percent after opening, shuttering, and acquiring stores.

GameStop saw revenue fall for its latest quarter, noting sales have been negatively impacted by consumers holding out until new consoles arrive later in the year.

Between the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 launches in November, GameStop is expecting the "largest console launch in history" this holiday season.

Well that's what happens when you buy out all of your B&M competitors and assimilate their buildings. I like having options but the number of GS locations around me is pretty bonkers.

They closed one here, but it was one of 2 in the mall. I knew the manager at one before he worked at GS, he said the stores just cannibalized each other for customers.

He got lucky and got the store in a strip mall half a mile down the road so he can do midnight releases now.

Yea, there's a problem in my area with cannibal GameStops. At one mall we had a former Babage's, EB Games and Funco all in the same mall (well, the Funcoland is outside). They closed the former EB Games recently and I think it made all the sense in the world not to have two GameStops right next to each other. I'm honestly surprised they haven't closed more since surely there are more regions with the same problem.

They closed one near me too.  It was a former Funcoland inside a mall.  But there's still a Gamestop in that mail(GS was on the 1st floor, Funcoland was on the 2nd floor).  But they just opened up a new Gamestop across the street from that mall, along with a converted EBgames about 1 minute down the street.

The previous posts are right, I really don't know how so many GS stores that are close to each other can stay in business.  I'm guessing one reason is because they're waiting for some of these leases to expire on the stores.  But eventually if the market continues to shrink, they probably will start to consolidate the stores more like other stores do.  Like where the stores don't overlap each other in a certain mile radius.

I was trying to look for a store a few weeks ago, spent over 20 minutes walking 2 blocks back and forth.  I went to that location maybe around 6 times, all within the past 2 years, most recent being in Feb.  That location was about a block from a huge shopping area so not sure why it was closed.

Not that many when you consider how many there are out there.

But they're right about customers waiting for the new consoles. I know I've stopped buying games I want due to PS4.

We have a mall somewhat near where I live. Small mall. 2 Gamestops. 

The abundance of Gamestop locations is kind of unsettling. I have a handful of Gamestop locations near me. If I cannot find something at one Gamestop, I simply go down the road and look for it there and if it is not there then I try another... or just order it online. It comes as no surprise to me that they are closing locations as there exist an unnecessary amount.

KillerRamen said:

Yea, there's a problem in my area with cannibal GameStops. At one mall we had a former Babage's, EB Games and Funco all in the same mall (well, the Funcoland is outside). They closed the former EB Games recently and I think it made all the sense in the world not to have two GameStops right next to each other. I'm honestly surprised they haven't closed more since surely there are more regions with the same problem.

Click to expand...

Yeah right now all of the stores closing are similar to the situation KillerRamen and I saw in south St. Louis County as leases expire on acquired mall stores.

Anyone familiar with the Macomb Mall area in Michigan knows how rediculous the number of Gamestops is... One inside the mall, one across the street from the mall, and one on the other side of the street from the mall. It's insane

Yeah, in the bigger cities and townships you will see 2-3 Gamestops in the same zipcode. Up here there is two in the mall, one on the top section and one on the bottom plus another one that's outside the mall in a plaza. I don't see how each one could make enough daily to justify operating costs like rent, employee wages, store needs so I'm inclined to think corporate covers some of this unless I'm just underestimating things.

There's an area in my city where there are two Gamestops within a couple of hundred feet of one another.  They span literally one traffic light on a busy road.  

I don't get it...

It's not exactly a smart business model, you would think they would just have one larger store per city. Then we have cities here that do not have a GS and from those locations you would have to drive 30 min to get to a GS. It would be better if they somehow got stores into cities that don't have them. My city doesn't need 2 GS stores but there are 2 and one is right around the corner from the other. But I am guessing a lot of these stores are leftover from the EB games Funcoland days which is why there are duplicate locations and in my situation one started off as an EB games and one started off as a GS so it makes sense when you go back and look at it but for these days it doesn't make sense. Another problem is these stores are so small they can't hold the amount of customers they generate especially when the soccer moms start coming in with their double strollers, so it would be better to just have fewer, larger stores, aka one per city. It also causes confusion because people don't Know what GS store their preorder was at and they will go to the wrong store, even though that information is on the receipt, but they don't save the receipt. I will be moving to the other store after GS fired someone I know at that store in my area though because it's easier to get to and in a much safer location.

Back in college the big mall by us had one GameStop and two EB Games. One, however was in the end of the mall fewer people go to so it rarely had good stuff. The other two were literally right on top of each other. That mall also had a Suncoast, FYE, and a Sam Goody.

On my current main shopping area there are 3 down the same street (one in a shopping mall, one in a plaza, one by itself), plus one just a neighborhood away and two in the biggest mall in the area. There used to be one downtown that stuck out like a sore thumb among all the high-end fashion and jewelry stores, but it closed down.