A popular retailer with 4,000 locations nationwide plans to close stores as its net sales dropped 20 percent. Just last year, the company shut down 300 stores, with another 287 closed in March of 2024.
What happened to the plan to move from games themselves to just game-related merch? More focus on hardware (like the consoles themselves, controllers and even PC components) and collectible items. You know… Shit you can’t just download.
A brick and mortar store has a lot of overhead. And, even with merch sales, GameStop doesn’t have enough to offer to differentiate itself from online stores for that same merch. Why would I take the time to walk/drive over to the GameStop to buy some cheap crap from China, when I can go online and buy that same cheap crap from China for less online. Especially, when I can often get it direct from China (via AliExpress or the like) for even less? Without the sales of physical media and the used game market, there just isn’t a viable business case for GameStop anymore. Sure, I found the whole GameStop stock meme funny too. And it sucked that some big fund tried to short them into the dirt. But, looked at from a dispassionate perspective, the current business model is doomed.
What happened to the plan to move from games themselves to just game-related merch? More focus on hardware (like the consoles themselves, controllers and even PC components) and collectible items. You know… Shit you can’t just download.
A brick and mortar store has a lot of overhead. And, even with merch sales, GameStop doesn’t have enough to offer to differentiate itself from online stores for that same merch. Why would I take the time to walk/drive over to the GameStop to buy some cheap crap from China, when I can go online and buy that same cheap crap from China for less online. Especially, when I can often get it direct from China (via AliExpress or the like) for even less? Without the sales of physical media and the used game market, there just isn’t a viable business case for GameStop anymore. Sure, I found the whole GameStop stock meme funny too. And it sucked that some big fund tried to short them into the dirt. But, looked at from a dispassionate perspective, the current business model is doomed.