Topic: So nobody likes GameStop?

[Oblivion]

*sigh*

[TJ Spyke]

I have never had an experience like that. At most the guy asks me one time about something (either pre-ordering a big name game or subscribing to Game Informer, it varies) and when I say "no", that is it and they don't mention anything else.

[BranDonk Kong]

Then obviously said employee was not following company protocol. I almost traded in BLOPS when I got MW3, but I'd rather keep the game than take the $11 they offer so they can make a $34 profit (selling for $45 used last time I checked). I also had to say no to the new card, no to the strategy guide, no to the "recommended" disc protection plan (utter horse **** - especially since several publishers/distributors will exchange your disc if it ever becomes unplayable), and no to Game Informer.

[TJ Spyke]

You mean the dozens of employees I have dealt with over the years. I think there is a serious misconception about GameStop based on the few who bitch about it online.

[Chozo Ghost]

*sigh*

I know you work there and I'm sorry if you are offended by all the hate people have towards Gamestop. I know its not your fault, and you may be one of the good ones... but that doesn't change the fact that much of the hate towards Gamestop is deserved. You work there so you should know what goes on and why people would be pissed off.

[oohhboy]

Our equivalent of Gamestop here in NZ is EB games, which I think is owned by GS... I don't shop there purely out of economics, they are more expensive than anyone else out there, even the general electronic goods stores. I know some of the people who work there and they are pretty chill people, but you can feel the corporate under currents.

Then you run into the "Manager" who drinks the cool aid and **** does it get nasty. At the local Eb it's some Indian dude who saids he went to business school, whether it's true or not, it didn't matter,  when I brought up the question of Ethics, he said it was irrelevant. I questioned him about some of the dodgy stuff like having Mario Kart DS sitting inside Recent Releases(At this point it had been out for years), he replied it didn't matter since they defined what recent meant. Given how amoral a bloody shift manager can be, I can only imagine what lengths corporate would do for a quick buck if given an inch.

I try not to not look poorly on the counter jockeys, but they are on the frontlines and will always be hit first. There is a problem with the job if you can't take some level of pride in.

[Chozo Ghost]

There used to be an Electronics Boutique at the local mall until Gamestop absorbed them. After that, it became a Gamestop. I don't know if they are any EB games places still open in this country, but I haven't seen any. Since Gamestop owns them it wouldn't really matter anyway.

[BranDonk Kong]

Last time I was in Virginia Beach there was a GameStop directly across from an EB Games in the Pembroke Mall. Yes, this was years after the merger/buyout.

There is no misconception about GameStop and what its employees do (I understand it is their job to be a tool) - your "pleasant" experiences are the exception to the rule - but you've always shown yourself to typically be on the side of the corporation, so you may just be blind to the horse **** that goes on there.

[NWR_insanolord]

There's still an EB Games in the local mall here, for basically the same reason Brandogg said: there's another GameStop in the same mall. Not right across from each other, though. They were both there before the merger, but the company still maintains both locations to this day.

[broodwars]

I guess my experiences are just more "exceptions to the rule", because I've rarely been harassed at my local GameStops down here in Central Florida.  I'll bring a game up, they ask if I want to pre-order anything (or sometimes get the guide), I'll say no, they ring me up, and I'm out the door.  Sometimes depending on how busy they are, there's even light game chatter in there, which is usually pretty pleasant (even if sometimes I've caught a GS employee blatantly trying to B.S. me on a game I know much more about than them).

[Ceric]

My last two visits were terrible.

The first one the associates got made because I helped a fellow customer and the second one they were pissy and screwed up my Super Mario 3D Land pre-order.  I had two copies and they wanted to only give me 1.

The only reason I shop at Gamestop anymore is 2 reasons: Exclusives and there they only game shop I can sneak to in the mall.

Also for the record the key-chain is Raccoon Mario.

[UncleBob]

There's still an EB Games in the local mall here, for basically the same reason Brandogg said: there's another GameStop in the same mall. Not right across from each other, though. They were both there before the merger, but the company still maintains both locations to this day.

I was at one mall that had an EB Games and a GameStop... then, right out side the mall was another GameStop.

[BlackNMild2k1]

My local Mall used to have an EB & a GameStop.
Then GS bought out EB, so after about a year, it turned into 2 GameStops in the same mall and on opposite ends of the same floor.

The last time I walked through there (a few weeks ago), the store that used to be EB wasn't there anymore, but they co-existed for many many years as 2 GameStops.

[King of Twitch]

The first one the associates got made because I helped a fellow customer

lol whatd you do, send them to another store?

[Ceric]

The first one the associates got made because I helped a fellow customer

lol whatd you do, send them to another store?

They were wondering what the current Kirby games were and I just happened to know and was standing in front of them so I picked them up and told them about them.

[MegaByte]

I was at one mall that had an EB Games and a GameStop... then, right out side the mall was another GameStop.

I lived at a place that had three for a while, two in the mall and one outside (previously were a GameStop, EB Games, and Software, Etc.)

[NWR_insanolord]

I was at one mall that had an EB Games and a GameStop... then, right out side the mall was another GameStop.

I lived at a place that had three for a while, two in the mall and one outside (previously were a GameStop, EB Games, and Software, Etc.)

Up until about a year ago there was a third one right outside the mall. The EB was an EB before the merger, and the other two were a Software Etc. and a FuncoLand earlier on. There's also another GameStop a couple blocks up the road, which is the one I go to on rare occasions when I don't buy things on Amazon, most recently the 3DS midnight launch.

[Shaymin]

All the Gamestops in Canada are going back to EBGames (for proof, try to go to Gamestop.ca). That makes sense, because EBGames still has a decent reputation here while Gamestop is the Evil Empire (tm).

[NWR_insanolord]

It would be awesome if they were keeping the EB Games in my mall open to trick people who don't like the reputation GameStop has into thinking they're shopping somewhere else.

[Chozo Ghost]

The game store industry needs more competition. Ever since Gamestop purchased EBgames they've become a monopoly, which is never a good thing no matter how you slice it. Their only "competition" are small time ma and pop stores struggling to get by.

[broodwars]

The game store industry needs more competition. Ever since Gamestop purchased EBgames they've become a monopoly, which is never a good thing no matter how you slice it. Their only "competition" are small time ma and pop stores struggling to get by.

I really don't see that happening.  With the economy as it is and the game industry frequently moving towards consolidation, I think it more likely that a larger company like Walmart would acquire Gamestop (thus making it an unstoppable sales juggernaut) than Gamestop getting a legitimate competitor in the retail space.

[Shorty McNostril]

Are the franchises GAME, and Gametraders in the States?  Or are they only Australia?

[Dasmos]

GAME definitely has a UK counterpart.

[Ceric]

Are the franchises GAME, and Gametraders in the States?  Or are they only Australia?

They are not.  Maybe a token store somewhere but not really.

[BranDonk Kong]

broodwars...may I ask whereabout in Central FL you are?