Topic: I don't understand why vudu doesn't like my topic titles or GameStop...

[UncleBob]

So, I'm in Saint Louis and stopped at a GameStop directly outside of a shopping mall. Spoke with the guy at the counter about something and he suggested I check the one in the mall.  So, I go in the mall and there's a GameStop, all right... With an EBGames a few stores down.

What?

[vudu]

Maybe you're not aware, but GameStop and EB Games used to be competitors.  There are lots of cases where the two are located in close proximity.

As for the two GameStops, the one in the mall is likely smaller, but attracts more people who otherwise wouldn't go into a specialty game store.  The one outside is probably bigger and likely gets more people who make a special point to visit the store.

On a different subject, I don't understand why you can't title your topics properly.

[Maverick]

On a different subject, I don't understand why you can't title your topics properly.

I like the mystery.

[UncleBob]

I am, in fact, aware that EB/GameStop was once two different companies, but it seems silly to keep both locations open so close together....

[Flames_of_chaos]

More business in one shopping mall? Also theres a chance one will have that the other wont.

[ShyGuy]

Let's talk about placement of WalMart stores in the American south.

[decoyman]

On the same subject, I don't understand why you can't title your topics properly.

Fixt!

[Dirk Temporo]

So, I'm in Saint Louis and stopped at a GameStop directly outside of a shopping mall. Spoke with the guy at the counter about something and he suggested I check the one in the mall.  So, I go in the mall and there's a GameStop, all right... With an EBGames a few stores down.

What?

I work at Gamestop in a mall, and there's another Gamestop down the hall.

[UncleBob]

With the typical cost of renting in a mall, along with having a larger store less than 3 feet outside the closest doors to the GS in the mall, I'm not sure the larger selection thing works.  It seems the smaller mall store could get more traffic and the larger outside store could hold more stock... It just seems odd...

As for Wal*Mart... 'meh.

[Nick DiMola]

All of the malls around me closed the stores that were once EB and just left the Gamestop branches open. In Rochester, there was one mall that still had two stores and I agree, it seemed pretty stupid especially in a mall that wasn't all that big.

[Morari]

We used to have "FuncoLand" around here, but they too were bought out by GameStop, only adding more uselessly close locations. GameStop never has anything out of the ordinary. I can go down to Wal-Mart, Kmart, Toys R Us, Best Buy, or Circuit City and buy most videogames that GameStop would have. If it's something truly obscure I'll find it online for far cheaper.

[UncleBob]

Seriously, they're so close that numbers 2, 3 and 4 are stacked right on top of each other...

[nickmitch]

Well, if all three stores are profitable, then there's no reason to close them.

[UncleBob]

I'm sure, internally, GameStop Corperate has crunched the numbers and they know what they're doing... but it just seems silly.  Even if the third store within the mall is profitable, it seems like it'd just be cannibalizing the sales from the other two stores.  Meanwhile, you have to pay another set of crew members and what's generally crazy-expensive mall rental fees.

Basically, what I'm saying, is that I doubt the third store is making enough additional income over what the first two stores would make by themselves to justify the additional charges (rent, payroll, etc...).

[vudu]

The other question is, what kind of agreement did GameStop sign for the leasing of the space in the mall?  Perhaps they have a 10-year lease with some sort of prohibitively-expensive early terminal clause.  As long as they're covering all of their variable costs and at least part of their fixed costs it's cheaper just to keep that location open.  Or maybe they've been in that location for many years and their lease has renewal options that make it cheaper to lease the space than what you may think.

Or (while unlikely) maybe they just don't want to give up the space because they're afraid a competitor will lease the space if they give it up.  That's what happened to Blockbuster near my house (back in the day).  There was a Blockbuster with a local video store just down the street.  When the local video store went out of business, Blockbuster bought the location (and all its DVDs and tapes) and turned it into another Blockbuster location because they didn't want someone like Hollywood Video to purchase them.

[UncleBob]

The length of the lease could be an issue, I hadn't considered that.

As for giving the space up to competition, there were other spots in the mall that were unoccupied (or seems so) that appeared to actually be in better locations than either the GameStop or the EBGames - so while that's a possibility, it doesn't seem likely to me.

[UncleBob]

Oh, I forgot to mention - score GCN Component cables for $5 and two GCN BBAs for $3 each.

*edit* Well, dang it.  I just went and unloaded my car and it turns out one of the BBAs is the Modem adapter.  That was a waste.

[nickmitch]

While it may not seem likely, the best way to drive sales at a starbucks is to open another one right across the street. That's why you see so many so close to each other. This could vey well be the same case here.

[Maverick]

Aren't they actually closing 600 of these Starbucks and firing tons of employees due to their own over-saturation of the market?

[bustin98]

Here's a Gamestop rumor for you all:

Walmart is going to stop directly selling video games and have Gamestop run a mini-store inside, similar to Subway running the cafe in Walmart.

I don't have any more specifics. It might be only in certain markets, or depends on the size of the store. Either way, I'm not looking forward to it if it happens at my Walmart.

[Maverick]

Why would you buy games at Wal Mart anyway?  To save that big twenty cents they knock off of the standard price to say they're cheaper?  Or to support Uncle Bob?

[Kairon]

Here's a Gamestop rumor for you all:

Walmart is going to stop directly selling video games and have Gamestop run a mini-store inside, similar to Subway running the cafe in Walmart.

I don't have any more specifics. It might be only in certain markets, or depends on the size of the store. Either way, I'm not looking forward to it if it happens at my Walmart.

Wow. That's...an idea.

[nickmitch]

Aren't they actually closing 600 of these Starbucks and firing tons of employees due to their own over-saturation of the market?

Ssshhh!

[ThePerm]

Back when i worked at gamestop they were building an eb games across the street. I worked at gamestop for a month, and then a week after i quit i heard the news that Gamestop had bought Eb games. The Eb games had opened. a year later they changed their name to Gamestop. so in my home town in Yuma az there is a gamestop across the street from a gamestop. According to google their 263 ft away from each other by car. probably less by foot.

with Wal-mart having so many mini sotres inside..one day Wal-mart will mean mall

[NWR_insanolord]

I, like UncleBob, have a mall with two of them and another one right outside the mall, and I raise him a fourth one just a couple blocks down the road from the mall, which is the one I go to despite it being the farthest from my house.