You are mistaken. Taking in tablets and phones is still very much a thing. I traded in an iPad and iPod touch last week. That’s definitely national. Maybe the cricket stuff isn’t? Haven’t seen that.
They did buy ThinkGeek and if they could synergistically combine the two brands that might make sense. ThinkGeek is all about the physical goods, and I suspect more impulse style purchases as well. This would fit their mall locations better with the extra foot traffic.
As for being a bad pawn store, that can go the way of the dodo. It just makes the place feel cheap, and some of the stores I have been it seems to attract more questionable clientele trying to turn over electronics.
Ugh, that’s unconscionable.
My guess is they’ll adapt with about the same success as blockbuster.
I wish they would double down on gaming. It would be great if they had gaming peripherals that you could try out. Keyboards, mice, different controllers and such. Take advantage of the physical space to get people into the store. Of course, the cost per square foot for this will probably require them to charge a higher margin on the products than an Amazon so that would be hard.
Yep, because what would happen is a lot of consumers would use them to play test then buy them online.
I make a conscious effort to buy every 2nd or 3rd pair of running shoes in my local running store just to make sure they stick around. They take lead on being one of the main centers for the community of runners in my area, run a website to coordinate group runs and help organize and/or run some of the local races.
None of those things are supported in anyway by any company I purchase online with, yet the price online is cheaper, sometimes significantly so…
You just described, word for word, the issue a lot of tabletop game shops have. Being there for your local scene is great, but a lot of customers just aren’t going to pay MSRP for that $90 board game when they can get it for literally half that from an online retailer.
Hey, remember how well they handled Impuls-er, Gamestop Online? To Gamestop’s credit, they at least didn’t make the idiot move of not buying Netflix when it could have been had for pennies on the hundred dollar bill like Blockbuster did.
I know I’m not going to pay full price for almost any board game. I don’t really pay full price for video games either. It’s not a knock against that kind of entertainment. It’s rare for me to pay full price for ANYTHING. Even with MH Tri, the last thing I bought from gamestop, came with an extra controller and and GC for pre-ordering.
Yep. It killed train shops, it helped kill much of the hobby/gaming industry (M:tG had a big hand there).
I think the board game stores and other hobby stores that do well focus on added value they can provide that an online retailer can’t, e.g. A community and a place to meet and play). But even when you want to support a local shop and understand why their prices are higher than an etailer with no physical overhead, it’s still tough to spend your hard earned dollars when you know you can pay much less online.
In my case, it doesn’t help that so many of the tabletop games I’m interested in either go through Kickstarter or end up being impossible for my local shop to get through their distributor. I bought Millennium Blades online after being prepared to pay full price for it at my local shop because they weren’t even able to order copies of it, despite being able to get other games from the same publisher.
I have felt that Gamestop has been a net negative for the games industry for about 10 years now, their influence has halted the advance to all digital. Will see how it plays out but I for one am happy to see it fade.
I’d argue that the “advance” to all-digital is far more of a net negative for consumers than the continued existence of GameStop.
I used to feel this way too. I am paying 60 dollars for less value, no pretty manuals, no boxes, nothing and then I started getting games on Steam for 10 dollars.
I can’t wait till I can start paying $10 for digital console games through Steam!
It’s not even like getting AAA releases for $10 on Steam is something that’s guaranteed to happen a year after release, if at all. Bringing it up in relation to paying full price for new releases is just silly.
Meanwhile, some demographics get forced out of the hobby entirely if they lose the ability to sell their old games to help pay for new ones, and giant chunks of the US alone still can’t reasonably expect to download a 60GB game in less time than it would take to drive to the store, buy a disc copy, complete the campaign two or three times, and sell it.
Dude fuck yes! Electronics Boutique and KB Toys right next to each other. I loved Westside Pavilion as a kid. Its a depressing mall now.
Pretty “manuals” went away a long time ago.
Which is why I make a point of, not every but a good percentage, buying X-wing from the shops I go to for game nights. One store has a deal where they ‘charge’ $5 for the monthly league, but in return you get $5 store credit. Which… is a bit annoying as I only go once, maybe twice on a good month. But, still, it’s ok for me, as it’s better they continue to exist. They provide tables and space, there’s value there for me.
That said, while browsing the old thread I saw this gem.
Man, 2004 and talking about Duke Nukem Forever (2011) preorders, and Team Fortress 2 (2007) preorders. And Jonathan Blow? This was nested layers of amusing to me.
This is an ongoing guilty dilemma for me. I want to support local stores. I don’t really do much there anymore, but I don’t want them to die off. I just wished they would offer… something. One store offers 10% off new boardgames which offsets CA sales tax and I consider the rest “impulse tax”. However, that’s it. Every other store is MSRP plus tax and who knows what they will stock. All stores are a good drive away too so gas adds even more. Sure, I miss the old days of sitting around playing games or knowing folks at the shops, but life is different now and they seem to not want to offer the least bit of bone to incentivize their continued existence.