GAME shutting down 43 shops

[Flabio]

I have no idea what a Debenhams concession is

Larger branches of Debenhams have small shops run by other companies in them. Sofas, beds, Sony TV's that kind of thing.

GAME run a few branches in them. The Guildford Debenhams one closed a few years back.

There's also a concession in the basement of Hamleys, suspect they'll keep that one.

[Nisa]

Feel sorry for the staff, but \o/ otherwise, I hope they fold.

So even more people can lose their jobs?

Some of us here actually work for the company and the celebratory nature of this thread is pretty disgusting tbh.

[Jebus]

It sucks that people are losing their jobs, whatever the job, whatever the industry.

I'm interested though, is this all simply due to the amount of the stores near to one another? I mean, most towns round here have 3 of the shops and they are always close to one another, it's very strange.

[plopboy]

I went into my local Game at Lunch Time and I was the only person in there. I think we will see Game moving more towards their online business as this is only place really they can compete with Play/Zavii/Amazon/etc I don't think Game will fold, it will just restructure so that the high up management keep their jobs and appease the shareholders.

[MonkeyJuggleDX]

Two games and a Gamestation in Leicester, so I wouldn't be surprised to see one of them go.

Shame about people losing their jobs but at the end of the day, why have two stores within 5 minutes of each other?

[abigsmurf]

Shame about people losing their jobs but at the end of the day, why have two stores within 5 minutes of each other?

Because it keeps the competition commission off their backs and helps maintain their strangehold on specialist games retail.

[FelixofMars]

Exactly, while its bad people are losing their jobs they have far too many stores (especially now they bought out Gamestation) in some areas it does make sense to close some of them.

Two games and a Gamestation in Leicester, so I wouldn't be surprised to see one of them go.

Shame about people losing their jobs but at the end of the day, why have two stores within 5 minutes of each other?

[EvilBoris]

I'm surprised that people are still like thus towards game, I quite like it that they exist and if I'm near one and need something that your average 'top 10 games' shelf doesn't stock then they are there. I really don't care if most of the staff know less than I do because at the end of the day all I need them to do is take my money.

This has been long overdue though I'm sure that there must be stores that don't turn a profit. There are 5 (was 6 when Borders was there) in Norwich all within 5 minutes walk of each other.

[QualityChimp]

Just popped into the Walsall GAME to buy Rainbow Six Vegas 1 as a present to a friend who's just got a 360.

Although it was a couple of quid more than other shops, I was very happy to see that their second hand games are finally in alphabetical order.

The guy behind the till was also pleasant, helpful, said the game was great and wasn't cynical or supercilious.

Why can't it always be like this?

[D J Kix]

If only they'd keep the staff/management that ensured a smooth running store like that.

[Profit]

Average town centre main high street shop space rental price is around ?40k excluding bills and security etc.

Hopefully we'll start seeing GAME prices closer (or lower) to supermarket prices, while maintaining the wider selection.

[J0e Musashi]

Stop being so righteous you lot. It's not like you work there, you're not gonna lose your job are you? Who gives a ****? It's a rubbish store anyway. I can count on one hand the number of items I've bought from LAME.

[MonkeyJuggleDX]

I'm surprised that people are still like thus towards game, I quite like it that they exist and if I'm near one and need something that your average 'top 10 games' shelf doesn't stock then they are there.

With their scandalous pre-owned prices too.

?32.99 for Lego Star Wars TCS, ?19.99 for Sega Rally, Ridge Racer 6 & NFS Most wanted?

The main problem is that with the high prices, every local shop round here seems to take that as a standard so matches them or maybe does them a quid less.

12 months ago, the indie stores were cheaper by quite a bit, nowadays the prices seem to be the same.

[egparadigm]

Bristol will lose 1 if not 2 of its Broadmead stores. They have a Debenhams concession and two ordinary GAMEs within 5 minutes walk of eachother.

I actually know a guy who works the Debenhams branch – he worked alongside me when I did Christmas work a few years ago. I wonder if it's him who'll lose his job – he must be trustworthy since he's usually running the place single-handed.

[elaniel]

Here in Coventry we have 2 GAME's and one Gamestation in the city. We also have another GAME in the Ricoh retail park. They'll probably close one of the GAME's as they are within a 1 minute walk of each other.

I used to work for both company's (GAME then Gamestation) about 5-6 years ago and it's sad to see the jobs go. The stores I worked in we were all very knowledgable and helpful and really enjoyed the job, however GAME did seem to be changing a lot back then that ended up making me leave.

The last few times I have gone into GAME I just felt I was inconveniencing them more than anything being in there.

It is sad to hear that many people are losing their jobs though.