GameStop at Pryor Plaza Shows Video of Redesigned Store, Planned for More Stores

Pryor Plaza GameStop posted a new video to their Facebook page showing off the redesigned storefront with a focus on new merchandise, snacks, retro gaming bays, and more.

[anonymousfan]

I know Gamestop gets (and deserves) a lot of hate but I am cautiously optimistic. I still like going in store to buy games from time to time and using their store space for gaming related mini events sounds cool although I'm not sure how that will work?

[gamer7804]

I love the design, but not sure how that giant retro section will produce any new sales, other than get people sitting around playing.

[S2Killinit]

People will come in for playing, a community starts to build. Then they can have tournaments etc. its a great idea.

I had actually suggested this in a post some months ago. Never thought it could actually happen. Hopefully it works.

[Summons75]

Gamestop is dying and they are dumping money like it's nothing. I honestly really like the design of that store, reminds me of a few mom&pop shops that used to be in my town but I really don't think it will help them.

[WickedLester]

They can survive. Their stores are still profitable but they incurred a ton of debt when they panicked and bought those AT&T cell phone retail locations. They do need to downsize somewhat though. You dont need 8 gamestop's all within 5-10 minutes from one another. They need to become a more "boutique" chain.

[ThinkThink]

They could change their name to Electronic Boutique..

[WickedLester]

@ThinkThink

Ha! Well played! Actually that was the last time this retailer was any good. I liked them better when they were EB.

[AnubisG]

Yeah, that was a huge peoblem I think. I remember they had 2 stores in Queens Center Mall in NYC. Than one right in front of it and another one in less 10 minute walk from these stores. Oh and, they put all that right next to a Best Buy, and a Target.... smart🤣

[Kribwalker]

They’re still EbGames in Canada

[rainslacker]

They are in a desperate need to restructure their business model for the current world. Store design is something some people gripe about, but their ase business model is flawed, because it requires too much success on non core products. They make those products the focus of the store, yet people.know game stop as the games store. That's where they need to get people excited about going there for, along with restructuring their general finance model which puts locations in high rent locations, despite rather low mark ups on new merchandise of the core reason people go to GS.

Unfortunately for GS, there is now no quick fix. But the fixes they need aren't going to involve listening to the people who whine over the stupid stuff like upsells or their trade in policies or pricing. Maybe listening to how people dont want a store cluttered with non gaming stuff.

Work on corporate structure and cut a lot of the fat. Evaluate where stores are placed. Have good merchandising and work for better vendor pricing for new games. Those would be the key areas I'd focus on. Redesigning the stores cant hurt, because they do feel antiquated, and smaller stores are packed too tightly with a lot of the stuff that people dont go there to buy.

[SkatterBrain]

wouldnt be surprised if they Put lootboxes to pay $30 a pull for a 5% chance of getiing your $60 game and if you miss you pay the full $60

[Butters360]

It's amazing. All they had to do was look at their name and become that.

[rainslacker]

You'd think, but they started all these other things because they couldn't maintain the business with just selling games. That's why they started used games trade ins, and eventually all the other crap they tried to sell over the years.

Even mon and pop places have a hard time staying open by just selling games. World has changes a lot over the past 10-15 years, and a pot of retail is having a hard time keeping up.

Would be a shame if they closed down. I want them to improve, and really dont have many problems with their consumer facing policies....mostly because I dobt use them because I dont find them worthwhile. But they're the only place I can go to buy those smaller niche games out of the blue, as most big box stores have a very limited selection, or none at all. Older games are harder to find new outside gamestop and amazon

[Butters360]

GameStop first and foremost needs to improve their business tactics with customers. But as a culture, it's amazing how long it took them to realize that they needed to become a hobby shop. They need to facilitate that even more with hometown tournaments, game industry talk, etc. If you just want people's money, your customers will catch on quickly and go elsewhere. Once my GS gets the upgrade, I'll definitely stop by more often.

[Elda]

I like Gamestop & that store looks nice & inviting.

[Profchaos]

Ooooh a space for Retro gaming events with CRT and all very cool stuff

[phoenixwing]

if gamestop wants to compete they need to do what disc traders does in my area. First off, they pay a little more for games and stuff but they make it back in the long run with loyal customers. Second, they need to get a huge floor space for their stores none of this tiny shops everywhere mentality. Then they can store a lot more stuff and buy/sell legacy items such as ps one games for instance. Third, they need to take tv's, tablets, and movies and other electronics associated with gaming not just the current gen of stuff and only video games. Finally they need to do what disc traders does and have all the store people at the counter laid back not trying to sell you shit unless you ask for it. Basically they need to copy disc traders lol

Edit: As an additional thing if they're making their store somewhere to hangout and play video games that would be a plus.

2nd Edit: I might as well share this as well. When i was at disc traders i had bought a controller used, it didn't work right for sprinting in game and i returned it. The manager felt like giving me a new controller because he felt i shouldn't have gotten a bad product in the first place. He didn't care about nickle and diming me like gamestop does, gamestop would have given me another used controller. So what am i going to do next? I plan on buying my ps5 from them instead of anywhere else. Loyalty.

[rainslacker]

I've always found gamestop's return policies to be pretty liberal....especially for hardware. They won't give away the store for free like some places will, but they never seemed to have a problem taking back defective products and replacing them when I had to. At least within a reasonable time frame. Never tried to return something years after I brought it

I know more retailers are cracking down on returns because too many people abise it nowadays though

[CyberSentinel]

It’s funny how people are defending gamestop now, I wonder if those individuals are investors who bought stock now that it’s cheap and pray that it will go up, or children who aren’t old enough to have a credit card and shop for themselves. Seriously, Amazon for years offered brand new game, for $48 on day 1,
with day 1 delivery. GameStop didn’t even try to be competitive.

I haven’t bought a game from gamestop in literally 5-6 years. Best Buy now gives me money back coupons on games, and will price match Amazon, why the hell do I need gamestop? Retro games? I can get those on Amazon and eBay also. Gamestop has nobody but themselves to blame for not trying to be more competitive. They took their customers for granted, and now they are reaping what they sowed. Too little, too late.

[DEEBO]

Lol
Funny you should say something about their stock.
I brought some calls for May of 2020 at 6 dollars a share and they start going up,so I went in one of the stores asking a key holder about business and sales and their earnings was today after the market close.dude was like a dick about everything so I leave and start looking at the market and now I was like should I hold until earnings or take profit now?
About 30 minutes until market closed I sold the contracts because it just feels like they are going backwards and digital is cutting into their profit and they still have jerks working at their stores.
I should have brought some puts on them when they where at 15 dollars a share.
But this is a good step in the right direction though and I hate to see my hobby store go the way of blockbuster but I'm not losing money because they're not adapting better way to run their company.

[isarai]

I don't mind Gamestop because i don't sell to Gamestop, and rarely do i buy used there. I hope Gamestop stays around because i use them as a means to get games in a more affordable manor by pre-ordering games well ahead of time and making small payment till it's payed off. $5 a paycheck is far easier than dropping $63 on the spot. No other service i can find lets me do that, everything else wants the full price payed right away or just charges the full price when it ships.

[CyberSentinel]

Why can’t you put $5 a week in a piggy bank, and then buy the game from Walmart when it releases?

BTW, I’m not shilling for any company,
but Walmart has a lot of games today for $50 brand new, day 1. BestBuy will price match, I don’t understand why GameStop won’t be competitive with the competition. Penny wise, dollar foolish.

I have nothing personally against GameStop, they just don’t meet any of my needs.

[isarai]

It's a lot easier if the money is just gone and paid for, piggy banks can get lost, stolen, etc(this used to be my old approach and it kept running into issues)

[JEECE]

I think you are definitely right in certain respects. I think about ten years ago, GS felt like they had established themselves as the premiere gaming retailer, and they assumed that they could just keep doing what they were doing without consequences. I think they seriously underestimated how many people would be willing to switch to digital so quickly, because the shift was slow in the PS3 and 360 period. I know not everyone has switched, but the share of digital game sales grows every year, and for those that use it, you can pre-load your games to unlock at midnight when they come out. This negates the GameStop "Midnight Release" I'm sure so many of us have fond memories of. Additionally, for those who haven't, Amazon can have your game waiting for you when you get back from work on the release date. Obviously Amazon existed ten years ago but delivery dates were not as reliable then.

Regardless of other issues, such as how they train their staff, upsells, pathetic trade in credit, etc, the combined force of digital/Amazon negates many of the main draws GS had ten years ago, and GS seemed completely unprepared to address either issue.

[HaVoK308]

Having GameStop around is good for consumers. The young and ignorant will disagree.

[zachyBROosevelt]

This is what the gamestop mu me has looked like for a little while now

[JEECE]

You have to respect them for trying something. Unfortunately, at least in mall locations, I'm afraid parents are going to see those tvs and consoles as a place to ditch their kids while they shop elsewhere (although some kids may be pushed away by many of the stations having old systems) which is not really going to lead to too many people also buying something while they are there (which is and must be the point), and in fact will alienate the target market. This should be less of an issue in stand alone and even strip mall locations, though.

[Heatbasketball6]

They went on a DIET... Lost a few LB"S...

[rataranian]

They closed 200 stores to put some old tv's in the back for some dude to play Gamecube?

[BenniB79]

Here’s the thing, anything is possible but Gamestop reputation has hurt them, it’s like they will have recreate their image, policies & trade values to have a starting chance, on top of that try to figure out a way to stay relevant in digital gaming marketing. Physical is still relevant but it’s in a slow decline & no matter what retro gaming is more the way to go versus new games, at least as an ex supervisor I definitely noticed that.

[nucky64]

i like my local gamestop. i get all my new releases there. everyone is always friendly.

[Soybetaboy]

I like it

[XxExacutionerxX]

I really really hated GameStop as much as I hated Blockbuster Video when they were around. The real truth is that after so many years and only finding games online, Walmart , or Amazon. I will miss GameStop as a whole if they went under. I hope they change in the right direction but it might be too late. A lot of their lost is because of technology. Games coming to us digitally is really killing their business and now publishers are now releasing old retro games and remakes digitally as well. It’s a lose lose situation, much like Blockbuster was in when internet service stream was taking over as internet became faster. Games are become the same format as well.