GameStop Stock Drops by Over 30% (and falling) - everybody's favorite local place to buy Pop Figures (and maybe video games if they still sell those) is burning down

[Marissa Moira]

Where will baby buy game

I've been going to bestbuy.

Their new CEO really turned the company around and everyone there is actually super helpful.

I can't speak about the geek squad tho i have not used them, but the regular BB employees are far more useful than before.

 

[Wraith]

Burn, MFer, burn!
Game over, man! Game over!

 

[Y2K Baby]

I've been going to bestbuy.

Their new CEO really turned the company around and everyone there is actually super helpful.

I can't speak about the geek squad tho i have not used them, but the regular BB employees are far more useful than before.

Don't think I have one nearby.

 

[Marissa Moira]

Oh wait I want to buy the wearable Thanos infinity Gauntlet Sippy Cup from gamestop before they close and go bankrupt forever.

 

[DragoonSierra]

You know with the death of Toys R Us, ThinkGeek could expand into toys and just become a separate toy business. Shit they could actually host Gamestop inside the toystore.

There have been a ton of problems with Gamestop accepting trade-ins of bootlegs, even obvious ones like a red Conker's Bad Fur Day cart.

View attachment 790795

If you buy anything of value from Gamestop, you're really running the risk of getting a bootleg from Aliexpress, and Gamestop just doesn't care.



Oh yeah, I once preordered a game to get a preorder bonus of a plush Phoenix Wright for my girlfriend at the time, showed up in the afternoon, and had this dialog:

"Hi, I'm here to pick up my preorder, here's my receipt"
"Okay! Here you go, that'll be $29.99 plus tax"
"Oh, um, I was supposed to get a plush for preordering?"
"Oh yeah, they only sent us two and we sold out this morning. Cash or credit?"
"Uh. In that case, I don't want it. Could I get a refund?"
"*shocked* Wait, you really don't want it?"
"yeah"
"*scoff* All because of a plushy?"
"Yeah, it was for my girlfriend. I'll just go pick up the game at Target."
"But you're here already, you might as well just buy it"
"no"

and then I got a refund and went to Target across the street and bought my game. Never got the plush, learned my lesson on preorder bonuses. Thanks Obama.

Ive personally have never had a bad experience in Gamestop. Just sayin

I've really wanted to get a copy of BFD on N64 for myself for a long time but I still wouldn't risk Gamestop unless I can check the cart in person, even for that price. Screw it, it's on-disc with Rare Replay, that's good enough for me.

You know, I have a memory of seeing a ton of sealed copies of Conker's BFD at Toys R Us being clearanced out for $10 a piece, and I couldn't get one because my parents wouldn't let me as I was a small supple innocent child at the time who they wanted to keep pure and innocent

Also by then I had been online for four years and already stared into the abyss countless times, so, fuck

I remember seeing copies of Earthbound in a clearence bin.

 

[Archeops]

There have been a ton of problems with Gamestop accepting trade-ins of bootlegs, even obvious ones like a red Conker's Bad Fur Day cart.

View attachment 790795

If you buy anything of value from Gamestop, you're really running the risk of getting a bootleg from Aliexpress, and Gamestop just doesn't care.

This was a few years ago but remember seeing several fake Pokemon HGSS cartridges at a GameStop I checked out while I was travelling up the West Coast, you could easily tell because they the standard grey color instead of the semitransparent black/dark red color of the original HGSS cartridges.

Exactly why are they selling Funko Pops and overpriced plushies in the first place?

I assume it's due to the items being cheap when bought from the manufacturer/distributor and that they're slow-yet-consistent sellers. Some employees will also pocket some of the exclusives and resell 'em on eBay, I know one of my local GameStops does it whenever they get those mystery boxes that have a chance at a chase variant.

 

[TheShortWaveCerealKiller]

It's like I said a while back, perhaps if they got rid of those creepy ass funko pops, they wouldn't be dying such a violent death right now

I was employed by a comic book store around 2016-2017 that is now closed (went out of businuess in 2017) and the main factor for them going down is the fucking Funko Pops. They bought box loads upon box loads of them and they never sold ANY. Because as shit as Funkos are they go by the same rules any other good goes by, "Supply and Demand", and there was no "Demand" for most of the "Supply" they had. Mainly since most of them were older, and or not very looked for. Because of that most of the pops piled up more and more, to the point where we had an entire store filled with them. We had to SPEND money to make new shelves to stack them. And even then never sold. It was to the point where we had to sell them in BUNDLES and still no one bought them. Most of them sold for a dollar. A fucking DOLLAR. By the time the store closed down the owner took home 4 boxes of them, they even offered me a box and I just told them I had no room where I was living at the time. It was almost funny if it wasn't so pathetic. Long moral short Gamestop is doing the same thing only on a company wide level. Same thing they are doing with ThinkGeek. Like legit go into a ThinkGeek or Gamestop with the sole purpose of seeing how many Pops they have piled into a corner. Of course there are other problems with Gamestop as well but, FunkoPops sure aren't helping.

tl;dr FunkoPops are a fad, like FidgetSpinners for nerds who are too poor to buy actual merch and eventually like all fads they die, did we learn nothing from fucking BeanieBabies?.

 

[_blank_]

Those digital stores arent going to be around forever. The Wii shop was the first to succumb.

Oh yah, I know. And like I mentioned, most of the games I've played this generation I doubt I'll have much desire to be playing down the line. If I really, really, enjoyed a game, I might buy a physical copy when it's on discount (or if there's is some kind of rarity to the game), but otherwise, I'm at this point where I don't want or need shelves of jewel cases for games I played through one weekend, years ago.

 

[TheShortWaveCerealKiller]

Oh yah, I know. And like I mentioned, most of the games I've played this generation I doubt I'll have much desire to be playing down the line. If I really, really, enjoyed a game, I might buy a physical copy when it's on discount (or if there's is some kind of rarity to the game), but otherwise, I'm at this point where I don't want or need shelves of jewel cases for games I played through one weekend, years ago.

Id say thats an indictment on the longevity of modern video games more than anything

 

[Plunkie]

All game stores are going down the gutter now (besides possibly local game exchange shops), and I don't see them profiting any further.

With most game CDs forcing you to download 9/10ths of the game online nowadays, physical copies have almost fallen into a niche.

 

[Mike Hunt]

Id say thats an indictment on the longevity of modern video games more than anything

True, but I'd also suggest that it could be that there's just so many games nowadays that it's hard for some to find time to replay games one has played before. I mean, that there's a concept of game backlogs is telling. I don't recall that to be a problem when I was growing up.

 

[Tanner Glass]

Exactly why are they selling Funko Pops and overpriced plushies in the first place?

Because of Margin; which is the reason they sell anything that isn't video games (and also the reason they sell video games).

When you sell a brand new game (let's say it's Cyberpunk 2077) - it sells for $60, but of that you keep $15. The rest of the money goes elsewhere (publisher, developer, whatever). This is before your operating costs and represents a ~25% margin, which isn't horrible - but it isn't great.

A Funko Pop figure likely costs very little for a huge store like Gamestop to stock. I couldn't find much online but for the sake of argument, let's say they buy them for $3 and sell them for $10. Even though the store is generating a little less revenue, the margin shoots up to 70% - meaning that GS keeps way more of the money. Selling $20 of Funkos is just as profitable to Gamestop as a single $60 new game sale. This also goes for statutes, tshirts, puzzles, and all of the other miscellaneous garbage they sell.

They get shit for it, but having high margin items isn't a bad idea to have. Most stores have a full "high margin, low cost" section that's generally referred to as the "impulse" section, as it's for impulse buys. These are things like candy bars, water/gatorate/soda, phone chargers, headphones, etc and are nearly universally near the cash registers. The main problem gamestop has is that you need to drive traffic into the stores in order to lean on impulse items, most normal people aren't going to go out of thier way to buy a Funko Pop, they'll buy one if they're already shopping for something else.

Gamestop has done such a bad HR job (while other places have done a great job) that Gamestop isn't many people's #1 destination for games - with people going to Walmart/Best Buy/Amazon instead and it's actually unlikely there's anything they can do to win back consumer trust (again) as the other companies seems to have a better idea as to what they're in for. Gamestop really needed to re-invent themselves (like Best Buy did) and focus on customer service and retaining employees but they missed their chance and opened the door for every big box store to step into their market.

 

[TheShortWaveCerealKiller]

Because of Margin; which is the reason they sell anything that isn't video games (and also the reason they sell video games).

When you sell a brand new game (let's say it's Cyberpunk 2077) - it sells for $60, but of that you keep $15. The rest of the money goes elsewhere (publisher, developer, whatever). This is before your operating costs and represents a ~25% margin, which isn't horrible - but it isn't great.

A Funko Pop figure likely costs very little for a huge store like Gamestop to stock. I couldn't find much online but for the sake of argument, let's say they buy them for $3 and sell them for $10. Even though the store is generating a little less revenue, the margin shoots up to 70% - meaning that GS keeps way more of the money. Selling $20 of Funkos is just as profitable to Gamestop as a single $60 new game sale. This also goes for statutes, tshirts, puzzles, and all of the other miscellaneous garbage they sell.

They get shit for it, but having high margin items isn't a bad idea to have. Most stores have a full "high margin, low cost" section that's generally referred to as the "impulse" section, as it's for impulse buys. These are things like candy bars, water/gatorate/soda, phone chargers, headphones, etc and are nearly universally near the cash registers. The main problem gamestop has is that you need to drive traffic into the stores in order to lean on impulse items, most normal people aren't going to go out of thier way to buy a Funko Pop, they'll buy one if they're already shopping for something else.

Gamestop has done such a bad HR job (while other places have done a great job) that Gamestop isn't many people's #1 destination for games - with people going to Walmart/Best Buy/Amazon instead and it's actually unlikely there's anything they can do to win back consumer trust (again) as the other companies seems to have a better idea as to what they're in for. Gamestop really needed to re-invent themselves (like Best Buy did) and focus on customer service and retaining employees but they missed their chance and opened the door for every big box store to step into their market.

While I do agree with your "high margin low cost" can work for certain things, as I said above Funko Pops are essentially millennial beanie babies. If a figure of say Sonic comes out for 20 bucks sure you might get a good amount of people buying it for maybe a week but, it won't do much for the long term bottom line.

Take the Sonic figure for example, you get 3 boxes, unless the figure is rare you are gonna stick with at least 2 boxes. Again short term 3 20 pops sold is the same as 1 60 dollar game but, you didnt mention how many of those pops get sold in total compared to how many games get sold.

Now while I do agree Pops focus on the impulse buyer, its obvious to anyone who's worked in retail or even gone to a gamestop/thinkgeek, that those impulse buyers are buying other things not pops.

Pops take a lot more resources than many like to admit. Especially the more you get in store and the less they sell. My gamestop stores used to have a singular wall for pops but now they have multiple, and its not just my local gamestop, many other gamestops and thinkgeeks do this too and eventually they'll become more of a loss than anything.

Now I will say that POPs are very much not the biggest problem Gamestop has but, they are certainly one of the pillars leading to them hurting so much.

 

[CheezzyMach]

I was employed by a comic book store around 2016-2017 that is now closed (went out of businuess in 2017) and the main factor for them going down is the fucking Funko Pops. They bought box loads upon box loads of them and they never sold ANY. Because as shit as Funkos are they go by the same rules any other good goes by, "Supply and Demand", and there was no "Demand" for most of the "Supply" they had. Mainly since most of them were older, and or not very looked for. Because of that most of the pops piled up more and more, to the point where we had an entire store filled with them. We had to SPEND money to make new shelves to stack them. And even then never sold. It was to the point where we had to sell them in BUNDLES and still no one bought them. Most of them sold for a dollar. A fucking DOLLAR. By the time the store closed down the owner took home 4 boxes of them, they even offered me a box and I just told them I had no room where I was living at the time. It was almost funny if it wasn't so pathetic. Long moral short Gamestop is doing the same thing only on a company wide level. Same thing they are doing with ThinkGeek. Like legit go into a ThinkGeek or Gamestop with the sole purpose of seeing how many Pops they have piled into a corner. Of course there are other problems with Gamestop as well but, FunkoPops sure aren't helping.

tl;dr FunkoPops are a fad, like FidgetSpinners for nerds who are too poor to buy actual merch and eventually like all fads they die, did we learn nothing from fucking BeanieBabies?.

What should be common business sense: never build your business around a fad and always listen to the consumer.

Yet every modern business seems hell bent on ignoring these...

 

[Tanner Glass]

While I do agree with your "high margin low cost" can work for certain things, as I said above Funko Pops are essentially millennial beanie babies. If a figure of say Sonic comes out for 20 bucks sure you might get a good amount of people buying it for maybe a week but, it won't do much for the long term bottom line.

Take the Sonic figure for example, you get 3 boxes, unless the figure is rare you are gonna stick with at least 2 boxes. Again short term 3 20 pops sold is the same as 1 60 dollar game but, you didnt mention how many of those pops get sold in total compared to how many games get sold.

Now while I do agree Pops focus on the impulse buyer, its obvious to anyone who's worked in retail or even gone to a gamestop/thinkgeek, that those impulse buyers are buying other things not pops.

Pops take a lot more resources than many like to admit. Especially the more you get in store and the less they sell. My gamestop stores used to have a singular wall for pops but now they have multiple, and its not just my local gamestop, many other gamestops and thinkgeeks do this too and eventually they'll become more of a loss than anything.

Now I will say that POPs are very much not the biggest problem Gamestop has but, they are certainly one of the pillars leading to them hurting so much.

Don't get me wrong, I'm certainly not pro Funko Pop - I was just pointing out why businesses are drawn to them and other high margin items. Gamestops aren't just full of pops, they have all kinds of garbage impulse merchandise (Zelda wallets, Mario T-shirts, Boo themed bean bag chairs, Fallout Puzzle books, etc). Most businesses have the right amount of these things in the "impulse" section but Gamestop has it taking up half the fucking store and that's primarily why people hate them so much.

Gamestop is in a bad position because the main items they sell (new consoles, new games) aren't high margin items. They moved to used (which is a much higher margin) products but ultimately they have to sell new products no matter what, because new products today become used products tomorrow.

Now they've got a large amount of competition in the used space (Best Buy, Walmart, Amazon, Local Game Stores) and they have distributors trying to eliminate used product, by pushing for streaming and digital distribution (Xbox Gamepass, Playstation Now, Google Stadia). They also don't have a lot of customer goodwill to leverage into another good or service.

I honestly don't see what they can do besides trying to pivot into those crappy margin items or retro games. I honestly don't think they'll have success either way they go and they desperately need to come up with something, soon.

 

[Slap47]

I don't have a lot of sympathy for GameStop.

- Bought up its competitors in the mid-2000s instead of actually trying to compete (EB Games, Rhino Games)

EB Games? You mean that weird Funkopop store?

 

[Xarpho]

EB Games? You mean that weird Funkopop store?

EB Games may be around in name only but up until around the mid-2000s it was independent. It used to be called Electronics Boutique.

 

[Niggernerd]

I hope the last experience Gamestop has is nonstop calls about battletoads 2019

 

[️ronic]

I hope the last experience Gamestop has is nonstop calls about battletoads 2019

and for the Wii

 

[Tommy Wiseau Kin]

Another reason GameStop has been overloading their shelves with merchandise is because they’ve been trying to evolve into a “geek pop culture” store. Essentially a more autistic Hot Topic with video games.