GameStop Launches New Retro GameStops Across North America
GameStop, the video game retailer, has recently announced its expansion into the realm of retro gaming with the launch of new ‘Retro GameStops’ across North America. These stores are specifically designed to cater to aficionados who cherish classic games and hardware from past generations.
The initiative by GameStop aims to tap into the ever-growing market for retro gaming, offering a nostalgic experience for enthusiasts interested in titles from the last forty years of gaming history. The stores will stock a selection of consoles such as NES, SNES, Game Boy, GameCube, PlayStation, Sega Genesis, and more, providing a one-stop-shop for collectors and players alike.
*Key Points:
- New Stores: Retro GameStops are not entirely new locations but existing ones that have been reinvigorated with a focus on retro stock.
- Market Tapping: The move signifies the company’s strategic response to the growing demand for vintage gaming experiences and products.
Is there a very particular console or game you would love to find in a Retro GameStop?
The problem with this kind of idiotic idea is an attempt to play up on a waning trend too late. Had this been a few years ago, they may have been able to make some money.
Fact of the matter is: if they aren’t liquidating their back inventory of old used games online, either their pricing is insane, or people would just rather emulate.
Either option is going to prove this is a bad move for a dying business.
We already have those stores in here Oklahoma. They called Vintage Stock and cater to us with classic and old games and systems. If you’re in Texas they called something else but owned by the same company.
So even trying break into this now is decades to late.
I’m just hoping they do something with that pile of 4 billion in cash they have. Aquire some business and launch a brand! If that shit stick CEO RC can just shit or get (off the pot)…
Ew. Pass.
I’ll stick with my local small business retro shop that doesn’t stink of wage slavery, misogyny, and poor corporate decisions, thanks.
venture capitalist firm that bought gamestop seeks to bring customers back after they destroyed the company through nostalgia grabs
I’d get a Dreamcast if I saw one in there for no more than $30.
I mean, as a person who still has their PS2, cool, but as a person who’s shopped at a game stop before…
I remember when they had this stuff in stores. Then one day they decided it wasn’t making them any money and dropped all but the latest and the previous gen. This stuff was the primary reason I went to GS. After they dropped retro, little stores started to pop up to fill the gap and do it a lot better. Leaning into the culture surrounding retro gaming and imports and soundtracks and such. Not sure I’d go back to GS at this point. They kinda blew their own hand.
Agreed. Even then all those little stores ended up closing in my area too. I don’t see how this is good business.
So Funcoland? The chain they bought and then murdered that was doing very well before they fucked it up?
They also closed all credit agreements so can now acquire other companies and reconfigure without asking for approval from bankers, who have a strong interest in Gamestop failing.
Two stock offerings in early summer mean they have 4 billion in cash and can run on that
The also introduced their own lines of replacement controllers, keyboards, and mice this year.
If you’re curious about whether corporate bots, esp from banks and hedge funds, are invading this instance and lemmy in general, just watch how fast this post gets downvoted.
9 hours later…. 0 downvotes 😂
Good! Better than Reddit.
Why now? Why not 20 years ago?
Exactly! I’ve been saying for years that GameStop should have had any console plus tabletop games and such. I know some of the shops were a bit too small for that, but my local one was more than big enough.
Instead they seemed to shift their focus to merchandise. It just seems so obvious. Always left me rubbing my brow.
And everything will have impossible to remove price decals directly on the covers that ruin whatever condition and collectibility there was.
Oh, they’re gonna have cheap prices on retro games right? Right?!?
Customer: brings in super rare limited edition signed copy Sintendo game
GameStop Retro: Best we can do is $0.50, but if you sell it and come back next week we’ll let you buy it back for $6mil! What a steal!
I can’t wait for people to find out that a good portion of the inventory is actually bootleg fakes. From my past experience they won’t open them up to check in front of a paying customer, the customer is charged with knowing how to spot fakes.
Why? There are enough Ma&Pa shops that already fill this niche, on top of eBay and FB Marketplace and whatever else. They stopped doing this before becuase they were losing money, why on Earth do they think it will be profitable for them now?
Are they professionally cleaning, repairing, refurbishing, and testing all their inventory? Highly doubt it. Whats the difference between them an a Ma&Pa shop aside from I would imagine higher prices? Why are specualtive investors ruining retro gaming for future generations? (I mean, I know the answer is obviously money, but its depressing and frustrating to see investors actively killing something you love. Not the first time and definitely not the last time though.)
higher prices
I’m heavily into Game Boy collecting. I just checked their online prices. They might be the cheapest I’ve seen, in general. For example Pokémon Blue is lower than the common price I’ve seen online (especially considering usual shipping and fees), but not low enough people will buy them up and re-sell them.
No promises it’ll stay that way, but they’re very competitive for now.
It also states guaranteed working so that’s pretty cool
But are they guaranteed cleaned? I don’t want nobody’s dust being breathed in by my family.
Probably not. I’ve gotten some smudgy ones from them in the past. And also non working carts. But maybe this time it will be better?
45 dollars for pokemon blue is a fucking ripoff.
I don’t care if its the cheapest of the rip offs, its still a ripoff.
its a 30 year old goddamn game ffs. I’d consider it over priced at 10 bucks, especially considering how many were sold and out there.
The main difference I can see is inventory management. If someone trades in a copy of Motocross Maniacs 2 in Oklahoma, they would know in Connecticut practically instantly, and they probably have a warehouse full of inventory they couldn’t clearance out from console progression.
Now that console lifecycles are way longer than they used to be, they’re scrambling to find a way to find customers.
Definitely too late for them to be trying to get into the retro games market where I live. We’ve already got a pretty decent retro games store that sells more than just retro game stuff. It’s a GameStop on steroids since they also sell new games, plushies, used DVDs, physical board/card games, manga, etcetera. It even has 2 locations!
Don’t know if it’s still the case, but I did hear around maybe mid to late 2010s they had even replaced GameStop on a military base. As for the store chain, I don’t know whether it’s a west coast thing, but Game World.
So, they’re trying to be more like game-x-change?
Or FuncoLand?
Sure, gamexchange was just the most common one that I’ve seen. I’ve never been to FuncoLand.
Here in Ohio, FuncoLand and Electronics Boutique were the national game store chains in town until GameStop bought them both and took over their stores. Funco was known for their lists of trade-in values in magazines in the days before VGPC. Now it’s come full circle and GameStop is turning some stores into the 90s FuncoLand stores they replaced.
