GameStop Finally Closes Stores To Customers

23 responses to “GameStop Finally Closes Stores To Customers”

1. 

   weresmurf

   March 22, 2020 at 10:49 am

   I want to say ‘thanks’, but the fact is, they had to be *forced* to close. I hope the assholes never re-open. I know that means people will be out of work, so I hope those people quickly find work with another employer that won’t exploit them like that one does.

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   1. 

      allanon10101

      March 22, 2020 at 11:39 am

      Whilst I fully support their closure, I can understand why they resisted it. Being one of the last big brick and mortar game chains, this is probably the death blow for them as a company. Chances are most of their locations will never reopen.

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      1. 

         namiwakiru

         March 22, 2020 at 12:33 pm

         True but they were already on their last legs and years of resistance to changing trends and healthy competition means they were already done, the pandemic is just expediting the process.

         I’m not sad to see them go but I hope their workers find better jobs.

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         1. 

            chinesefood

            March 22, 2020 at 7:51 pm

            You’re not sad to see the only dedicated retail video game outlet go the way of the dodo? =\

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            1. 

               weresmurf

               March 22, 2020 at 9:01 pm

               One that abuses its employees? Has a long history of treating them like absolute rubbish, not paying them, forcing them to work hours without pay and basically every sort of abuse you could possibly consider in the retail environment?

               Sure! Why not.

      2. 

         skintox

         March 22, 2020 at 6:59 pm

         With regards with what’s going on they are a essential service like them or not

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      3. 

         weresmurf

         March 22, 2020 at 9:02 pm

         You’ll see Gamestop and EB close down for sure, however Zing marches healthily along. That’ll continue as it apparently has been keeping EB afloat for quite awhile.

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         1. 

            allanon10101

            March 22, 2020 at 9:10 pm

            Pretty sure Zing can and will survive off online business alone, as you say, at least until they can make some other retail partnerships with surviving companies.

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            1. 

               weresmurf

               March 22, 2020 at 9:20 pm

               Yep. It was reported quite a while back that Zing was turning a healthy profit while EB was essentially costing the parent company money at that point. Zing makes a bucketload from the geek market. I buy stuff there regularly, they’ve got awesome t-shirts for example. It’s gotten to the point I’m ‘Shirt-guy’ at school now. Kids are always interested what new shirts I have.

   2. 

      angorafish

      March 22, 2020 at 12:15 pm

      Don’t worry. Either way most of their staff will lose their jobs immediately, and at least this way none will get much of a choice in the matter.

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   3. 

      chinesefood

      March 22, 2020 at 7:58 pm

      I think you’re underestimating the pressure business is under right now.

      Downsized employees quickly re-finding work won’t be so easy.

      There’s going to be an awfully large number of unemployed when this is all over and done with.

      Reply
      1. 

         weresmurf

         March 22, 2020 at 8:30 pm

         I think you’re assuming a lot right there, the world is going to go into a recession, we’re looking at anywhere between 7 – 10 percent of Australia, higher in other countries, being unemployed. Does that mean I don’t want Gamestop closed? Nope, they can burn for all I care. My stance is they’re a cancerous employer and deserve to go out of business. I’ll not pretend otherwise. WILL they go out of business because I wish this? Hell no.

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         1. 

            chinesefood

            March 23, 2020 at 1:37 am

            I mean, I worked at EB Games for 8 years.

            Is your experience just reading Jason Schriers article?
            Or have you worked there and experienced something shitty that I didn’t?

            (Not trying to sound like a dick here. I just found them to be, by far, my most professional employer back when I was in retail)

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            1. 

               zico

               March 23, 2020 at 1:43 am

               I was there for 5 years and witnessed the worst of humanity in their middle management. Leaving was the best thing that ever happened to me.

            2. 

               weresmurf

               March 23, 2020 at 7:53 am

               *edit* Oops wrong person

            3. 

               weresmurf

               March 23, 2020 at 7:51 am

               Not at all, I would estimate I know around 10 people who’ve worked there? I know roughly 2 people who had excellent experiences. I know at least 5 to 6 people who can easily give me stories of EB games (both floor workers and management (and 2 in America who can speak about Gamestop)) about times they were ‘persuaded’ to give up free hours of their own, the incentives they were given by middle management to sell things. I’m glad you had a great experience but there’s far too much evidence out there, as I stated both from people I know personally and in general anecdotal evidence, to support the companies shitty practices.

            4. 

               darren

               March 23, 2020 at 8:51 am

               Sounds like most US businesses to be honest. What makes them so deserving of hate compared to say Wal Mart? At least they don’t have to do chants.

            5. 

               weresmurf

               March 23, 2020 at 9:35 pm

               Look up some of the stories. Just because I dislike Gamestop/EB so much doesn’t mean I’m championing Walmart. Disliking one doesn’t excuse the other.

            6. 

               darren

               March 24, 2020 at 8:10 am

               Yeah, I see nothing in the stories to differentiate them from most other corporate behemoths that employ unskilled workers in the US.

            7. 

               weresmurf

               March 24, 2020 at 3:45 pm

               Ok cool. However that doesn’t excuse their behaviour. As someone who worked in that industry extensively myself it holds great personal interest.

            8. 

               weresmurf

               March 23, 2020 at 7:53 am

               Sidenote: You’re really going to the wrong guy if you’re looking for someone who hangs onto Schrier’s articles like they’re a golden goose…

            9. 

               chinesefood

               March 23, 2020 at 8:02 pm

               Ha yeah, I know. I’m usually on the same page as you.

               Retail is always bad. No-one loves their retail employer. But at EB, I was given a hell of lot more trust and autonomy than at any fashion outlet I ever worked at.

               Of course, just because I didn’t see anything shit, doesn’t mean it never happened.

2. 

   korolev

   March 22, 2020 at 9:16 pm

   I understand that Gamestop wish to save its business. I know many people will be unemployed if the business fails.

   However.

   In Italy, thousands are dying – and that is with legally enforced isolation. The health system is overwhelmed. One of the consultants I worked with today has a colleague in Italy – she has lost 43 of her colleagues to this virus. It’s not just old people – young people are dying as well.

   Infection rates are skyrocketing in the Western Worlds. People are ignoring isolation rules, attending parties, spreading the disease. Even if you feel perfectly fine, the virus has an incubation period from approx 5 to 11 days – you are still infectious during this period. So we have people who have the virus, feel well, and they go around spreading it – to an 80 year old, or a chemotherapy patient, or someone with cystic fibrosis. And those people die.

   And you know what? Even if someone doesn’t die of Covid-19, what happens when ICU bed are full? Do you think we have endless ICU beds and ICU staff and ICU nurses and ventilators? When ICU is full, people start dying. People with sepsis, people needing critical care due to disseminated infections, people needing ionotropic support, people with severe asthma – every single day, for many reasons, people need ICU. When the ICUs are full, what is going to happen? Those people are going to die.

   I work in a hospital. I’m a doctor. I haven’t been a doctor for very long – only five years – but I know how every day the hospital system is already under strain. Whenever there’s a seasonal flu outbreak, the system is strained. I know exactly how bad this situation is going to get unless we implement urgent measures, RIGHT NOW. Not in a week, not in two weeks – we need to shut down this RIGHT NOW. If we don’t, the pain will be worse and will last for longer.

   Gamestop should have shut down weeks ago. All non-essential business should.

   In the face of what is going to happen, if the current trend continues, the loss of gamestop or EB is a damn small price to pay.

   But no. Don’t listen to me. Do whatever you want. Go to your parties. Go to the beach. Go hang out with your goddamn friends and pretend, in your youthful ignorance, that you are invincible. And then, in 3~4 weeks when it really starts going to hell and your parents or your grandparents or your friends and colleagues can’t get medical help because the goddamn hospital is FULL – then you’ll look back and pretend that you took the threat seriously all along.

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