Casual Gamers Forcing Gamestop to Rethink Store Layouts 93
The Guardian Gamesblog has up a post noting that Gamestop will be rearranging stores to meet casual gamer needs. For example, they'll be creating a section just for music games (karaoke, guitar games, etc). They'll also be putting together a 'family-friendly' area, with a focus on titles like Nintendogs, Lego Star Wars, and the like. The post is based off of an interview in The New York Times with Daniel A. DeMatteo, Gamestop's vice chairman and chief operating officer. In his mind casual games are now so important to sales that the company is having to do some 'radical retail re-thinking': "There is a real breadth of properties now appealing to a much broader audience than we've seen before. Honestly, we are having to retool the way we think of things in our stores in terms of merchandising, layout and also customer service because it is no longer only the hardcore gamer walking in who knows exactly what he wants."
Good (Score:3, Interesting)
being able to see the whole box would help (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Pre-order (Score:4, Interesting)
Went to Gamestop. The guy said, "Well, the UPS guy may get here today, or tomorrow. I think we'll have more then." So, I went nearly-next-door (in the same shopping center) to Best Buy, where there were multiple tables literally overflowing with the game. I walked up, grabbed a box, and checked out.
My game-buying experiences at Best Buy have been nearly-always been better than Gamestop. Not only do they have more PC games (local GameStops have practically all XBox/PS3 games), but I don't have to do the preorder BS. Heck, I saw DEFCON there... quite the shocker.
They open my games... (Score:5, Interesting)
What if someone were to buy a game as a Christmas present, only to find out that someone else had already bought it? As soon as they walk out the Gamestop door, that game is now worth the $5 trade-in value, even if you've never opened it and still have the receipt; because the plastic-wrap is no longer on the game, you can't prove that you didn't open it.
It's bullshit policy. I want my "new" games, "new", not "mint" condition.
Re:I hope that means other changes (Score:5, Interesting)
Roll forwards 6 months, and I have a bunch of old PSP games I no longer play. Of course I kept the receipts for the guarantee so in I go to get my refunds. I hadn't been in the store for a while but I noticed right away that all the staff were new, even the manager. I go up to the counter, explain that I'd like to return these games I'd finished playing, and the clerk starts telling me that the guarantee is only for DAMAGED games before the manager stops her, tells her to give me the refunds (over $200) and explains to me that the entire store were busted for mis-selling the guarantee (they were paid commission on each one) and were all fired. He says they were getting 2 or 3 people a day coming in with the same story and they were honouring the refunds as a sign of goodwill. It must have been costing them a fortune...