GameStop, our favorite stop for games, gets come competition
Saturday, July 31, 2010 at 12:03AM 
Bloomberg Businessweek blurb on how GameStop, the fast-growing retail chain that sells entertainment software (games of all sorts—new and used and traded in), will have new challengers in the field as Best Buy seeks a beachhead in the trade-in trade and game makers look for more digital deliver a la Xbox.
Why this interests me: my kids are incredibly loyal customers of GameStop, as are my wife and I. Why? No matter what gear or games we buy, they will take it back in trade for store credit, plus the sales people are incredibly knowledgeable on the games themselves, making them a seriously helpful resource. In short, they treat us all very nicely every time we walk through the door, and I’m guessing that Best Buy, with its big box mentality (in contrast, GameStop stores are akin to neighborhood video stores in the late 80s and early 90s), will have a very hard time making the same level of personalized service work.
Hell, at our preferred GameStop, everybody knows our names, and goes out of their way to make sure we’re happy as all get out before we leave (as well as signed up for all desired new-release dates). Service-wise, the place is just as sharp in customer service as the fabulous Mandarin Oriental hotel in DC. It’s that good.
So I’m pulling for GameStop, even as I knew this day would come.
My only complaint with GameStop: they used to do trade-ins on DVDs too.
Reader Comments (1)
DVD (used and new) margins are so thin that they are really commodities.I think the man hours used up in stock controlling and sell time used up by them would have taken staff away from the core service you treasure.
DVD resales needs to be automated to make money.