Video game retailers

[gossi the dog]

CEX send the games from individual stores

[angel]

CEX send the games from individual stores

The site gave the impression they had them all in stock in some warehouse. Ah well mystery solved.

[MaffewE]

Oh ok, I guess thats that then. But yeah I cant see their mobile/ipad business keeping them afloat when everythings digital.

Speaking of stupid shops, I ordered 23 games from CEX in one single transaction online and theyve sent them individually.

....23?

[angel]

My parents absolutely love ds/3ds adventures, puzzle games and so on. I keep them topped up throughout the year and then a little stash at xmas. But this year there is no Layton, and my stepdad has cancer so there is really no point drip feeding games any more. So i just bought every single thing they could possibly want to just say there, thats your supply. I was hoping for a big box of them in one go, but fair enough if theyre all in shops.

[MaffewE]

It is a little bit odd - you think they'd at least find one shop that has most of them and get them to do the bulk of it at least. But yeah, I believe Grainger Games work the same way - online orders passed on to individual stores where they have stock.

And best wishes regarding your stepdad too.

[ScouserInExile]

they want to pretend theyre an edgy shop staffed by gamers.

About ten years ago or so, I was interviewing a lad for a tester job at a publisher / developer I worked for. First question was the standard "why do you want the job?" affair. During his waffling answer, he mentioned his four (or whatever) years experience in the games industry. Me and the other interviewer looked at each other, then looked at th CV in front of us, then looked again and realised that his "games industry" experience was actually working in Game.

I was in the Arndale Centre store not long after and heard the till-monkey say something similar. And ECTS always used to be packed with 17 year old "senior buyers" from Game.

And I think this is part of Game's problem - they have always thought of themselves as being an integral part of the industry and, once supermarkets started having a game section and, more importantly, now digital delivery is much more viable a prospect, they are becoming less and less relevant. But they don't seem to be doing anything about it, they don't seem to be moving with the times or offering any kind of USP.

[angel]

It is a little bit odd - you think they'd at least find one shop that has most of them and get them to do the bulk of it at least. But yeah, I believe Grainger Games work the same way - online orders passed on to individual stores where they have stock.

And best wishes regarding your stepdad too.

Cheers, its all very bittersweet, final chemo 2 weeks before xmas and so on. Ive introduced them to allsorts over the years, they had about 7 years of a Layton per year, my mum loves puzzle quest, theyre CSI crazy, so i've just cross referenced every single title I could find that related to what they play.

Its this ridiculous lot, pardon the huge quote. Hilariously, delivery was only 2.50.

Your Order:

Item:045496464189 - Phoenix Wright: Justice for All

Category: DS Software

Quantity: 1

Unit Price: £10 / Total Price: £10

Item:013388320127 - Apollo Justice Ace Attorney

Category: DS Software

Quantity: 1

Unit Price: £18 / Total Price: £18

Item:5055060942192 - Ace Attorney Investigations Miles Edge

Category: DS Software

Quantity: 1

Unit Price: £20 / Total Price: £20

Item:5060102953418 - Virtue's Last Reward

Category: 3DS Sof tware

Quantity: 1

Unit Price: £12 / Total Price: £12

Item:8716051054672 - Mystery Case Files: Ravenhearst

Category: DS Software

Quantity: 1

Unit Price: £8 / Total Price: £8

Item:8716051054665 - Mystery Case Files: Prime Suspects

Category: DS Software

Quantity: 1

Unit Price: £12 / Total Price: £12

Item:5060015539327 - Mysterious case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

Category: DS Software

Quantity: 1

Unit Price: £6 / Total Price: £6

Item:5055429800316 - Secret Mysteries In London

Category: 3DS Software

Quantity: 1

Unit Price: £10 / Total Price: £10

Item:5050740024243 - Emily Archer & Curse of Tutankhamun

Category: DS Software

Quantity: 1

Unit Price: £6 / Total Price: £6

Item:3307219935084 - NCIS 3D

Category: 3DS Software

Quantity: 1

Unit Price: £5 / Total Price: £5

Item :5016488119290 - Mystery Stories

Category: DS Software

Quantity: 1

Unit Price: £4 / Total Price: £4

Item:5016488122177 - Mystery Stories: Curse of the Ancient Sp

Category: DS Software

Quantity: 1

Unit Price: £4 / Total Price: £4

Item:3307210328069 - CSI - Dark Motives

Category: DS Software

Quantity: 1

Unit Price: £5 / Total Price: £5

Item:3307217935314 - CSI: Unsolved

Category: DS Software

Quantity: 1

Unit Price: £3 / Total Price: £3

Item:8716051054757 - Mystery Case Files: Dire Grove

Category: 3DS Software

Quantity: 1

Unit Price: £8 / Total Price: £8

Item:5030917142598 - Cut The Rope: Triple Treat

Category: 3DS Software

Quantity: 1

Unit Price: £7 / Total Price: £7

Item:8716051054740 - Mystery Case Files: Return to Ravenhe...

Category: 3DS Software

Quantity: 1

Unit Price: £10 / Total Price: £10

Item:5060125482360 - Puzzle Quest Galactrix

Category: DS Software

Quantity: 1

Unit Price: £2.5 / Total Price: £2.5

Item:5060125485378 - Puzzle Quest 2

Category: DS Software

Quantity: 1

Unit Price: £5 / Total Price: £5

Item:5060121825222 - Puzzle Bobble Galaxy

Category: DS Software

Quantity: 1

Unit Price: £5 / Total Price: £5

Item:3512289017237 - Sherlock Holmes & The Mystery Of Osborne

Category: DS Software

Quantity: 1

Unit Price: £5 / Total Price: £5

Item:4020628503376 - Secret Files 2 - Puritas Cordis

Category: DS Software

Quantity: 1

Unit Price: £6 / Total Price: £6

Item:8718274540840 - Mystery Tales 2 - The Spirit Mask

Category: DS Software

Quantity: 1

Unit Price: £5 / Total Price: £5

==============================

===========

Order Total: £179.00

=========================================

Delivery Charge: £2.50

[angel]

About ten years ago or so, I was interviewing a lad for a tester job at a publisher / developer I worked for. First question was the standard "why do you want the job?" affair. During his waffling answer, he mentioned his four (or whatever) years experience in the games industry. Me and the other interviewer looked at each other, then looked at th CV in front of us, then looked again and realised that his "games industry" experience was actually working in Game.

I was in the Arndale Centre store not long after and heard the till-monkey say something similar. And ECTS always used to be packed with 17 year old "senior buyers" from Game.

And I think this is part of Game's problem - they have always thought of themselves as being an integral part of the industry and, once supermarkets started having a game section and, more importantly, now digital delivery is much more viable a prospect, they are becoming less and less relevant. But they don't seem to be doing anything about it, they don't seem to be moving with the times or offering any kind of USP.

This is so true, its ingrained. It got sillier and sillier over the years the more they were cannibalising new sales with preowned, which used to be a little dump bin in the corner, before becoming the entire focus of the company. One managers conference and someone thinks theyre best pals with Miyamoto.

[Halo]

I think Game will do okay for the next couple of years thanks to the new generation and the reduction in the number of stores. I think the shift to digital will eventually catch up with them but that's still a while away.

That being said, I have to admit that I still spent my Game credit almost immediately...

[DjSatansfur3h]

I thought this thread was bumped to announce GAME's demise. But still going strong then, even 4 years after the death bells started tolling (is that even a sentence?).

At Gamestation, right? Just to clarify to the rest.

[Shimmyhill]

I went into the new Game in Norwich, opened this month having closed 2 or 3 in the past few years - its a much nicer shop than the traditional game layout and it does seem pretty nice until you see the prices, not selling at the same price as online is madness.

[Dudley]

And I think this is part of Game's problem - they have always thought of themselves as being an integral part of the industry and, once supermarkets started having a game section and, more importantly, now digital delivery is much more viable a prospect, they are becoming less and less relevant. But they don't seem to be doing anything about it, they don't seem to be moving with the times or offering any kind of USP.

That's because they spent a decade aggressively clamping down on expert advice, customer service and range in favour of forced commercial upselling.

Trouble is, the supermarkets and online do volume selling too. And they're much, much better at it.

I was at GAME when they banned giving a negative opinion on a game and when they made the decision to stop their historical policy of stocking every UK new release. Both were suicidal.

[Rob Rymond]

That's because they spent a decade aggressively clamping down on expert advice, customer service and range in favour of forced commercial upselling.

Trouble is, the supermarkets and online do volume selling too. And they're much, much better at it.

I was at GAME when they banned giving a negative opinion on a game and when they made the decision to stop their historical policy of stocking every UK new release. Both were suicidal.

Negative opinion, that is a new one on me? I gave honest advice...I mean if a game is turd, then you can sell them a different game. It isn't a case of 'this game sucks, fuck off out of store'. Our old manager fiddled the bundles as mentioned, infact I was in charge of the managers specials, pushing insurance into them rather than giving you a game in a bundle.

And yes selling was agressive but margins were small. I think it is slightly better now than it was in 2008/2009.

[Dudley]

Yeah this was 2004.

[Down by Law]

Yeah I remember that, worked at Gamestation at that time and we had a big memo from HR about it.

I also recall they wouldn't stock the PS3 version of Oblivion for some reason.

[Guest]

How many former future zone / EB / Game / Gamestation people do we have around here?

I worked in the Aberdeen branch of EB in 1998-1999 and was there as the loyalty cards were starting to appear and the move to the bothering the customers method sales technique, Still had a great time though.

[Down by Law]

I was at Gamestation from 2003-2009, did the west midlands tour.

Dudley > Merry Hill > Dudley again > Stourbridge > Halesowen > Walsall > Kidderminster

And then got fed up and left thanks to the Game merger running it into the ground. Kidderminster is a CEX now, and so is Stourbridge.

I've got to say though from '03 to '07 it was a fantastic job and arguably the best first job you could hope for (for a school leaver with a useless business studies gnvq, anyway ) you had so much autonomy to run the store as you saw fit. We had big retro displays i took great care off and always made sure the prices were reasonable, we made an absolute killing dealing with unboxed games especially.

As soon as Game took over and made us use those shit tills and absolutely mental filing system (they spent something like 50 million on refitting all the shelving in the back offices, which did fuck all other than make the job harder and more critically slower during peak times) the writing was on the wall for Gamestation, i think they were in administration a year or so later.

[Dudley]

2003-2004.

Christmas Temp at High Wycombe

Senior Sales / Dep Manager at "Pure Entertainment" Reading, the poster child of GAME fucking up.

Then 2004-2006 at Blockbuster as Manager or Dep Manager in Thatcham and Maidenhead.

It was the best job in retail certainly. As the only smart DM I ever had said "I used to work for WH Smith, it's a lot harder to get excited about selling pens".

[dumpster]

Manager Lancaster 1995 - 2002

[angel]

GAME part time 2000 ish, left, then Gamestation senior sales then assistant manager 2003 ish.

[DjSatansfur3h]

Game 2002-2005 (working in the same branch as angel) and then a second stint 2008 - 2010 both times as a sales assistant. After the second time, vowed never to work in retail ever again.

[cubik]

1995-1996. It was a Saturday job for me as I worked full time during the week and needed extra money.

On the whole a great place to work at that time, decent colleagues with the right attitude and mostly happy customers. There was no major upselling or loyalty cards/trade-ins to worry about.

My time there saw the launch of Windows 95 (some kid came in and formatted our store PC though), the Saturn and Playstation. Exciting times for the industry, it seemed like every week we had something new to sell.

We also had decent testing facilities, massive tellies with consoles you could actually play on that worked, and TVs all around the store showing videos of soon to be released titles.

We didn't have to compete with the internet, the main rival was EB round the corner.

The only real issue was being next door to Escom, the dodgy PC seller who took over the old Rumbelows stores. People would spend 1200 quid on a PC with them and then come and ask us how to get their £20 game working and expect technical support on autoexec editing or driver installation.

[gossi the dog]

That would have been before EB purchased GAME. The two stores were like chalk and cheese. GAME seemed to be really laid back and staffed by gamers. EB was always much stuffier (the staff had to wear a shirt and tie from what I recall).

[dumpster]

Before Game, I worked in an independent store that sold PCs focussing on the quality. Escom opened up and PC sales pretty much stopped. Then everyone brought them to us for repair and setting up. When we opened the cases, the PC was often not what it said. I remember (vaguely, this might be wrong) the BIOS screens being modified to say Pentium P90 and the chip inside being a P75 and things like that.

[angel]

That would have been before EB purchased GAME. The two stores were like chalk and cheese. GAME seemed to be really laid back and staffed by gamers. EB was always much stuffier (the staff had to wear a shirt and tie from what I recall).

Can confirm as shirt + tie wearer, it was bullshit. Manual work out the back then back onto shop floor, guess what, you were sweating and covered in dust.

[cubik]

That would have been before EB purchased GAME. The two stores were like chalk and cheese. GAME seemed to be really laid back and staffed by gamers. EB was always much stuffier (the staff had to wear a shirt and tie from what I recall).

It was before the buyout, there was a fairly friendly rivalry and a decent atmosphere between the stores.

Let's face it, why should retail staff who are paid relatively low amounts and don't get commission actually care if another store sells the same thing? I certainly didn't.

The only time you tend to get any hostility is when it's driven by the management, and ours were all pretty laid back.

[angel]

We were even friendly with local rivals, Game and Gamestation (pre take over) would pop round to each other and swap our area manager requested covert price checks. We'd just hand over our sheets of paper and have some banter.

[Skull Commander]

Gamestation here too from 2003 to 2007. Started as a great wee job then got progressively more shit as the corporate attitude crept in. Remember the exact moment it changed when we got an email from head office telling us to get behind some shitty generic street football game for the PS2. In our store we prided ourselves on being honest with the customers and always trying to reccomend what we played ourselves.

[angel]

Oh god, forgive me for this tale being incredibly shit but i'll tell it anyway. You would be talking about Fifa Street. We had the same, so I found web rips of the in game commentary (by professional idiot for hire MC Harvey of So Solid) and made a cd for the shop, that was decent tunes but interspersed with his moronic commentary, some of it on context, some of it just apalling. In fact, it was all appalling. Stuff like him saying "Fifa Street huh huh - keep it to the max", loads of absolute twaddle. And that was our store CD for that week. People would look up between songs, hearing this cretin, wondering if it was meant to be so shit or actual promo material.

[Skull Commander]

It wasn't fifa street but the even more shite "Urban Street Soccer". I just Google it and recognised the awful box.