How far has games retail fallen in your area?.

Still going great here in Australia. K-Mart stopped selling games a while back, but EB Games, JB Hifi, Big W and Target make for quite a competitive pricing race. EB can price match pretty much everything, there's a number of online options like Amazon, Mightyape and Ozgameshop if heading to a physical store isn't your thing. But EB and JB sales are still going strong and are only continuing to rise, especially on the EB side.

3 gamestop plus Wal-Mart's and targets. I suspect between digital, amazon, free to play and gamepass type services gamestops has to be in decline.

North of England here.
We have one Game and a CEX. The cex is gross, even moreso than other stores I've visited. Game is just Game, nothing more to say about it really.

I buy most games either digitally or from Amazon these days.

Still seen in most toy stores and hardware/game stores here in the netherlands.

They are still there where I come from.

We only had one, Game was it(?), in the small town I live in, but that shut down years ago. Now I think only a local supermarket sells games, but it's hardly worth ever going there because the prices are too high. I usually buy all my games online though, so I'm probably part of the problem, but eh.

Game went bankrupt in Sweden a few years ago. Gamestop is closing a lot of stores.

All the big electronics retailers sells the games though (Elgiganten, Media Markt).

In my small-town there are two places with well stocked games inventory. One is a gamestop and the other is a media store (audio,video,games and equipment)

PinkSpider said:

Do you live in Hull because that was going to be pretty much my post.

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indeed. lol

It pretty much never existed at all where I live, the closest place that sold games new was like 60 miles away, and nothing like an actual Gamestop for 100 miles.

Still multiple stores to buy em in, including two retro stores. Pretty nice, actually!

Toys R Us closed, but I still have a Best Buy, two Targets and.... 5 Gamestops within 30 minutes of my house.

Fine 2 Gamestop's 2 Wal-Marts 1 BestBuy and a Video Games Etc.

Athens, greek capital here, we have big chains like Media Markt but there also several dedicated stores that have far more competitive prices, some of them even stock old consoles (nes, master system, gb...) and retro games through trading. But I mostly buy digital nowadays.

PS: There were considerably more stores in 90s / early 2000s. In the PSOne era a lot of those stores made fortunes selling pirated games.

I guess France is like the UK.
I live in a town of about 300,000 - 400,000 people and there's only 2 places that I know of.

I live on a small city on the Barcelona area.

The shopping center at our town opened less than 10 years ago, together with a Gamestop and Game shops, and only Game remains. The Toys'R'Us store near to my city closed too. The local music and videogame shop from my town closed a few years ago, and the eletronics store too.

So yeah, basically everybody buy videogames on Amazon or Game/MediaMarkt, the small or local shops are basically disappearing, and the electronics stores are giving up on selling videogames.

It has not, really. I can still go to about 6 stores who all have 12+ stores in my close surrounding (within 5 minute driving distance).

I still tend to purchase my games at a local retailer instead of giant electronics stores. They can use the money. I do not care if I have to pay €5,- extra.

I'm lucky to live still close to a pop and mom store video rental shop. So good memories I have there from when I was a child. I discovered the VHS of the Taiwanese Dragon Ball movie in that place. My friends didn't believe me. lol

About videogames, there were two stores but both closed with the boom of the piracy on the PS2 age.

Of course, I'm talking about my neighborhood. A little farther I have three Game stores, a Mediamarkt and a Fnac.

In Franc I think only Micromania is left, along with small local shops.

When I was a kid there were several big retailers. I fondly remember the times when I could ask in the shop to try a used game before I bought it, I usually did that since there weren't always demos, and there was no internet to ask about games or watch some gameplay. I also recall the day I walked in a shop where I had done this many times, asked to try a game, and the employee looked at me dumbfounded and said "um... we don't do that." That's when I really felt something had changed.

I haven't been in store that sells games for over 5 years. So no clue.. lol.

Small town in South Wales where we have a Game and CEX in the town centre with an Argos and Sainsburys on the outskirts and a Tesco a few miles away. Usued to have an independant store but they closed down about 5-6 years ago I think. Never used them again after they lied about them getting the Rock Band instrument bundle on launch day in 2008 after I preordered it.

Get all my purchases either from Amazon or digitally (or Argos as they're usually the same price as Amazon these days)

The last store in my small town in Germany selling a few selected games closed / moved away ~20+ years ago, but I don't really recall shopping for games locally more than in a few cases.

Even my first game (around 1990) was ordered by phone because buying locally (in the next big city with the guarantee to get what I want is a 1 hour drive / travel by bus & train) was really expensive (about 60+Euros vs 40Euros in today's currency).

That continued till ~2000 and after that it was almost always online. There is no reason to shop locally when I can get the same product cheaper the next day (the parcel delivery in my region was always great / fast / reliable ) and the order process only takes a few seconds. Or today the game is playable digitally after a 30 to 60 minute download.

I live on Long Island and over the past few years, the retro game store scene has been thriving. First, a group of gamers opened up a store in a seedy tobacco store basement, and that grew so much they were forced to go legit. Then, several other locally-owned stores appeared, recently expanding to multiple locations each.

Vancouver area:

There are still multiple EBs, Best Buys, and Walmarts around although the game sections have shrunk a bit. I think Superstore may have abandoned games. I assume London Drugs still has games but I haven't looked in over a year. Target died in Canada quickly. There are a few mom and pop stores with a strong focus on old school games. What has really died off are second hand stores that had tons of CDs/DVDs/games.

Im near Philly in NJ (08054) - the closest Gamestop moved into a store front 1/2 the size, and is selling a lot more random stuff - but I haven't been in their since last xmas when I bought my son some Rocket League cars (toys).

Target has a nice section, they are probably trying to kill the gamestop - Best Buy near me has an OK selection of stuff, some PC components too...one of these retailers is going to make the PC Gaming jump - thats my bet - being able to walk in, sample various keyboards / mice / buy PC components at a good price, but thats off topic...

I see it that Target and Best Buy are the bigger fish eating the little gamestop fish, but Amazon is chasing the bigger fish...and digital is the killer shark - look at PC gaming - I remember going to Electronics Boutique and there were FULL sections for Commodore / Amiga / Atari PCs..5 years, no more retail.

Aside from Game, CEX and supermarkets there's only one indie shop in Brighton worth visiting, and I make sure to support him as it's the only place you can pick up something off beat or even slightly niche.

I used to go back home to Newcastle just to mix it up a little bit, but I guess now you're telling me that's no longer an option either. Guess it's Amazon and eBay now.

I live in Miami Florida. Everything has been relatively the same in the last 10 years with the exception of Toys R Us and several Game Stops closing.

There are currently 20 Gamestops, 6 Best Buys, and 10 Targets in the city.

Still have EB games, Best Buy and Walmart in the local area (within 10 miles); Toys R Us Canada is still open.

We lost
- Microplay about 10-15 years ago (local chain of game stores)
- Lost a mom and pop store I used to hang out at right accross from a school no less.
- FutureShop closed several years ago leaving BestBuy in the area
- Sears is out of business obviously but they along with several department stores used to carry games, they all stopped at some point

So the big names are still there, but the selection is more limited.

Not including the usual supermarkets, my town's gone from Game, Grainger Games, GameStation and an excellent indie (Games 2 U) down to just Game. We did however gain a CEX. I guess i'm part of the problem, the only time I buy from brick and mortar these days is when i'm trading games in.

Dekuman said:

Still have EB games, Best Buy and Walmart in the local area (within 10 miles); Toys R Us Canada is still open.

We lost
- Microplay about 10-15 years ago (local chain of game stores)
- Lost a mom and pop store I used to hang out at right accross from a school no less.
- FutureShop closed several years ago leaving BestBuy in the area
- Sears is out of business obviously but they along with several department stores used to carry games, they all stopped at some point

So the big names are still there, but the selection is more limited.

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What decade is this?

It hasn't. 4 Gamestops within 8 miles from my home. And 3 of those 4 are within a few street blocks from each others. plus theres multiple Best Buys, Targets, Walmarts. etc.

Gaming departments have definitely gotten smaller and/or less prominent this generation. Even the last time a went into a Gamestop... I wouldn't exactly define it as a videogame store anymore. It was mostly toys and t-shirts in the front of the store with pre-order games decently displayed and all other gaming pushed to the back.

The large supermarket I go is still trying to sell Forza 5 and Fifa 16 in the same spot for a few years now. Still asking the launch price.
Other than this it is pretty much dead in my area (a large city in Brazil)

In some shopping malls and in the town centre there are still some specialised stores. But their prime days were the PS1, PS2 and Xbox 360 piracy era.

The Iron Banana said:

What decade is this?

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Canada

Gamestop's everywhere. Old friend of mine owns a game store that's good for older stuff.

But I get most of my stuff digitally or big box stores these days.

Very few mom and pop shops. I don't think there's any sort of shop that handles imports or anything near me though any folk from Western PA can correct me if they know a place.

Alright where I am .Game, cex a retro only store and two sainsburys and an asda and asda home that have a decent selection usually cheaper than dedicated stores

In my town we have the very successful Galloping Ghost Arcade. And all the nearby GameStops have been in business for almost 20 years now. Doesn't seem like it's hurting

I have one GameStop down the road from me. The closest store after that is another GS 40 minutes away. There isn't much where I currently live. Back in Tampa there are game stores, mostly gamestops, all over the place. Sadly that number is dwindling and there are only a handful of independent places there now. RIP Play N Trade Tampa.

Not by much. Local game stores in my area have been coming and going since I can remember. Chains like GameStop and Walmart seem to be here to stay.

There's some independent mom and pop stores kicking around, but one just closed up (GameCentre at Pape/Danforth) so I think that digital is def making an impact. Went to Fan Expo this past weekend and the EB Store/booth was 30% games and 70% random junk, which is definitely another sign of where things are going.

And EB as a brand (as well as Toys r Us) still exists here in Canadia.

The Iron Banana said:

What decade is this?

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It's all owned by GameStop but the EBGames brand still exists in Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

Luckily one major benefit of living in a city like LA is that I'm within an easy drive of a couple non-chain game stores that stock a whole slate of games from way way back to super recent releases, and as far as I can tell they're holding out okay. I did miss them substantially in my college years where there wasn't a ton of them besides nearby GameStops.

It's a shame to see independent game stores die off en masse like this but I can't imagine it going any other way with older games skyrocketing in price (Who wants to pay $60 for Def Jam Vandetta!? ....Anyone?), to online sales essentially removing the browsing element of shopping altogether. Back in the day I had this one small game shop feature a permanent B2G1 deal that I took advantage of nearly every other day after classes let out. Granted, this was when the sixth generation and prior was dirt cheap and collecting was not as expensive as it is now. So I had no idea what I was going to play that night.

God, I had no sense of financial responsibility back then but I discovered so many hidden gems. I miss those days.

no change in the last 15 years or so

You know it's good to see grainger games get mentioned, I feel like I'm the only one that cares about it's closure, or that it did have importance, every time I see a article regarding retail failing in the uk grainger games always doesn't make the cut on the list like it wasn't big enough.


Granted it didn't have the best reputation but that's a few bad apples and it didn't speak for the whole company.


With the fall of grainger games it's Just a Game and Cex here now, I worked for grainger games for 12 years, I legitimately think about it everyday, I loved the place, granted it started to have issues towards the end with the rise of gadgets and momentum shifting to pushing preorders, but overall it still was great, I got a new job pretty quick which is completely different from GG and it's literally a few steps away from the old GG store so I have to pass it everyday, it sucks, I initially wanted to try and reopen the store myself but it's just not a realistic option in this retail down fall, I go into cex and game now but it just isn't the same.


Not the same energy or atmosphere.


I think retail is just going under in general but it sucks to being limited in options in buying games now, for the most part GG were cheaper than Game and Cex so it sucks when I see Cex asking £45 for preowned Mario/Botw/Kirby on switch


It's like wtf happened.


If GG reopened I'd leave my other job in a instant. I'd be taking quite a pay cut, but you can't put a price on being happy.

In the last 10 years we've gone from Gamestop and Walmart to.....Gamestop and Walmart.

The only change is that red box game rentals is a thing and blockbuster is gone.

There are a ton here in Tacoma WA.

Really cool local place called Super Smash Games, some other game/anime stores, chains like Gamestop and a new retro place just opened in the mall. There's always stuff like pawn shops or Half Price Books or Goodwill that you can try too depending on what you're looking for. Also places like Target, Walmart and Fred Meyer sell newer games. If I want to drive an hour to Seattle I can find basically anything.

Dedicated Gameshops are near extinct here in the Netherlands and the Toy Stores do have games sections but unless you want something for XBOX or Playstation you're out of luck, the Switch and 3DS racks are only a hand full of C-tier games and a lonely pile of Devils Third for Wii U they apparently can't get rid off.
I went looking for Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate last tuesday and every toystore didn't even know what a Monster Hunter was and when they went to look it up in their console they coudn't even order it for stock. "...uhh. weird..it looks like it's delayed?" Is what I got.