I actually think it may be because of all the used games they sell.
I don’t think it’s the staff, or typical nerdy customers, as I’m sure some people would like to point fingers at. I don’t know what it is about these small game stores, because there is a lingering odor. Instead of showcasing a ton of ads and displays - which I reckon is necessary because of the MDF that goes into a retailer - they can do things like use LCD monitors to rotate 10 ads on a display, rather than display all 10 ads on a wall. Either get bigger retail space, or rotate more of your inventory so that you have less on display, but it is updated more often. If you want a more inviting store, you need to create a greater sense of space. Unless you are petite like a Japanese school girl, you feel like a bull in a China shop walking through a GameStop. Naturally, the first bullet point results in this second one. You don’t need to have six of your magazines on display. You don’t need to display 10 copies of a game. But quite frankly, it’s not working, simply because it’s clutter-fest. The stores definitely make an attempt to lay things out in a way that you can tell where each section is. It’s like a high school kid who has decorated his room over the last five years, and covered up every single inch of space with some sort of poster, sticker, or toy, that is an expression of himself. Too many displays, too many games, too much of everything. I have never been in a GameStop where it didn’t look like there were just way too many products on display. If you stand in the middle of a GameStop store for 15 minutes, you get a pretty good idea what they need to do to make the shopping experience better.
However, after going through their recent comments to the media, I believe GameStop’s solution is missing the point. I was so compelled by my experience, that I wanted to write about it even. To quote Daniel DeMatteo, Chief Operating Officer of GameStop, “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.”įunny, I was in a GameStop yesterday buying some games, and the same thing crossed my mind. GameStop has come out declaring that 2008 is the year that they start to appeal more to the casual gamer.
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