Game Crazy Closing 200 More Outlets

Andy Chalk

One Flag, One Fleet, One Cat
Nov 12, 2002
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Game Crazy Closing 200 More Outlets


U.S. videogame retailer Game Crazy [http://www.gamecrazy.com/] is expected to lose more than 200 locations following a Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection filing made today by its parent company Movie Gallery.

It's the second bankruptcy filing for Netflix [http://www.moviegallery.com/], which offers direct-to-home movie rentals through the mail.

A floundering movie rental chain may not be of any great interest, but Movie Gallery also happens to be the parent company of Game Crazy, which is facing its second big round of store closures in six months. In September 2009 Movie Gallery announced that it was pulling the plug on roughly 200 of Game Crazy's 680 locations in a bid to remain solvent; the exact number of closures resulting from the Chapter 11 filing was not revealed but 250 stores are slated to remain open, which would indicate that more than 200 of the operations that survived last year's cut aren't going to make it this time around.

Movie Gallery claimed that the steps it has taken over the past two years to confront the "economic and competitive realities facing its business" were insufficient to keep it afloat, leaving the Chapter 11 filing the only practical option. The company plans to emerge from bankruptcy protection with a "new and sustainable business model centered on a smaller base of profitable stores."

It's bad news for employees at the condemned locations but shouldn't have much of an impact on the industry as a whole. Commenting on the 2009 closures, Sterne Agee analyst Arvind Bhatia said Game Crazy held only one to two percent of the videogame retail market, not enough to provide anything but the slightest boost to competitors like GameStop [http://www.gamestop.com]. It could be a potential gold mine for bargain-hunting customers, however; the 2009 closures resulted in major liquidation sales at the closing locations and it's very likely the same will happen this time around.

Source: IndustryGamers [http://www.tradingmarkets.com/news/press-release/moviq_movie-gallery-files-for-chapter-11-reorganization-750041.html]



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Jared

The British Paladin
Jul 14, 2009
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Feel bad for the emplyees >< Never good when your firm has to file for bankruptcy ; ;
 

Armored Prayer

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Mar 10, 2009
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Man I was so pissed when the Game Crazy near my house closed. It was actually a popular hot spot, I mean everyone knew the employees and the employees recognized everyone.
 

uppitycracker

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Oct 9, 2008
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such a sad day, i used to work at game crazy before i got in the industry. sure was glad to give em my 2 weeks tho... that's what happens when corporate pushes MVP and preorder sales over trying to get repeat customers, and cans the good employees in the process. Just sucks I have to resort to gamestop or best buy....
 

TraumaHound

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Jan 11, 2009
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Oooh, I'll have to find out if the one not far from my place is closing and if so what kind of sales they'll be having (if any.) It's kind of a crap-hole as far as game stores go but if I can get some games on the cheap who am I to judge?
 

Babrook

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Oct 22, 2005
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I've never had the pleasure of having a game store other than Gamestop/EB in my area. This is not surprising though as Movie Gallery is their parent company, haven't seen one of those in years in my area. If they haven't haven't adapted to offer something to compete with Netflix by now, they are just asking for financial trouble.
 

khaimera

Perfect Strangers
Jun 23, 2009
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It is a shame. They are way friendlier and have much better prices than gamestop for used games. I better use my saved five dollar credit I have now.
 

dududf

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Aug 31, 2009
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This would be the first I've ever heard of Game Crazy.

Curses recession. :(
 

Lazarus Long

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Nov 20, 2008
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I was an assistant manager for Movie Gallery. Until they stopped paying rent. Literally. The guy scheduled to open one morning found that the landlord had changed the locks on the store, and put up a sign saying basically "If you want back in, pay up on your back rent."

This was in October. As of yesterday afternoon, the sign is still up, the night drop is still overflowing, and nobody cares all that much. I never even got a phone call from the DM. This news does not surprise me.
 

Trivun

Stabat mater dolorosa
Dec 13, 2008
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uppitycracker said:
such a sad day, i used to work at game crazy before i got in the industry. sure was glad to give em my 2 weeks tho... that's what happens when corporate pushes MVP and preorder sales over trying to get repeat customers, and cans the good employees in the process. Just sucks I have to resort to gamestop or best buy....
By your first sentence I'm assuming then that you work in game development somewhere? If so, then do you have any advice for people who want to make a career in the industry? Sorry if this seems a bit forward, it's just I'm doing a maths degree and learning to program. I want to work in the industry myself, and I'm trying to get a work placement during my year out next year.

Anyway, back to the main topic. It's always bad when a company has to close certain operations, especially in this economic climate. As a UK resident this doesn't affect me in any way, but it's still sad to hear, and I wish all the best to any employees and customers who'll be affected. Hopefully the company won't need to close any more stores after this, and things will get better. I know how I'd feel if Game or Gamestation got closed down over here, after all... :(
 

likalaruku

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Nov 29, 2008
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Never heard of them. All of the video rental places in my home town have been closed for years.