I’m no businessman, but this makes about as much sense as AoL buying Reddit and renaming it “AoL” because it has a better brand. GameStop is an aging, dying brand that looks like a 90s relic in malls, whereas ThinkGeek has been growing and expanding smartly.
If anything, they should absorb GameStop into the ThinkGeek brand, not the other way around.
I guess I won’t be upset anymore that I never got called for an interview for the job I applied for there.
…then there was such
If you sort through the mountain of Harry Potter, Star Trek, Dr Who, and increasingly-desperate Star Wars stuff, their line of Bag of Holding satchels are surprisingly excellently designed and often on sale.
Hmm - you’re absolutely right. Gamestop will continue to die a slow death as more and more games just go digital. Heck I’d buy a used game from them if their mark up wasn’t so high. It looks to me they DO have some plans to diversify, as their stores have more and more geek accessories (the kiddo just got me a gift card yesterday, which I have have ear marked for this: )
POP! Star Wars: Boba Fett (Animated)
But they won’t survive on just used game sales. Vintage stock has a similar model in that respect, but they have a much broader selection of stock. Keeping “ThinkGeek” or even maybe morphing into “GeekStop” or something would signal they aren’t just about games anymore.
I got their Star Trek women’s blazer. The trim is a little wonky but I love it. It’s given me bonus points in job interviews.
AWESOME!!!
I just wear my boring black suit to interview, but I secretly pretend I’m Lamont Cranston in it…
Uh oh. I guess I better use that Christmas gift card soon.
My bag of holding is here at work beside me, and the backpack of holding is home with a variety of stuff bought from them over the years. I assume their brick-and-mortar place here in upstate NY is still open, but it’s at a shopping mall. I buy things online in order to avoid shopping malls; so it seems TG has opted to survive in darkness. I’ll be fine without them.
I had no idea they had a place IRL. I’ve only gone to that mall to have my iPhone battery replaced. Good to know.
Yes, Crossgates mall in Colonie, where the Apple store is. I went to see it once soon after it opened more than a year ago. So I don’t know if they’re still there because I don’t like malls.
I wonder how much of this is the sort of dreaded cash/credit crunch that is the precursor to a bankruptcy filing. There’s a LOT of stuff that’s out of stock on that website. I know GameStop is not having a great time of it, but I do wonder if this is the canary in the coal mine.
Just a note that ThinkGeek now has a 50% off sale sitewide.
Caveat: there’s not much left.
GameStop sounds like a 12 step support group for gaming addiction.
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