Metropol

Can anyone comment on a suggestion, I heard, that the adminsitrators chose to close where HMV have a reasonable presence locally, so concentrating the estate where competition is thin?

That doesn't seem to hold much ground from what I've seen. In Plymouth the Game store that has shut was the one furthest away from HMV, and in Torquay they shut the Gamestation store but left Game, which again is closer to HMV than Gamestation was.

DVB Cornwall wrote:Game ...

Can anyone comment on a suggestion, I heard, that the adminsitrators chose to close where HMV have a reasonable presence locally, so concentrating the estate where competition is thin?

Evidence of the contrary if anything up here.

Sheffield Centre had 1 x Gamestation and 1 x Game - both are now closed
Meadowhall had 2 x Game and 1 x Gamestation - only Gamestation continues
Crystal Peaks had (and keeps) its single GAME store
Nottingham had 2 x Game and 1 x Gamestation - 1 x Game and 1 x Gamestation remain

All of these locations except Crystal Peaks have an HMV.

Never expected the 'Blockbuster Games' thing which they did in their stores which had a Gamestation would outlast Gamestation proper.

As has been said - HMV isn't exactly competitive on Gaming.

Now that you mention Blockbusters, my local branch is currently closing down. Any others closed recently? IIRC the American parent is still in Chapter 11 at the moment.

The GAME we have here has survived, but business always seems to be booming there, so I'm not surprised. There's an HMV practically opposite, but it's quite bad for gaming, and a Gamestation near the other end of town.

DVB Cornwall wrote:Game ...

Can anyone comment on a suggestion, I heard, that the adminsitrators chose to close where HMV have a reasonable presence locally, so concentrating the estate where competition is thin?

Both of Redditch's Kingfisher Shopping Centre Game and Gamestation remain open, despite there also being a HMV.

Bullring's Game has remained open, despite two Gamestation and Games further away from the two remaining city centre HMVs having closed down.

A Game right next to a HMV on The Fort Shopping Park, has closed down.

I imagine a lot of the closures have happened, where there is at least two stores part of Game group.

There was two Game's and a Gamestation in Hull. The Game nearest to HMV closed down a few days before they went into administration. The other two branches survived.

JAS84 wrote:There was two Game's and a Gamestation in Hull. The Game nearest to HMV closed down a few days before they went into administration. The other two branches survived.

No branches closed before, they all shut the same day they went in to administration.

I was in the city centre on the Friday (the administration announcement was on the Saturday), that branch was already closed, and apparently had been for a few days - I later read that they'd already announced 35 closures, that branch was obviously one of them. I know of at least one more that closed early for the same reason as well. The rest of the closures were brought forward when administration was announced.

The closed Game branch in Hull therefore should never have been on the administration store closures list.

Can't help but feel they'd be better off ditching the Game stores, or at least converting what they want to keep to Gamestation. Gamestation is a *much* better brand for their target market - I've always thought Game was a bit clinical looking.

I'd be interested to see which of the two brands has performed better since they were both run by the same company.

all new Phil wrote:Can't help but feel they'd be better off ditching the Game stores, or at least converting what they want to keep to Gamestation. Gamestation is a *much* better brand for their target market - I've always thought Game was a bit clinical looking.

I always thought of GAME as one for the mums buying presents, possibly the sporty types, and Gamestation for the hardcore geeky gamer types.

I suspect GAME is the better known brand though.

JAS84 wrote:There was two Game's and a Gamestation in Hull. The Game nearest to HMV closed down a few days before they went into administration. The other two branches survived.

The Game in Princes Quay is also very near a branch of Grainger Games, which combined with the fact that people only go to Princes Quay for Primark and Vue, and the fact the store is puny compared to the one in St. Stephen's, it had to be the one to go.

Although the Prospect Centre's a bit crap, the Gamestation there is massive, so it's no surprise that was staying.

Scarborough's Gamestation closing is no surprise - it was almost directly opposite Game, and was therefore a few yards closer to HMV. Not only that, but it was tiny, cramped, and never seemed to have working air conditioning. I can only remember buying one thing from there; I bought a lot more from Game (And GameCentre 2.0, back when that existed).

This is the full list of closed and remaining stores for anyone who hasn't seen it.