Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
VIDEO GAME RETAILER GameStop will open one of the first brick-and-mortar ThinkGeek shops in Europe in a well-known Dublin shopping centre.
ThinkGeek is a formerly online-only retailer based in the US that sells accessories and clothing to pop-culture ‘nerds’. It was acquired by GameStop last year for $140 million.
The gaming giant already operates a similar concept store called Zing in Ireland and other European markets, but this will be the first physical shop under the ThinkGeek moniker in the country.
Michael van den Berg, managing director of GameStop in northern Europe, told Fora that the dual-branded shop will open in “a sought-after mall in Dublin”.
Some of the items for sale are exclusive to ThinkGeek, which van den Berg said will differentiate the brand from its Zing shops and the refurbished GameStop Plus stores that also sell novelty items.
GameStop Plus
GameStop has been selling ancillary products like plush toys for 25 years, van den Berg said, but it “always came up incidentally” when a new game or console was released.
Now, half of the company’s stores in Ireland will be rebuilt as GameStop Plus shops where “50% of the store space is video games and 50% is collectibles”.
Despite the hefty overhaul – van den Berg said each shop was stripped back to “bare concrete” – the company’s revenue model will still rely heavily on traditional game sales.
“In a category like this, I think it is clear that you must have a range,” van den Berg said.
It doesn’t work if you put in a small fixture that has five caps, two t-shirts and a couple of key rings. In order to be successful and cater to the audience, you have to have a substantial range of products, which changes very often.
He said the video games industry is a “cyclical business” that peaks when new consoles are released but plateaus in intervening years. It is hoped sales of quirky toys and apparel will help bridge that gap.
Industry threats
One of the biggest threats to the traditional video game industry is the rise of mobile gaming.
Van den Berg said GameStop is competing in that sphere through its mobile game publisher, Kongregate, which it acquired in 2010.
The company is also being challenged by publishers that encourage gamers to download games online through the likes of the Xbox Games Store instead of purchasing a disc version from physical stores.
“Gamers are collectors,” van den Berg said. “You have to understand that it’s very much a type of customer who likes to see the collection of games it has.
“The physical game has a residual value,” he added. “A very intricate part of our ecosystem is that we not only gladly sell you that new game, but also gladly buy it back from you.”
He also argued that brick-and-mortar retailers can offer “discoverability” to players through suggested sales by GameStop floor staff.
The time and bandwidth it requires to download a game – which is much larger than a music or video file – is an added benefit to physical retailers.
However, he acknowledged that “technology has a way of advancing and that may not always be there as a barrier”.
It’s a question of not holding back the tide, but getting into it.
Standalone shops
According to the most recent accounts from GameStop Ireland, the company reported losses of almost €1.5 million for the financial year ended 31 January 2015, pushing accumulated losses so far to over €11.5 million.
When asked about this, van den Berg said:
The reality of the situation is very much that GameStop has done an awful lot to get the business right-sized and on track. We have looked at how we can position (the company) and make sure (our) fortunes return.
He said if the flagship Gamestop-ThinkGeek store performs well, there was a strong possibility the firm would launch more standalone ThinkGeek shops.
“One must do so diligently,” van den Berg noted. “We want to be here and for the hundreds of people that we employ for many years to come.”
Written by Conor McMahon and posted on Fora.ie
Correction: This article said the first ThinkGeek shop in Europe will open in Dublin. The brand will launch a store in Stockholm a week beforehand.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Is the public order unit there to arrest Richie Kavanagh for offences against the Irish Public.
When they arrested him he was told he didn’t have to say anything but anything he did say would be given as evidence. He said “I’ve no focal at all”. I’ll get me coat
Sounds like you never got your whole….never got your whole…..never got your whole weeks wages.
You can be sure Mehole got his whole, Mehole got his whole, Mehole got his whole weeks wages……
“I wonder what we’ll do to get a seat in Dublin seeing as we have none at the moment”
“I know, lets invite superstar Richie Kavanagh to our Ard Fheis”
Overheard at a Fianna Fail think-tank get together.
A bit of a drop down from the thousands quoted in an earlier article.
That place was like a barndance from the De Valera days today . SouthFork then when Top Up Mickey rolled in with the ten gallon hat on. Yeehaww.
All I want to know is: how much will FF charge us for water. Under legislation passed Dec2014 the current rates end Dec2018. And per jan2019 we pay €3.70 per m3. With avg use at 45m3 per person per year that’s €166 p.p per year. And that is steep.
Just checked: FF have said on their website that (1) irish water will be abolished and (2) water charges will be suspended. Good.
@gregory: You have WAY to much time on your hands…..yawn….zzzzzzz
This comment section is full of trolls from all political parties. Sinn Fein decided a few years back to target all the online debate & comment sections and social media. The other parties realized this started to send trolls onto all online media outlets, but Sinn Fein have had a head start and seem to have it wrapped up.
Which one are you from John?
Frank he’s hip with all the voters in Dublin. Don’t you know anything.
@gregory because they never tell lies??
This article sums up what FF as a party have now become – a rural conservative party for older generations populated with clowns like Richie himself!
FG aren’t much better. How I wish for a party that reflects Ireland now.
It would probably be sitting in Westminster seeing as how people on go on about their politics
Any suggestions on a party that’ll reflect ireland at the end of the day no matter who gets in they’ll all amount to the same.
A party living in the past. I’m sure Mehole must ave been cringing when that clown turned up – his attendence really says where FF are – Living in the Past.
Standard FF supporter is Richie.
He is probably brought in to work the crowd like a Fianna failer said of pj. Mara in the good old days
@AlCa. Yes Richie epitomises the typical FFer – A cute hoare looking for an envelope. Non educated who cannot temember pre 2011.
Barry Cowen is not a member of government and hopefully never will be
“I’ve always been a big supporter of Fianna Fáil, and of Charles Haughey,” Always knew he was a bright fella.
Haughey was the best Taoiseach we had in the last fifty years.
Really?
Lynch, Fitzgerald, Reynolds, Bruton, Ahern, Cowan and Kenny. Which was more effective than Haughey?
He had a better taste in shirts….that’s about it.
Haughey was a bad one to be sure but he had a vision for Ireland and created the IFSC. The lot we have today are all about themselves and what they can get from us. I would love a visionary rather than this lot.
Which one had a better effect? I think the question rephrased to ‘which one did the least damage to Ireland?’
Anyways Lemass is the best Taoiseach we’ve had and even then there were major problems in Ireland!
and charlie didn’t care about enriching himself Deborah.
Yea…lovely shirts which were paid for by Ben Dunne and the gobs hite Irish taxpayer. Haughey was a c u next Thursday.
Ha ha…Haughey was NOT all about himself? Grow up, smell coffee, kop on….in that order.
Donal. You like rotten traitors hmmm
Nobody able to tell me who was a better Taoiseach than Haughey in the last fifty years. I rest my case.
Haughey had nicer kennels for his dogs than the majority of the people residences.
Some people are sick to death of this merkel government…
@Michael sands any party that gets in will have to bow to Merkel and the EU regardless if its FF FG SF LB GR etc. That’s how it is and how it will be as the end of the day we are a island that needs mainland Europe.
Tom that is a lie that the E.U. spreads to create fear to control, look at the U.K. now wanting to leave…
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/danielhannan/100241300/whats-the-point-of-a-trade-mission-when-britain-cant-sign-a-trade-agreement/
China, Africa, Middle East, India, Russia, U.S. South America as they aren’t controlled by the E.U., It was Merkel who banned E.U. goods going to Russia thanks to Obama. Obama has more say over the E.U. than its own citizens?
The E.U. is riddled with ex Goldman Sachs employees, the E.U. looks now more like a branch of Goldman Sachs than anything else, the E.E.C. was a good idea but it has turned into a greedy nightmare where Merkel turned bank debt into tax payers debt. Does that not kill the E.U. spirit and what the E.E.C. was about?
There are many Islands outside the E.U. that do well for themselves, Ireland has changed itself to fit into what the Troika, Brussels, Frankfurt and Berlin wants. We have not taken proper care of ourselves and did what was good for us because we have lost our sovereignty thanks mainly to the Euro. What is next will be a federation to create a political union as promised by Professor Sinn who is Merkel’s right hand man and you can see that for yourself with his interview. An united states of Europe with Berlin as its political capital…
https://www.rt.com/shows/sophieco/320457-eu-currency-economy-crises/
A political union of the E.U. is the death of democracy…
Richie Kavanagh : The prodigal Healy-Rae,
I can’t stand that idiot. Richie Kavanagh is a tool also.
Ah sure they’ll just get the taxpayers to foot the bill for their knees up, and get to tell themselves how great they are while they’re at it. Meanwhile people sleeping on the streets and cancelled operations for sick kids due to a lack of money are the norm now in so called modern Ireland.
So I assume you believe all political parties should not be allowed spend money on their annual “knees up” as you call it?
Not at my expense, let them pay for there own drinks, why should they rely on welfare from Irish citizens for their get togethers, they still haven’t cleared the beer and whiskey bill in the dail, sure small cheese to them at thirty thousand Euro, hardly worth the fuss, is it. These parasites are a drain on the rest of us, but you think it’s perfectly fine for financial abuse of our hard earned cash to be spent on expensive wines for our ruling elite, do us a favour and send them a cheque on your behalf to clear the bill so that taxpayers money can be spent on housing children living in b and b’s and to help clear the backlog for children living with crippling illnesses.
MK76 they can spend their money but not ours.
Von. Mk76 tough on everyone but politicians, always on here bleating about spongers but remarkably quiet when it comes tackling political fraud and crime.
Change the lot Stupid, not just the ones you dislike.
Who the hell is Richie Kavanagh ? Have a poll to see how many people ever heard oh him. The journal is getting worse. Bad news day?
a rare talent such as Ritchie should be treasured, theres only one born every minute they reckon.
The 1916 Corner. Just about sums up the ‘republican party’. Is kavanagh the new intellectual guru of ff?
Yes, Richie will be their director of elections and as his first act, he will force FF to be honest with the public and so all FF TD’s will wear clown suits similar to his own.
Is it just me or does Richie have a slight look of Jimmy Saville about him.
At the last election Fine Gael mopped up Fine Fails voters, it won’t be the case this time. It’s really unknown what’s going to happen this time around. I really fear what voters will do. I won’t be voting for either. But who will I vote for????
Fianna failure with Sinn Fein!
Independents the way to go to seperate the rot in Government and maybe in 50 years we will have a half honest Government that care for the Country.
Charlie Hockey’s (sic) doppelganger….
Was it not rumoured that the national anthem was being changed . . ..yer man from westlide is too busy
I’d love to see that gombeen Kavanagh get tarred, feathered and strung up. The man makes my skin crawl
A gathering of parasites, Mickey Martain,s speech ,would have gone down well at a mafia convention. Very forgetful about criminality and corruption in his own party,
have your say