Today I want to talk about the retail experience for gamers. See, whilst more and more game sales are shifting online, there are still those who chose to pick up their games in an actual store; they have people in and everything. Although there are two chains that dominate game sales on the high street, GAME and GameStation, they’re both owned by Game Group Plc. With that in mind you wouldn’t necessarily expect a radical difference between the two but, in my opinion, they’re fairly different outlets.
GAME seems to be geared towards the general public, people who only pick up a few games a year or are picking something up as a gift for someone else. Staff are dressed so they look approachable, and the stores seem to be bright and airy. Unfortunately, whilst they do present an air of helpfulness the knowledge base seems to be somewhat lacking.
[drop]For anyone who follows gaming news with any regularity it quickly becomes clear that GAME’s staff are more interested in selling than providing useful information to their customers. It would be unfair to accuse them of flat-out lying to customers, particularly without any evidence. However, if you happen to catch a conversation with another customer you do sometimes feel that staff aren’t quite clued up enough on the products they’re selling.In contrast, GameStation is aiming at a completely different chunk of the market. They’re targeting those customers who buy games regularly, those who you could call “gamers” if you were so inclined (although I’m starting to dislike the word). The staff are still relatively friendly, it’s rare to find retail staff who are actively hostile. However, the stores are never as brightly lit, and I certainly wouldn’t call the general ambiance as airy or friendly as it is in GAME.
The big difference sits with the staff though. They seem, in general, to be drawn from the same demographics as the chain’s target market. Ideally, this is what you expect in any store. If you shop in a music store you want staff who are music fans, if you’re buying clothes you want someone who knows at least a little about fashion serving you. Why should it be any different for a game store?
Of course, my perception of the two retailers is based pretty much on my own experience, although a quick poll on Twitter seemed to back up my opinion in the general case. To be fair, my clear preference towards GameStation may be influenced by the fact my brother works there. However, I’ve been in a few stores scattered throughout the country and my experience has been fairly consistent.
There is, obviously, the fact that this whole discussion may be becoming redundant. With the significant growth of online retail and downloadable titles it seems probable that the GAME Group may further scale back their stores or even merge the two chains. Perhaps you’ll only be able to pick up games in supermarkets and HMV soon. Who knows?
Is your experience of retail game stores consistent with mine? Do you have a preference for where you shop? Do you even buy games in a store any more, or do they all come in the post? Of course, I’ve barely touched on the supermarket issue, so I’d be interested to see if you have any thoughts on that.
3shirts
The Game and Gamestation in my town were completely different experiences. GAME sold at close to full RRP with crap trade-ins deals, overpriced pre-owned titles and moronic staff but it was big, impressive looking and thus where the parents went to buy presents. Gamestation was smaller, staffed by gamers and had good trade-ins, cool retro gear and even classic consoles and games like Megadrive, N64 and Gamecube.
Sadly, the Gamestation is now closed, I suspect as the kind of savvy gamer that would have shopped there now does it mostly online (myself included) while GAME still has it’s market of naive shoppers whop they can charge more.
rainydays458
In my town center there are no more but, wait for it, three branches of GAME very close together and only one branch of Gamestation.
I hate going into GAME to buy (well) games, so I don’t. It’s been awhile since I’ve stepped in one of their branches. Last time I had a look in one of them, the staff were friendly, but they were also extremely patronizing and talked to me like I know nothing about gaming while leaving their male customers alone.
I don’t mind Gamestation though. The staff there let you browse the store without asking if you need help, but are happy to help if you ask for it and know at least something about gaming.
However with the prices going up and up everywhere, I do most of my shopping online, mostly Amazon. Since it’s one of the cheapest places around to buy new or pre-owned games.
tactical20
They both suck!
Clearly just get games online for a fraction of the cost.
Ben
I noticed this weekend that the GAME shop on my high-street has turned into a Hugo Boss, personally I think it’s an improvement. There’s still a GAME in one of the side-streets.
Forrest_01
So do they now give bad advice on Hugo Boss products instead then? XD
OneShotWook
Lol either that or supply Gamestation with aftershave to pump into their stores.
Kevling
Are you encouraged to preorder next season’s clothes?
Forrest_01
For me, it’s all about the best price – Usually online leads the way on this of course, but sometimes it’s nice to go home with game in hand. When I do get that urge, it tends to either be Gamestation, CEX or HMV that profit from it & again, whichever has the best price on what I was looking for. I do shop in GAME occasionally, but it has to be a really good offer!
Saying that though, I am not an idiot & will research prices on tinternet for what I want before I even get to the shop – If they are clearly ripping me off, then no sale for them – I will generally accept a couple of quid difference though depending on the game.
XisTG
In Portugal we have GAME and Gamestop. Both are pretty much the same: if you wonder in they’ll tell you how good FIFA 2011 and the new CoD are. And that’s it. Plus, they’re rarely pleasant when talking, unless you happen to be a girl; my girlfriend went there asking for a game for me and they were all smiles and so forth… pricks.
Forrest_01
They are generally pretty pleasant to me when I do shop there to be fair – However, that might be because people often tell me that I look somewhere between a psycho & a mafia type gangster.
I like to think that it’s down to my stunning personality rather than the knuckle dusters though.
Crocadillian
I used to shop in-store, but with the year-on-year reduction in originality in video games and my prevailing health problem (*cough*, NHS) i’ve been buying less games in general because they have become tedious even to look at. I have bought many more old games than new recently because of this trend, although the 3DS has definitely made consoles more exciting for me, despite many terrible third-party offerings.
I really wanted to attend a midnight launch, but both stores offered the same terrible price of £220, plus £35 per game on the night, although an insane £40 now. It felt insulting to charge that much, which is why i funnily enough came to respect supermarkets, Game Gears and other retailers for charging a reasonable price. As much as i like the convenience of a store sometimes, they have nothing to offer me apart from the odd awesome pre-owned game that virtual retailers cant :P
Origami Killer
I used to use game and gamestation a lot, until the prices took a turn for the worse and became too high. So i switched to amazon to pick up my deals and get at leat a tenner of high street prices. However now im finding myself buying from the shops again, i prefer gamestation due to the fact i think they have more preowned games there and a lot more in stock and it seems more hiked for serious gamers and you can actually talk to the people that work there and they know what your on about. I still find a good bargain online but i prefer buying from the highstreet and i like gamestation more
threelions_66
Normally buy online, but if I know there is an offer or am trading in games I’ll always go to GAME. The staff at my local one are friendly, honest and knowledgeable
My local Gamestation on the other hand just looks really really scrotey and unpleasant and as 9 out of 10 times I know what I am going to be buying I would rather go to the shop that is just a nicer place to be
Sympozium
Don’t bother with online ordering so I go to the stores
Gamestop > HMV > Game… thats pretty much it, also in England Game seems to be much worst… Gamestation is ok, I always go there on Holiday (Blackpool) but it should be bigger… and easier to find… Game just plain stinks