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What happened with Electronics Boutique from back in the day?

A

Anarchist420

Diamond Member
All of a sudden, along came Gamestop then Gamestop took over Electronics Boutique around 2006. Just how the hell did Gamestop start off so strong then take over EB barely 5 years after the former started?

I loved Walden Software (in Patrick Henry Mall) the best as it didn't have to strictly go by a central headquarters like it did after it relocated and became EB (which was sometime in the first 1/3 of '98). Walden Software had a ton of old things in the back, it was so spacious that I could actually fart in there with others seldom aware that I did, and the store and logo were teal (my favorite color) rather than red. Still, Electronics Boutique was very good until about 2003 then it kind of went downhill after '03 although in '08 I was offered order of ecclesia before the official release date (I believe it was the last thing I ever got from the old EB location).

So what happened? could its downfall have been contributed to by intellectual monopoly? was it the trend towards online shopping? was it best buy competing? wtf was it?
 
I believe Gamestop started out here in MN as Funcoland way back in the day. 'Twas a great place for exchanging old Nintendo games, I remember it fondly.
 
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Thanks guys; I forgot about all of that. Funco had some good trade in deals indeed. Like a dollar for each NES game when my friend had just given me like 50 of 'em. And the mega drive games were as low as 5 cents.
 
zerocool84 said:
Yup but Gamestop goes all the way back to the 80's with Babbage's so while the Gamestop name is fairly recent, it's history goes back.
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Now there's a name I haven't heard in a while...Babbage's. Used to be one of only two game stores in my area when I was in high school in the late 90's. Didn't go to the mall much but when I did, this is where my brother and I stayed while our parents were off shopping elsewhere.

One of my biggest gaming purchases as a pre-job teen was a Logitech Wingman force feedback stick from that Babbage's (this one). Wish I still had that thing, it was awesome.
 
BoberFett said:
I believe Gamestop started out here in MN as Funcoland way back in the day. 'Twas a great place for exchanging old Nintendo games, I remember it fondly.
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Was funcoland the same company back in the early 2000s or did they get absorbed a bit later?

I remember at one point GameStop, Babbage's, software etc, and funcoland were the same company but I have no idea if they started from the same parent company or if they just slowly merged.
 
cmdrdredd said:
Was funcoland the same company back in the early 2000s or did they get absorbed a bit later?

I remember at one point GameStop, Babbage's, software etc, and funcoland were the same company but I have no idea if they started from the same parent company or if they just slowly merged.
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I think they merged. Like GameStop starting gobbling up everything and eventually, nothing could compete. I remember funcoland before EB closed down, and you had to mail in all your orders. They had the best prices, beaten only by the occasional pawn shop find.
 
Never had them here in FL.

We did have a Babbage's and a software etc in the same mall. Babbage's seemed more console focuses while software etc would sell stuff for PC platforms. Yes plural because they sold stuff for commodore 64, Amiga, and later dos and windows.
 
We had Babbage's here as well. I remember when GS had their gift cards say they were good at, like, 5 store. I think it was GameStop, Babbage's, Funcoland, Planet X or something, and one other. I believe it was before they ate up EB Games.

Funny thing is, we used to have 2 EB Games and 2 GameStops. The GameStops were literally across the street from each other (1 in the mall, 1 out). Then, there was an EB Games a block away, and an EB Games several miles away, but still in-town. When GameStop bought EB games years ago, they turned the EB Games into GameStops, meaning they had 3 GameStops within a mile of each other.

That was probably 2006 (since Wikipedia said the acquisition happened in 2005, and I remember hearing about the purchase from a GS employee before the conversion), and it was just this summer that they FINALLY closed the GameStop in the mall, so now we only have the 2 a block from each other and 1 several miles away. Why they went with 3 stores right on top of each other for 8 years, I'll never understand.
 
We had Electronic Boutique (and eventually EB Games), GameStop (and Baddage Etc), and a few other likely one off places whose name I can't remember. SS / Babbage's had a pretty good hold, but I lived in Texas.
 
Lil Frier said:
We had Babbage's here as well. I remember when GS had their gift cards say they were good at, like, 5 store. I think it was GameStop, Babbage's, Funcoland, Planet X or something, and one other. I believe it was before they ate up EB Games.

Funny thing is, we used to have 2 EB Games and 2 GameStops. The GameStops were literally across the street from each other (1 in the mall, 1 out). Then, there was an EB Games a block away, and an EB Games several miles away, but still in-town. When GameStop bought EB games years ago, they turned the EB Games into GameStops, meaning they had 3 GameStops within a mile of each other.

That was probably 2006 (since Wikipedia said the acquisition happened in 2005, and I remember hearing about the purchase from a GS employee before the conversion), and it was just this summer that they FINALLY closed the GameStop in the mall, so now we only have the 2 a block from each other and 1 several miles away. Why they went with 3 stores right on top of each other for 8 years, I'll never understand.
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Up until a few years ago my local mall had two gamestops (one used to be EB) and there was one across the street and another 6 within 5 miles.
 
Lil Frier said:
Funny thing is, we used to have 2 EB Games and 2 GameStops. The GameStops were literally across the street from each other (1 in the mall, 1 out). Then, there was an EB Games a block away, and an EB Games several miles away, but still in-town. When GameStop bought EB games years ago, they turned the EB Games into GameStops, meaning they had 3 GameStops within a mile of each other.

That was probably 2006 (since Wikipedia said the acquisition happened in 2005, and I remember hearing about the purchase from a GS employee before the conversion), and it was just this summer that they FINALLY closed the GameStop in the mall, so now we only have the 2 a block from each other and 1 several miles away. Why they went with 3 stores right on top of each other for 8 years, I'll never understand.
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Same in my city. There was a Gamestop and an EB Games about 100 yards from one another in the same shopping center. When Gamestop bought EB, neither store closed and both are still open to this day, because they both rack in the money.
 
blurredvision said:
Same in my city. There was a Gamestop and an EB Games about 100 yards from one another in the same shopping center. When Gamestop bought EB, neither store closed and both are still open to this day, because they both rack in the money.
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That happens occasionally because one store may have an older game that the kids want but the other won't have it. The stock is different even at stores that close together. I remember they tried making specialty stores like one store that was used games only or one that was called Gamestop Kids. These didn't last long at least in my area. Gamestop Kids was a good idea because it was a store that sold games, toys, and collectables that were kid friendly. No M rated games for kids to browse, so parents could be sure that every game there would not contain any questionable content.
 
We have no GameStops in New Zealand but still plenty of EB Games stores in every mall and all around the place.
 
I just remember Babbages and Software Etc selling stuff like operating systems and productivity software. They also had a very liberal return policy for games. I remember returning games that sucked and they would let you get something new in the box. Didn't matter if it was for the PC or a console. Now with Amazon, I don't even know why I walk through the Gamestop at the mall. Not like I will see something new.
 
We had a Babbages here, might stil be there, but I was never into console gaming.

Used to stop in and look if the wife was wandering around the mall, but think I might have bought one thing over years, and that was PC on release, years ago.

I think it was Electronics Boutique when I did buy it actually.
 
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tumblr_n3qwlqJ6gG1qd6am5o1_500.jpg


Lamestop
 
i still go in to our local eb games and check out the PC section.

all 5 games and 3 of them are something to do with world of warcraft or something.

oh and the sims 3
 
EB games sold out near the top of the market. It was started as a side business and the founder cashed in near the top as he/she saw the future of digital media downloads. They own other multibillion business. EB games was always their side business/ retirement money. They had the opportunity to sell to GameStop/Barnes Noble near the top and they took it. Simple as that.
 
"Electronics Boutique" is a pretty terrible trade name for a video game store compared to "Gamestop", so it's not entirely surprising they lost out in the end.
 
artemicion said:
"Electronics Boutique" is a pretty terrible trade name for a video game store compared to "Gamestop", so it's not entirely surprising they lost out in the end.
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They didn't really lose, they chose not to compete against the kind of money B&N was pouring in and sold their interests in the stores.
 
Gamestop will be dead in the not too distant future as well. Their business model is going to be crushed in the coming years as more games go digital-only. Their growth has relied, part and parcel, on a climate of physical media and with that on its way out so too Gamestop will go.
 
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