Back in March, struggling retailer GameStop announced that it would be closing at least 320 stores over the course of the year. That number has now jumped to “between 400 and 450 stores”.
As CNN report, the company made the announcement last week, with CFO Jim Bell saying the closures would “allow us to more efficiently and profitably service our customers”, before adding that in addition to the 400-450 closures this year, there are already even more closures planned for 2021 as well.
GameStop had been struggling for years already, and that was before a global pandemic hit and kept millions of people out of their stores. Throw in an increasingly digital landscape for software sales, and the fact both Microsoft and Sony have digital-only consoles launching this year—depriving GameStop of both initial sales but more importantly trade-ins and preowned sales as well—and the future certainly doesn’t look healthy.
The company has just over 5100 stores remaining worldwide.