It has been suggested that EB Games be merged into this article or section. (Discuss)

GameStop Corporation (NYSE: GME), whose headquarters are in Grapevine, Texas (a suburb of Dallas) is the world's largest video game and entertainment software retailer. The company operates 5,264^[1] retail stores throughout U.S., Canada, Ireland, United Kingdom, Australia, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Italy, New Zealand, Norway, Spain, Austria, Puerto Rico, Switzerland, Portugal and Sweden, and is expected to open around 600 new stores for the 2008 business year. ^[2] Image File history File links Mergefrom. ... The current EB Games logo EB Games EDGE card EB Games (formerly known as Electronics Boutique) is an international computer and video games retailer, established as an American company in 1977 by James Kim with a single, electronics-focused kiosk, located in a suburban Philadelphia mall in King of Prussia... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), nicknamed the Big Board, is a New York City-based stock exchange. ... For other uses, see Dallas (disambiguation). ... Flag of Grapevine Grapevine is a city located in Tarrant County, Texas. ... For the tax agency in Ireland of the same name, see Revenue Commissioners. ... USD redirects here. ... This article is about work. ... A website (alternatively, web site or Web site) is a collection of Web pages, images, videos or other digital assets that is hosted on one or more web servers, usually accessible via the Internet. ... The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), nicknamed the Big Board, is a New York City-based stock exchange. ... Flag of Grapevine Grapevine is a city located in Tarrant County, Texas. ... Dallas redirects here. ... Computer and video games redirects here. ... For other uses, see United States (disambiguation) and US (disambiguation). ...

Retail stores operate primarily under the GameStop and EB Games brands. In addition, the company runs two e-commerce websites, GameStop.com and EBgames.com, and also Game Informer magazine, GameStop's proprietary video and computer game publication. In addition to video and computer games, GameStop sells magazines, strategy guides, entertainment DVDs, and other related merchandise. A major source of the company's profit is also buying used games and movies from its customers and selling them back at an increase. A new store concept called MovieStop, which focuses on selling movies rather than games, is currently building and operating stores in the Southeastern United States, including the Dallas area. Electronic commerce, commonly known as e-commerce or eCommerce, consists of the buying and selling of products or services over electronic systems such as the Internet and other computer networks. ... Game Informer (often abbreviated to GI) is an American-based monthly magazine featuring articles, news, strategy, and reviews of popular video games and associated consoles. ... This article is about the magazine as a published medium. ... Strategy guides are instruction books that contain hints or complete solutions to specific video games. ... DVD is an optical disc storage media format that is used for playback of movies with high video and sound quality and for storing data. ... GameStop Corporation (NYSE: GME), headquartered in Grapevine, Texas, USA, is the worlds largest video game and entertainment software retailer. ...

History

Babbage's and Software Etc.

Logo of retailer Software, Etc. on a 5.25" floppy disk branded by the company.

GameStop traces its roots to Babbage's, a small software retailer that started in Dallas, Texas in 1983. The movements that made Babbage's into GameStop started in 1994 with a series of mergers. The first was with Software Etc. in 1994, the second was with Funcoland stores in 2000, and the third was with Electronics Boutique (now EB Games) in 2005, taking four competing, major mall software retailers and placing them under a single corporate umbrella. Image File history File links Software_etc_logo. ... Image File history File links Software_etc_logo. ... The current EB Games logo EB Games EDGE card EB Games (formerly known as Electronics Boutique) is an international computer and video games retailer, established as an American company in 1977 by James Kim with a single, electronics-focused kiosk, located in a suburban Philadelphia mall in King of Prussia...

When Babbage's merged with another mall software retailer, Software Etc., in 1994 ^[3] the combined company was named NeoStar Retail, but the two halves continued to operate as if they were separate entities.

The combined management of the newly formed entity developed a classic case of the right hand not knowing what the left was doing. This ultimately caused NeoStar to go into Chapter 11 reorganization in early fall of 1996. At this point the company had approximately 800 stores in the United States. Several potential buyers of NeoStar's assets emerged. Chapter 11 is a chapter of the United States Bankruptcy Code, which permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. ...

Leonard Riggio

On the last day of the manager's conference there was a special guest during lunch. Leonard Riggio, the head of Barnes & Noble, announced that he and a group of investors were going to put in place the financing to keep the company afloat, and get new merchandise into the stores in time for Christmas. (At this point, the company's creditors were owed so much back revenue that they were no longer shipping anything to NeoStar.) Leonard Riggio is owner of Barnes & Noble, the largest specialty retailer in the world. ... A typical Barnes & Noble bookstore. ...

In a personal comment during the address, Riggio stated that he "hated" the name NeoStar Retail, and thought that the merged Babbage's/Software Etc. should have been called Babbage's Etc. He said should his buyout bid be successful, and he was boldly confident it would be, that the company would be renamed.

From the potential buyers, the judge desired to accept the offer from the one that would keep the most people working, preserve the most competition and consumer choice, and be the most stable. Ultimately, Riggio's offer was accepted on the day before Thanksgiving. Barnes and Noble, through B. Dalton, was the original owner of Software Etc. A new management team largely composed of former Software Etc. executives and long time associates of Len Riggio was put in place to run Babbage's Etc.

1996 Closures

The day after Thanksgiving 1996 approximately 100 Babbage's and Software Etc. stores closed their doors. The remaining merchandise from these stores was shipped to 100 of the remaining stores that would participate in a massive "going out of business" sale throughout December. These 100 stores would close for the last time on Christmas Eve, and all merchandise left would be shipped back to corporate headquarters by New Year's Eve. The company would be pared back to about 600 of its best performing stores.

Acquisition by Barnes & Noble

When Funco, Inc. (operator of FuncoLand stores) was acquired by Barnes & Noble in 2000, there was a corporate restructuring, and Babbage's Etc. became a wholly owned subsidiary of Funco. The name at that time was changed to GameStop, Inc. A typical Barnes & Noble bookstore. ...

In 2002, GameStop bought out the Gamesworld franchise in Ireland and immediately took control of their 10 stores; the company now operates at over 50 locations in the country.

On November 12, 2004, GameStop spun off from Barnes & Noble. Due to Riggio's involvement, GameStop and Barnes & Noble employees still receive employee discounts at each other's stores, despite the companies being completely separate. is the 316th day of the year (317th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... A spin-off (or spinoff) is a new organization or entity formed by a split from a larger one such as a new company formed from a university research group. ...

Merger with EB Games

On April 18, 2005, GameStop and EB Games announced that they had entered into a "definitive agreement and plan of merger". After shareholders and US regulatory agencies approved the merger, it closed on October 10 of that year with the agreement that the companies would be run separately, but not as they had been in the past. To ease the transition process of the two companies being run as one, it was agreed upon that the two separate entities would not merge operating activities until the new fiscal year which starts February 1; this also included maintaining two separate distribution centers. At the beginning of the following year, operating activities of the two companies was integrated, starting with the realignment of districts and the closure of EB's West Chester, PA corporate office. Most of the upper management positions maintained GameStop executives; however, President at the time, Joe DePinto, resigned his position as President and returned to work as President and CEO of 7-eleven leaving a vacancy for EB President Steve Morgan. The transition of the two major super powers in the industry was challenging because of so many different conflicting views in different areas. Executives felt it was best to conduct market research and incorporate the best practices from each company into the new business structure. This idea of incorporating only the best was carried over to many other aspects of the merger decision including the decision on who would maintain the middle management positions. Many Regional Directors and District Managers from both EB and GameStop lost their jobs.

Through the year, GameStop stores transitioned to the EB Games' Windows-based POS, or Point of Sale system, replacing GameStop's aging MS-DOS-based program. At the end of 2006, the only remaining differences between the stores were primarily the interior design and layout of each store, based on when they were built and what company owned them at the time. Both EB Games and GameStop stores have several distinct design aspects however, EB Games stores are in the process of receiving remodels to make them look like GameStop stores. Stores are also receiving the GameStop brand above the store front and inside the store.

On January 4, 2007 GameStop Corp. officially purchased Rhino Video Games from Blockbuster and the stores were renamed GameStop.

The GameStop Edge Card and Game Informer Magazine

For nearly every point-of-sale transaction, GameStop employees offer the Edge Card including a 12-month subscription to Game Informer Magazine, at a cost of $14.99. However, GameStop has recently experimented with a $19.99 price point instead in select stores. With the Edge Card, the value of games and accessories traded in for store credit is increased by 10%, and it decreases the cost of used items [not including systems] by 10%. The increase/discount is often able to be combined with various other offers. Game Informer (often abbreviated to GI) is an American-based monthly magazine featuring articles, news, strategy and reviews of popular video games and associated consoles. ...

Company Policies

For reasons such as anti-theft, conservation of space, and display, some copies of new games are opened (with the exception of reserved pre-orders), with the contents removed from the case and placed in an organized drawer, while the empty game case itself is placed on the shelf. Upon request, employees will reseal or shrink wrap an opened copy of the game, though some collectors would not consider these games "new" due to the removal of the original seal and this discourages many gamers from purchasing "new" games at GameStop. The games are also guaranteed to work and have never been played; pre-orders usually are not affected.

MovieStop

MovieStop is a store that focuses on selling movies rather than games, with a structure similar to that of a GameStop. They buy, sell, and trade movies. MovieStop offers an array of movies, both used and new, in DVD, Blu-ray, and Universal Media Disc formats. As of November 2007, there are 36 MovieStop stores across the United States, including those in Pennsylvania, Alabama, Virginia, Georgia, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Maryland, North Carolina, Florida and Europe. Also, similar to GameStop's policy with games, customers do not need a case to trade movies. However, at MovieStop, an item traded without its original case yields less store credit or cash than an item with its original case. DVD (also known as Digital Versatile Disc or Digital Video Disc - see Etymology) is a popular optical disc storage media format. ... Blu-ray discs Blu-ray Disc is a next-generation optical disc format jointly developed by a group of leading consumer electronics and PC companies called the Blu_ray Disc Association (BDA), which succeeds the Blu_ray Disc Founders (BDF). ... A UMD The Universal Media Disc (UMD) is an optical disc medium developed by Sony for use on the PlayStation Portable. ... This article is about the U.S. State. ... This article is about the U.S. State. ... This article is about the U.S. state. ... This article is about the U.S. state. ... This article is about the U.S. state. ... Official language(s) None (English, de facto) Capital Annapolis Largest city Baltimore Largest metro area Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area Area  Ranked 42nd  - Total 12,407 sq mi (32,133 km²)  - Width 101 miles (145 km)  - Length 249 miles (400 km)  - % water 21  - Latitude 37° 53′ N to 39° 43′ N... Official language(s) English Demonym North Carolinian Capital Raleigh Largest city Charlotte Largest metro area Charlotte metro area Area  Ranked 28th in the US  - Total 53,865 sq mi (139,509 km²)  - Width 150 miles (340 km)  - Length 560[1] miles (900 km)  - % water 9. ... This article is about the U.S. State of Florida. ... For other uses, see Europe (disambiguation). ...

References

External links

• GameStop official website