Game's a good 'un (Game)

Member Name: Namek_Assasin

Product:	Game
Date:	01/03/09 (40 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Friendly staff, nice layout

Disadvantages: Terrible pricing

I've been a customer with GAME since they where Electronics Boutique. I purchased my Mega Drive from there something like 12 year's ago. I brought my first Playstation from there, my first Gameboy Advance, the list goes on.

I was a customer with GAME most of my gaming life, MOST of my gaming life...

Firstly I want to give a little background information on the company everyone will recognise on the high street and from TV advertisements.

GAME was founded by Bev Ripley and Terry Norris as a group called Rhino at the start of the nineties. In 1995 a US business named Electronics Boutique acquired a quarter of the Company. In 1999 Electronics Boutique purchased a chain of retail outlets known as GAME. In 2002 Electronics Boutique stores in the UK and Ireland were rebranded as simply GAME, and the Company title was changed to The Game Group.

The Game Group have made many smart acquisitions over the past few years, this includes, BarrysWorld, ScroeGames, Gameswizards and Centro Mail. Most notably GAME acquired Gamestation, its UK rival company for just over £74 million pounds. The group thus far has kept the two shops as two separate entities.

What they sell
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Most thing's gaming; every new age console is covered for, from Nintendo DS to Playstation 3. They seem to get the lion's share of console stock also, making them the number one choice for preordering the new must have console. They always seem to guarantee you will get a console on launch with the use a £20 deposit. As well as having new game's they also stock previously owned titles. You can take your older unwanted games into store and they will give a trade in price for them, you can then either take the cash or trade them against another item in store, the second option works out better as taking the cash works out around 30% less the value.

Store layout
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The shop is bright and vibrant, you can see there purple GAME logo poking out over every other store in the high street. The window space is always packed; posters hang down each pane with details of a new title or a special offer. Inside the store you are hit with between 20 and 80 wall's, each stacked front facing with the newest releases, previously owned, console bundles and multibuys. Also there are many "gondola's" mainly used for promotions and accessories. Up until a year or so ago, GAME used to have large baskets where all the preowned titles where piled up in. Now it's a lot more organized with all stores having a similar storage system as HMV. Game's are easier to find and mostly in alphabetical order and sorted by the varying formats.

The staff
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Most store's I have visited the store's seem either under staffed or over staffed, depending on the time of day and if it's a weekend or not. During a typical week day expect to see between 2 and 4 staff on the shop floor and on a weekend there can be as many as 6 or 10 staff available. The majority of staff are very friendly. The thing that has mainly changed over the past 5 year's or so is that the staff you can tell are completely target based. You get approached on the shop floor as much as a Carphone Warehouse or Phones For You, this for some people is a good point, for people who have been asked to buy a specific game they can point you quickly in the right direction, for mom's and dad's not sure about what game to buy there children, they offer sound advice. A lot of them have good product knowledge and some are just there to sell to you, on the whole though, the staff are good.

Pricing
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The most important factor in this day and age. They are as a general rule the most expensive avenue for new releases. Tesco, Asda and HMV tend to be cheaper by the odd £2-10, online can save you between £5-15. Console bundles are priced better; you can get some good deals currently on Nintendo DS, XBOX 306, Playstation 3 and Nintendo Wii, mostly with free games when you purchase a console. Accessories are normally banged on the recommended retail price.

Overall
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The store certainly has changed over the past few years. With supermarkets and online retailers becoming more prominent most gamers' now purchase there new releases from them. There are however many people who still want that face to face buying experience. Especially when purchasing a higher priced console it's always nice to get reassurance of cover in the store if it where to breakdown. I now tend to do most of my shopping online, at the end of the day we all need to tighten our belts at the moment. I do however use them when purchasing a console or trading in my unwanted titles. A main reason a lot of people my have turned away could also be the fact they do not offer there elusive 10 day return policy, now if the game is sealed it can be returned within 28 days for an exchange or refund. A good solid store that will be with us for a long time yet!

Summary: The best on the high street