5 ms·

I hear ya. I have a bit of nostalgia for the brand, myself, though did not participate in any of the stock situation. It's a tough spot. (1) 3D Printing -- r

by mdip 6y ago

I hear ya. I have a bit of nostalgia for the brand, myself, though did not participate in any of the stock situation. It's a tough spot. (1) 3D Printing -- really good idea; I'm rehabbing my 3D printer for my kids, this evening, so they can print Among Us characters. If I didn't have a 3D printer, I might consider that sort of option, but I'd probably go online first. And that's kind of the problem they need to find a way to pivot away from. (2) Gamer Bar -- I think a few have panned this idea. I love it, but not for GameStop. Their locations are unlikely to be ideal for restaurant style-businesses. And while it's a different kind of business, they'd still fall under the same regulations which would require substantial reworking of their retail outlets. Assuming "bar" means "alcohol", that's going to knock out many of the retail locations -- any where getting a liquor license/landlord approval isn't possible/practical/affordable. I have no idea if this would be popular, or if it would fall victim to "teen dance club" problems[0] ... often the way I imagine things "should be" aren't they way they turn out :). (3) Tabletop/LAN Parties -- Not sure LAN parties are all that useful these days, but maybe? Moving into other forms of games seems really logical. Most hardcore gamers that I know are also into a variety of adult board games and all have disposable income. Assuming the idea is "stay retail and keep many of the retail locations open", I think the biggest problem is finding a product that they can actually sell. I know people still buy games in physical formats, but that's ending at some point. All of my game/software purchases are digital. All of my console purchases are online and all of my used/pre-owned purchases are craigslist/marketplaces. I stopped using GameStop to recoup the value of obsolete games/consoles because the prices they offered for my used stuff was never competitive and the cost to purchase (often beat-up) used items from the store were similarly not competitive. Granted, it's been years. Offering to sell used products on consignment or with a firm, low, commission would change my mind. Offering both options would cover everyone. Maybe going back to 3D printing -- perhaps providing customizable accessories to a variety of console components (i.e. grips for controllers, knobs with icons on them, etc) in-store might be an option. I don't know if that's going to be the end-all, but the cost is reasonable considering it offers a huge inventory on-demand. Focus on covering accessories that are niche but popular and offer customization since they're print-on-demand. [0] Where I live, there were a few notorious "Teen Dance Clubs" that charged cover, didn't serve alcohol, and were pretty much the most popular place for the police to visit any night they were operating for all kinds of minor crime.

Corrado 6y ago
For 3D printing, see this reply: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26018507 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26018507 I really like the idea of a "Teen Dance Club". There is honestly no place for young people to hang out. We used to go to the skating rink or walk around the local shopping mall, but the rinks are almost all gone and malls have made being a teenager illegal.
- mdip 6y ago
  The "Teen Dance Club" was one of those good ideas "in theory" that blows up during execution. As a kid, we had a suburban business that provided exactly that. Unfortunately, many of the parents of children who you'd want to have patronizing your Teen Dance Club are parents who won't allow their children to hang out at any place that has the appearance of being a "club". This leaves the rest of the kids. And those kids cost more money to serve than they provide in profits. This club did not serve alcohol, but from personal experience, alcohol/weed were not hard to come by. People would throw shots of hard liquor into the $5.00 cokes, there were regular "fights" usually originating from some barely-past-puberty-knob deciding some other kid was looking in the general direction of the female to which said knob was attracted. This is a problem at most businesses catering to teenagers, unfortunately. But it's more of a problem at certain kinds of businesses. We have three skating rinks within about 20 miles (all were closed and not sure all survived). One of them was around when I was a kid and there were occasional problems, then, but really nothing compared to what I saw at one of the two "Teen Clubs" I visited. I think part of it is that rinks (roller/ice) cater to families and teenagers. I have 4 kids. If we're out and some teenager is misbehaving, the words "knock it off" have been known to fly out of my mouth with immediate effect. It doesn't matter that there's a large number of unsupervised teenagers, the number of parents -- especially ones that aren't uncomfortable stepping into things -- offsets the grief the "bad teens" can create for everyone else. I hear ya, though. We used to hang out at malls, rinks, hell we had a whole abandoned stadium that we could roller blade on for $5 on the weekends[0]. Now the few malls that remain are outdoors, which is awesome when it's 16 outside... it's as if they're trying to get me to buy everything online. We have a laser-tag place that feeds you and let you play unlimited from 8:00-midnight for $20[1] and a few others, but they're all closed for the moment. It is awful for kids right now. [0] The Pontiac SilverDome actually rented out skates/inlines and let you roller blade around the interior walkway. Even when it was busy it was hard to tell because of the wide walkways designed to serve depressed Lion's fans. [1] Oddly it was owned by a local (Christian) cult run by a chiropractor; I took my kids there nearly every weekend of the winter for two years and everyone who patronized the place, teenagers, kids and adults, all enjoying themselves and never an issue. The only hint about the religion of the owners was that they played Christian Pop/Rock over the speakers -- makes me wonder if blasting Jesus music calms teenagers? :)

by mdip 6y ago

Corrado 6y ago

For 3D printing, see this reply: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26018507 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26018507 I really like the idea of a "Teen Dance Club". There is honestly no place for young people to hang out. We used to go to the skating rink or walk around the local shopping mall, but the rinks are almost all gone and malls have made being a teenager illegal.

mdip 6y ago
The "Teen Dance Club" was one of those good ideas "in theory" that blows up during execution. As a kid, we had a suburban business that provided exactly that. Unfortunately, many of the parents of children who you'd want to have patronizing your Teen Dance Club are parents who won't allow their children to hang out at any place that has the appearance of being a "club". This leaves the rest of the kids. And those kids cost more money to serve than they provide in profits. This club did not serve alcohol, but from personal experience, alcohol/weed were not hard to come by. People would throw shots of hard liquor into the $5.00 cokes, there were regular "fights" usually originating from some barely-past-puberty-knob deciding some other kid was looking in the general direction of the female to which said knob was attracted. This is a problem at most businesses catering to teenagers, unfortunately. But it's more of a problem at certain kinds of businesses. We have three skating rinks within about 20 miles (all were closed and not sure all survived). One of them was around when I was a kid and there were occasional problems, then, but really nothing compared to what I saw at one of the two "Teen Clubs" I visited. I think part of it is that rinks (roller/ice) cater to families and teenagers. I have 4 kids. If we're out and some teenager is misbehaving, the words "knock it off" have been known to fly out of my mouth with immediate effect. It doesn't matter that there's a large number of unsupervised teenagers, the number of parents -- especially ones that aren't uncomfortable stepping into things -- offsets the grief the "bad teens" can create for everyone else. I hear ya, though. We used to hang out at malls, rinks, hell we had a whole abandoned stadium that we could roller blade on for $5 on the weekends[0]. Now the few malls that remain are outdoors, which is awesome when it's 16 outside... it's as if they're trying to get me to buy everything online. We have a laser-tag place that feeds you and let you play unlimited from 8:00-midnight for $20[1] and a few others, but they're all closed for the moment. It is awful for kids right now. [0] The Pontiac SilverDome actually rented out skates/inlines and let you roller blade around the interior walkway. Even when it was busy it was hard to tell because of the wide walkways designed to serve depressed Lion's fans. [1] Oddly it was owned by a local (Christian) cult run by a chiropractor; I took my kids there nearly every weekend of the winter for two years and everyone who patronized the place, teenagers, kids and adults, all enjoying themselves and never an issue. The only hint about the religion of the owners was that they played Christian Pop/Rock over the speakers -- makes me wonder if blasting Jesus music calms teenagers? :)