Is online gaming really to blame for empty shops?

Are the days of queueing up for the hottest new computer game now gone?
The Worksop Grainger Games store. Picture: Google ImagesThe Worksop Grainger Games store. Picture: Google Images
The Worksop Grainger Games store. Picture: Google Images
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Shock as Blackpool computer games shop shuts doors

Managing director Stephen Bowyer said credit limits had been cut or removed by some suppliers.

Its demise has been blamed on the increasing opportunity and ease of making digital downloads, which has stopped people buying video games,

The Worksop Grainger Games store. Picture: Google ImagesThe Worksop Grainger Games store. Picture: Google Images
The Worksop Grainger Games store. Picture: Google Images
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He said: “This has come as a shock to us all and presents a significant operating challenge driven by factors outside our control.”

Here are your comments

It’s not a shock.

It was being discussed last month in business blogs and forums.

The Worksop Grainger Games store. Picture: Google ImagesThe Worksop Grainger Games store. Picture: Google Images
The Worksop Grainger Games store. Picture: Google Images

The business model was seen as outdated because people are abandoning physical games and

moving in droves to downloading.

Put another way they simply went the same as Blockbuster.

I actually thought they had sold their Blackpool operation some time back, I didn’t realise it was just branded differently.

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So that’s another empty unit with I suspect more to come. And the council are hell bent on adding more!

Look at it with your own eyes.

The old Poundworld place empty.

Others empty along Bank Hey Street. Empty unit on Church Street and the old metro Morrisons, a bookies

etc.

Talbot Road looks a dive.

A novelty type kids gift shop has given up.

There’s a pretend book store in a large unit and there are three or four charity shops.

There is way too much retail space in the town. Businesses can’t afford the rent and people have taken up online shopping with a vengeance.

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It affects all towns and it’s a brave council that can be brave and bold and realise that they have to convert unused retail to

residential.

Any council may be reluctant to do that and the nightmare planning it involves.

But Blackpool is worse than many others, it is actively adding more retail space.

David Haworth

Such a shame. Only decent place to buy pop vinyls and a loyalty card with it too, my collection was growing nicely.

Cal Wilson

Nowhere for merchandise now, it was my favourite shop.

Holly Mcguirk

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That’s a shame, it was worth the long trip from Preston just to get a brand new video game a bit cheaper than Game.

Adam Kean

CEX was way cheaper than them anyway.

Made me laugh several months ago saw a game in Trade Nation for £20 second hand, could buy the new version in Tesco for £10.

Alan Clark

Honestly not surprised.

You could literally go next door to Game and buy everything they offered cheaper.

And Game is overpriced as it is anyway. Usually new games were a couple of pound cheaper in Game and second hand games that were good were always cheaper in Game too.

Maybe that changed as I didn’t visit them often.

I’ll note I don’t buy from Game either.

Smyths for instance has all new games cheaper.

John Whitehouse

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I used to always buy my kids games from here, somewhere a lot cheaper than Game, even the new ones.

Another empty building to go derelict.

Corrine Dobson

Online buying seems to be the norm now.

Faceless companies interested only in income not customer service.

Try getting games for a PC not online!

Derek Ashworth

Shame, granted the cost of in store new games wasn’t great, almost as bad as Game at times, but they sold some good merchandise as well.

Tom Winchester