Game Over for Gamer's Paradise

[Mark]

http://www.suntimes.com/technology/guy/1067358,CST-FIN-gamers22web.article

Deals abound as it's game over for Gamer's Paradise

Anyone looking for a bargain chess set, Scrabble game or Yu-Gi-Oh! cards can find them at a going-out-of-business sale for 29-year-old Chicago retailer Gamer's Paradise.

Gamer's Paradise, once a 13-store chain here founded by Philip Schwartzer, has been felled by videogames and the Internet, said Stevan Buxbaum, executive vice president of Buxbaum Group, a long-time Chicago liquidator.

Gamer's Paradise is liquidating $1 million in games, toys and collectibles in the next two months at its three remaining stores, which will be closed after the sales. The stores are at Water Tower Place, Woodfield mall in Schaumburg, and Yorktown Center in Lombard.

The sales offer savings up to 50 percent on inventory ranging from $5 Duncan Yo-Yos to carved chess sets that retail for $300.

"The cost of real estate keeps going up, and a business must grow in order to manage the increases in occupancy and payroll," said Buxbaum.

The ailing economy hurt, too, as consumers halt discretionary spending, Buxbaum said.

Indeed, the International Council of Shopping Centers has increased its forecast of store closings this year to 6,500 from 5,770, or about 1 percent of all existing stores and the highest number in seven years.

 

[Darrin Drader]

I wonder how long it will be before there are no gaming stores left. The latest estimates I've heard put them around 700. That's not much, and I keep reading about a new one going out of business every week.

Sad times.

 

[frankthedm]

Not really a surprise, they have had stores closing all over. Theft and mall rent are always bad but this last decade had horrid GW price gouging and a LOT of Major brand RPG stockpiles that became stagnant with new editions release.

2E
WoD2E
3E
3Ed20 3PP {Much of which spent the lions share of its shelf life marked at 40% off!]
WoD3E
Exalted1E
3.5e
3.5Ed20 3PP

 

[AtomicPope]

OMG!!

I grew up in Oak Lawn. I shopped at Chicago Ridge as a mall rat since freshman year, frequenting Gamer's Paradise. Wow that sucks. Sad news. I'm going to email my brother, maybe he can pick up some stuff. *sigh*

 

[Mark]

(. . .) and a LOT of Major brand RPG stockpiles that became stagnant with new editions release.

From what I have been hearing, RPGs are such a small part of their overall business that it hardly figures in. Woodfield has what is left of the chain's GW stock (figs and books) and there is more RPG stuff left at Woodfield and Yorktown than downtown. A good amount of 3.5 Eberron books are still available as of yesterday, for those who like the setting, and Exalted and some WoD are in second highest abundance. There's a good amount of the RPG books previously marked down at Woodfield and the 50% comes off the lowest-already-marked priced, some some books are five bucks or less. There's a few steals to be had in off-brand systems and in WotC stuff but i9t will likely mostly disappear over the weekend and next week as people find out and snap up the best bargains to complete shelf collections.

For my part, one of my first jobs out of high school was in the Deerbrook Mall where Gamer's Paradise had one of their early stores, though I understand that one closed years ago. They were always as much novelty shop and specialty store as gamestore. Those looking for a new store should set you sights on Games Plus as it is one of the top ten in the country.

 

[El Mahdi]

Out of curiosity and because of this thread, I did an internet search of the game stores that I frequented in the places I've lived in (I've moved around a bit being in the military). The first game store I patroned was "Otherworlds" in Cambridge. I've never seen a better game store since IMO. Apparently it, and almost all the other small game stores in Cambridge, have gone out of business and not been replaced. I don't know if having the TSR distribution center for the UK and Europe on the other side of town helped, and then hindered when it was shutdown, but it was an awesome store.

When I was in Korea, there really was no local gaming store (just occasional purchase at the AAFES bookstore when they occasionally stocked game stuff). I used to make semi-regular TDY's to Okinawa from Korea, which was cool because there was a really good little game store just outside of the gate (don't know if it's there anymore either).

In Valdosta, GA, the only local game store moved across town and became comics and CCG's only. There was nothing until a couple of years later, when a guy with a computer store, and an interest in gaming, combined them and opened a pretty good store just outside of the Moody AFB gate. I think the combination of being a really good custom computer store, along with RPG's, has helped keep him in business.

It's too bad we are losing the small, local game stores. When I first started playing, my groups trips to "Otherworlds" felt like some kind of magical pilgrimage. We would try to go at least once a month and just spend hours there, not to mention a good portion of our money (we were all single then). In total though, about 2/3 of the stores I've frequented are no longer there. It kind of feels like the ending of an era.

 

[JoeGKushner]

Sad news indeed.

I suspected this when I noticed they'd gotten rid of all the GW stuff.

 

[Mark]

The latest estimates I've heard put them around 700.

Where's that info come from, btw?

 

[Merlin the Tuna]

I'm sorry, can someone spell out what the GW stuff is? I see those letters and think Guild Wars, and that pretty clearly isn't right.

 

[Leatherhead]

I'm sorry, can someone spell out what the GW stuff is? I see those letters and think Guild Wars, and that pretty clearly isn't right.

I want to say Games Workshop.