While true, this is by no means the only factor involved.
Over time, the malls around Boston have slowly shifted to being "chains only", not by any direct rule, but as a consequence of lease costs. The game stores are not the only ones to have left, but all the quirky little individual stores have also gone.
Chains have brand recognition and prestige that helps drive sales, where mom-and-pop stores do not. With lower profit margins, the smaller companies have been driven out of the high-rent malls.
There is also the element of clueless management.
Ma Plume, one of the best pen stores in the entire Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex was located in the Dallas Galleria. The guy operated out of a cart for more than a decade, yet routinely had broader stock at lower prices than Colorado Pen Company. Mgmt routinely blocked him from getting a real storefront (which would let him have his entire stock on display).
Finally, he was granted a space, just a couple of years before they did a renovation which, among other things, was to eliminate carts from the mall.
After the renovation, they decided to jack
his rent, not CPC's. He closed. Without competition, CPC...went under. Apparently, the only reason they were doing any business was by stocking what Ma Plume didn't (ultra-high end stuff- for which Ma Plume's owner would direct his customers to CPC) and ancillary purchases because the shopper was in the store. Without Ma Plume to prime the pump for low to moderately high-end pens, CPC folded.
Galleria management didn't understand the interrelation between the stores, and screwed things up for both.
The owner of Ma Plume is happily retired from the pen biz, and is currently teaching French at a Catholic girl's school.
