Gamers shut down all Iowa stores with no warning over the weekend

[Silverspoon]

This was the owners press release. Its like an eight year old wrote it.

[nebugeater]

Time to air the dirty laundry?

Usually there are two sides to these types of issues and we have seen one.

[Silverspoon]

Ames Tribune article:

http://www.amestrib.com/news/20180507/g ... of-closure

[omaha79]

It won't shock me if Nebraska stores follow. I randomly went into the La Vista store a few weeks ago and it appeared on its last legs. Most of the racks were nearly empty. They had very little inventory.

Used game stores are becoming a thing of the past with so much downloadable content that can't be transferred when the game is sold.

[Bob from Omaha]

Out front I will say I know nothing about this company. Let's get that out of the way.

A cursory google search brought up the reviews for each store. I found it interesting that the Iowa stores have a higher star rating than the Nebraska ones, albeit not much. Most reviews I read for the stores said the employees were good. Friendly, etc.

I've been a business owner since the 70's and I've never publicly or privately said the things the owner said about his employees. MY OWN OPINION is that the public statement was childish and way out of bounds. If an owner or manager has problems such as those mentioned it tells me that there are problems with hiring, training, mentoring and management. Perhaps the company grew too fast, was unable to handle that many locations and didn't plan to be spread out that much. PERHAPS. To publicly blame others for these types of problems suggests to me an unwillingness to accept the fact that as an owner YOU are where the problems are solved. Ok. The stores were closed. Possibly that solves the problem. However, someone here mentioned a lack of inventory in an Omaha store. That could indicate that there are more problems.

It isn't a crime to fail in business. That is where learning is. I've had my share of failures but they always led to success in the future. Sam Walton, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and others failed. It's what you do after that that makes the difference. Hopefully the owners of Gamers can come back and be successful. BUT I hope he/she/they refrain from blaming the employees.

[GrandpaaSmucker]

Out front I will say I know nothing about this company. Let's get that out of the way.

A cursory google search brought up the reviews for each store. I found it interesting that the Iowa stores have a higher star rating than the Nebraska ones, albeit not much. Most reviews I read for the stores said the employees were good. Friendly, etc.

I've been a business owner since the 70's and I've never publicly or privately said the things the owner said about his employees. MY OWN OPINION is that the public statement was childish and way out of bounds. If an owner or manager has problems such as those mentioned it tells me that there are problems with hiring, training, mentoring and management. Perhaps the company grew too fast, was unable to handle that many locations and didn't plan to be spread out that much. PERHAPS. To publicly blame others for these types of problems suggests to me an unwillingness to accept the fact that as an owner YOU are where the problems are solved. Ok. The stores were closed. Possibly that solves the problem. However, someone here mentioned a lack of inventory in an Omaha store. That could indicate that there are more problems.

It isn't a crime to fail in business. That is where learning is. I've had my share of failures but they always led to success in the future. Sam Walton, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and others failed. It's what you do after that that makes the difference. Hopefully the owners of Gamers can come back and be successful. BUT I hope he/she/they refrain from blaming the employees.

What businesses did you own in Omaha?

[Bob from Omaha]

Real estate company & wholesale distribution company after that.

[Bob from Omaha]

This was the owners press release. Its like an eight year old wrote it.

...and got a great deal on commas.

[BPHusker]

That chain has went down hill since the mid-late 2000s. Within the last 5 or so years they don't really stock anything in their stores anymore and the games they do have are just cases with store printed cover art. When I asked them what happened to all their stock they replied they sell a lot of their stuff on eBay now. What a great way to keep local customers by pulling all the good condition and rarer things and selling them on eBay. If they happen to have rarer games in store they are priced 20%+ higher than what it can be bought for on eBay. I stopped going there for that reason and instead shopped at Gamestop, Ben's Game Zone or Game Vault (when it was open). That wasn't the case back in the late 90s-2000s, they were one of the better stores in Omaha

[Silverspoon]

That chain has went down hill since the mid-late 2000s. Within the last 5 or so years they don't really stock anything in their stores anymore and the games they do have are just cases with store printed cover art. When I asked them what happened to all their stock they replied they sell a lot of their stuff on eBay now. What a great way to keep local customers by pulling all the good condition and rarer things and selling them on eBay. If they happen to have rarer games in store they are priced 20%+ higher than what it can be bought for on eBay. I stopped going there for that reason and instead shopped at Gamestop, Ben's Game Zone or Game Vault (when it was open). That wasn't the case back in the late 90s-2000s, they were one of the better stores in Omaha.

They sell on ebay cuz they dont have to pay taxes on it.

[Bob from Omaha]

That chain has went down hill since the mid-late 2000s. Within the last 5 or so years they don't really stock anything in their stores anymore and the games they do have are just cases with store printed cover art. When I asked them what happened to all their stock they replied they sell a lot of their stuff on eBay now. What a great way to keep local customers by pulling all the good condition and rarer things and selling them on eBay. If they happen to have rarer games in store they are priced 20%+ higher than what it can be bought for on eBay. I stopped going there for that reason and instead shopped at Gamestop, Ben's Game Zone or Game Vault (when it was open). That wasn't the case back in the late 90s-2000s, they were one of the better stores in Omaha.

They sell on ebay cuz they dont have to pay taxes on it.

There are two types of taxes in this case. Sales tax they "may" not have to collect. Income tax, especially if they cross a certain level and probably even if not, they are liable for. As I said, sales tax they would just collect and remit thus no real out of pocket to them. If they don't declare ebay sales as income they are liable for.

[Silverspoon]

The reason they went the route of selling on ebay is because they could avoid paying taxes on their sales. The owner told me that when I worked for him a long time ago.