Major Retailer Shuts Down Hundreds Of Stores Across Nationwide Chain

2024 has had no shortage of business closures and bankruptcies. From beloved restaurant chains filing for bankruptcy to big name retailers closing down locations (sometimes by the hundreds), it can be hard to keep track of what businesses are still around, especially if one of their location closures was near you. Even worse, the outlook for store closures in 2025 does not look great, with many industry experts anticipating a continuation of the high rate of closures. Not only have many large scale closures already been announced for 2025, but analysts similarly predict a continuation of widespread closures. A 2023 report from UBS predicted up to 80,000 store closures within the following five years. The report noted that companies in the apparel and home furnishings retail sector would face the highest closure rate.

According to a report from CoreSight Research, U.S. retailers had announced more than 7,100 store closures through the end of November 2024, which represents a 69% increase compared to the same time in 2023. These closures are spread across numerous different sectors of retail from auto parts to restaurants to pharmacies, leaving many consumers wondering which companies will survive. This brings us to GameStop, the beloved retail gaming store, which has not only been closing hundreds of retail store locations since 2020, but also appears to be on track to close hundreds more of its locations in the very near future.

It's worth noting that GameStop has been experiencing a decline in revenues since 2014. Facing steep competition from larger online retailers like Amazon and shifting consumer shopping behaviors (like just how many more consumers shop on their mobile phone these days), the company, which primarily relies on brick-and-mortar stores, has struggled to keep up. The retailer announced it would close over 400 retail locations worldwide in 2020 and has followed through on those plans since. GameStop closed over 100 of its U.S. based stores in both 2021 and 2022. Then, in March 2024, the company announced it had already closed over 280 stores both in the U.S. and abroad during the previous year.

However, even with all of these closures, it appears that even more are on the way. In a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing from December 2024, GameStop included language that it would be beginning a widespread portfolio optimization review in order to assess which of their remaining stores to close. In the filing, the company stated, "While this review is ongoing and a specific set of stores has not been identified for closure, we anticipate that it may result in the closure of a larger number of stores than we have closed in the past few years." According to store data from LocationsCloud, as of December 2024 there were 2,915 GameStop locations left, spread across all 50 states with a total of over 4,000 stores worldwide. The company has entirely left Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Ireland since early 2023.

The most important thing to realize about these store closures is that they are a way of ensuring the company survives, and not necessarily an indication of imminent bankruptcy. While oftentimes store closures can go hand in hand with eventual bankruptcies they are not always a guarantee. As it stands, GameStop's third quarter 2024 financial report actually showed a $17.4 million profit for the company, an indication that the company's decision to close retail locations is working financially. However, with that in mind, President-elect Trump's upcoming tariffs could spell bad news for the retail chain (and consumers) and there will come a point when store closures are no longer an option so it's important to pay attention to how GameStop decides to shift or add to its existing model. Certain initiatives have been less than successful for GameStop in the past. For instance, despite a splashy introduction in 2022, the company ended up abandoning its cryptocurrency gaming interests, its NFT Wallet, and its NFT Marketplace in early 2024.

However, certain company pivots could end up proving successful. For example, the company recently began an initiative to sell retro game consoles and games. Plus, it has been shifting its in-store product selection to more heavily feature gaming merchandise like toys, shirts, and plushies in addition to gaming hardware and accessories like headsets and console controllers. Then, in October 2024, GameStop announced its Professional Sports Authenticator partnership, which will allow the company to enter the trading card and autograph authentication and grading arena.