Latest news with #GAME
Scotsman
5 days ago
- Business
- Scotsman
Waverley's Game store to close as Ashley pulls back from high street
Mike Ashley, pictured, whose Frasers Group has closed a number of Game stores across the UK recently Good news, and not so good news, at Waverley Market this week. Notices have gone up in the windows of GAME that they will be closing in September. This was a surprise to me as the shop always seemed busy and had very knowledgeable staff. Sign up to our daily newsletter Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to Edinburgh News, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... If what I have heard is true the only stand alone GAME that will be left in Scotland will be in Glasgow, and while the Edinburgh shop located within Sports Direct will remain open, they will continue without any staff dedicated to GAME sales. It is a great shop unit just along from Avalanche and I doubt it will be empty for long once they leave, but I've always felt they were a good fit with what we do along with Anime Republic and Damaged Society. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Unlike record shops, which managed to outlast the threat of downloads and then streaming computer games, shops are now trying to trade in a world were the vast majority of games are downloaded. While they have done well to keep going by selling related merchandise clearly GAME's owners – Mike Ashley's Frasers Group – have decided to not completely throw in the towel but certainly pull back from having a strong high street presence. It is maybe telling that the closure notice does not ask customers to visit the remaining Edinburgh shop but instead suggests they visit the GAME website. In better news the old Body Shop unit in the centre has been transformed into a glittering jewellery shop by the Edinburgh-based business Fairy Made and while I can give no judgement on their wares it is good to see a local business giving it a go in these tough times for most retailers. Due to open very soon they were beaten to the post by a gents barbers opening on Thursday. While not located in a shop unit but in one of the two pop-up spaces opposite the Waverley Bridge entrance, they are I am told not a pop-up business and intend to be there permanently much like the Beauty Boutique and Mobile Plus are in the centre of Waverley Market. Again I have no idea what the demand might be for a barbers like this though I have always said the centre needed a hairdressers shop as well as a shop offering tattoos and piercings, so while this is maybe a scaled down version of what I was thinking, this is not their first venture and they have already been successful in other shopping centres so only time will tell. One thing I always warn potential businesses about when looking to move into the centre is that Waverley Market is not like other shopping centres, and I feel that is an advantage it has so long as the businesses are right for the footfall, which includes a lot of families visiting both from the UK and abroad and couples visiting Edinburgh for a long weekend. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad As I was getting the train home on Thursday a headline in this very paper caught my eye. 'Shock in Edinburgh as sudden closure sees Evans Cycles vanish from Fountainbridge'. It seemed odd as the owners were blaming their landlord who had served notice for them to close. Odd that is until I saw the owners were Mike Ashley's Frasers Group.
Scottish Sun
01-07-2025
- Business
- Scottish Sun
Game is shutting down MORE stores in just weeks with 20% off ‘everything must go' sale
The retailer has shut a number of its locations across the UK in recent monthS GAME OVER Game is shutting down MORE stores in just weeks with 20% off 'everything must go' sale BRITISH retailer GAME has announced the closure of yet another store as it dials back its presence on the highstreet. The retailer's long-standing Chatham store, inside the Pentagon Centre, will shut in September. Advertisement 1 The video game retailer has undergone significant restructuring and downsizinG Credit: Google maps The GAME shop in Victoria Centre, Nottingham, is also set to close its doors next month. Stock in all stores must go, with most items being flogged at 20 per cent off. GAME sells a variety of video games, consoles and pop culture merchandise. Shoppers in the Chatham store can get 20 per cent off all full price toys, board games, LEGO, video games, plushies and gaming accessories like headphones. Advertisement The Chatham branch narrowly avoided closure in 2020 when 40 locations across the UK were axed. The retailer has shut a number of its locations across the UK in recent months. The Frasers Group, which acquired GAME in 2019 as part of a £52million deal, has been converting stores into concessions within Sports Direct and other stores owned by the group. The video game retailer has undergone significant restructuring and downsizing. Advertisement While plans don't indicate that the stores will disappear from the British high street completely many locations are expected to close. GAME, in Festival Place, Basingstoke, will also be holding a 20 per cent off everything closing down sale before shutting up shop for good on August 10. The retailer has given no reason for the abrupt departures from shopping centres in the UK. However, the decline comes amid a significant drop in sales of physical video games, compared to Game's heyday in the early 2000s. Advertisement The Digital Entertainment and Retail Association (ERA) revealed that in 2022, nearly 90 per cent of all video games sold in the UK were digital downloads.
The Irish Sun
01-07-2025
- Business
- The Irish Sun
Game is shutting down MORE stores in just weeks with 20% off ‘everything must go' sale
BRITISH retailer GAME has announced the closure of yet another store as it dials back its presence on the highstreet. The retailer's long-standing Chatham store, inside the Pentagon Centre, will shut in September. 1 The video game retailer has undergone significant restructuring and downsizinG Credit: Google maps The GAME shop in Victoria Centre, Nottingham, is also set to close its doors next month. Stock in all stores must go, with most items being flogged at 20 per cent off. GAME sells a variety of video games, consoles and pop culture merchandise. Shoppers in the Chatham store can get 20 per cent off all full price toys, board games, LEGO, video games, plushies and gaming accessories like headphones. READ MORE ON TECH CLOSURES The Chatham branch narrowly avoided closure in 2020 when 40 locations across the UK were axed. The retailer has shut a number of its locations across the UK in recent months. The Frasers Group , which acquired GAME in 2019 as part of a £52million deal , has been converting stores into concessions within Sports Direct and other stores owned by the group. The video game retailer has undergone significant restructuring and downsizing. Most read in Tech While plans don't indicate that the stores will disappear from the British high street completely many locations are expected to close. GAME, in Festival Place, Basingstoke, will also be holding a 20 per cent off everything closing down sale before shutting up shop for good on August 10. The retailer has given no reason for the abrupt departures from shopping centres in the UK. However, the decline comes amid a significant drop in sales of physical video games, compared to Game's heyday in the early 2000s. The Digital Entertainment and Retail Association (ERA) revealed that in 2022, nearly 90 per cent of all video games sold in the UK were digital downloads. Why are retailers closing stores? RETAILERS have been feeling the squeeze since the pandemic, while shoppers are cutting back on spending due to the soaring cost of living crisis. High energy costs and a move to shopping online after the pandemic are also taking a toll, and many high street shops have struggled to keep going. However, additional costs have added further pain to an already struggling sector. The British Retail Consortium has predicted that the Treasury's hike to employer NICs from April will cost the retail sector £2.3billion. At the same time, the minimum wage will rise to £12.21 an hour from April, and the minimum wage for people aged 18-20 will rise to £10 an hour, an increase of £1.40. The Centre for Retail Research (CRR) has also warned that around 17,350 retail sites are expected to shut down this year. It comes on the back of a tough 2024 when 13,000 shops closed their doors for good, already a 28% increase on the previous year. Professor Joshua Bamfield, director of the CRR said: "The results for 2024 show that although the outcomes for store closures overall were not as poor as in either 2020 or 2022, they are still disconcerting, with worse set to come in 2025." It comes after almost 170,000 retail workers lost their jobs in 2024. End-of-year figures compiled by the Centre for Retail Research showed the number of job losses spiked amid the collapse of major chains such as Homebase and Ted Baker. It said its latest analysis showed that a total of 169,395 retail jobs were lost in the 2024 calendar year to date. This was up 49,990 – an increase of 41.9% – compared with 2023. It is the highest annual reading since more than 200,000 jobs were lost in 2020 in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, which forced retailers to shut their stores during lockdowns. The centre said 38 major retailers went into administration in 2024, including household names such as Lloyds Pharmacy, Homebase, The Body Shop, Carpetright and Ted Baker. Around a third of all retail job losses in 2024, 33% or 55,914 in total, resulted from administrations. Experts have said small high street shops could face a particularly challenging 2025 because of Budget tax and wage changes. Professor Bamfield has warned of a bleak outlook for 2025, predicting that as many as 202,000 jobs could be lost in the sector. "By increasing both the costs of running stores and the costs on each consumer's household it is highly likely that we will see retail job losses eclipse the height of the pandemic in 2020."
The Sun
01-07-2025
- Business
- The Sun
Game is shutting down MORE stores in just weeks with 20% off ‘everything must go' sale
BRITISH retailer GAME has announced the closure of yet another store as it dials back its presence on the highstreet. The retailer's long-standing Chatham store, inside the Pentagon Centre, will shut in September. 1 The GAME shop in Victoria Centre, Nottingham, is also set to close its doors next month. Stock in all stores must go, with most items being flogged at 20 per cent off. GAME sells a variety of video games, consoles and pop culture merchandise. Shoppers in the Chatham store can get 20 per cent off all full price toys, board games, LEGO, video games, plushies and gaming accessories like headphones. The Chatham branch narrowly avoided closure in 2020 when 40 locations across the UK were axed. The retailer has shut a number of its locations across the UK in recent months. The video game retailer has undergone significant restructuring and downsizing. While plans don't indicate that the stores will disappear from the British high street completely many locations are expected to close. GAME, in Festival Place, Basingstoke, will also be holding a 20 per cent off everything closing down sale before shutting up shop for good on August 10. The retailer has given no reason for the abrupt departures from shopping centres in the UK. However, the decline comes amid a significant drop in sales of physical video games, compared to Game's heyday in the early 2000s. The Digital Entertainment and Retail Association (ERA) revealed that in 2022, nearly 90 per cent of all video games sold in the UK were digital downloads. Why are retailers closing stores? RETAILERS have been feeling the squeeze since the pandemic, while shoppers are cutting back on spending due to the soaring cost of living crisis. High energy costs and a move to shopping online after the pandemic are also taking a toll, and many high street shops have struggled to keep going. However, additional costs have added further pain to an already struggling sector. The British Retail Consortium has predicted that the Treasury's hike to employer NICs from April will cost the retail sector £2.3billion. At the same time, the minimum wage will rise to £12.21 an hour from April, and the minimum wage for people aged 18-20 will rise to £10 an hour, an increase of £1.40. The Centre for Retail Research (CRR) has also warned that around 17,350 retail sites are expected to shut down this year. It comes on the back of a tough 2024 when 13,000 shops closed their doors for good, already a 28% increase on the previous year. Professor Joshua Bamfield, director of the CRR said: "The results for 2024 show that although the outcomes for store closures overall were not as poor as in either 2020 or 2022, they are still disconcerting, with worse set to come in 2025." It comes after almost 170,000 retail workers lost their jobs in 2024. End-of-year figures compiled by the Centre for Retail Research showed the number of job losses spiked amid the collapse of major chains such as Homebase and Ted Baker. It said its latest analysis showed that a total of 169,395 retail jobs were lost in the 2024 calendar year to date. This was up 49,990 – an increase of 41.9% – compared with 2023. It is the highest annual reading since more than 200,000 jobs were lost in 2020 in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, which forced retailers to shut their stores during lockdowns. The centre said 38 major retailers went into administration in 2024, including household names such as Lloyds Pharmacy, Homebase, The Body Shop, Carpetright and Ted Baker. Around a third of all retail job losses in 2024, 33% or 55,914 in total, resulted from administrations. Experts have said small high street shops could face a particularly challenging 2025 because of Budget tax and wage changes. Professor Bamfield has warned of a bleak outlook for 2025, predicting that as many as 202,000 jobs could be lost in the sector. "By increasing both the costs of running stores and the costs on each consumer's household it is highly likely that we will see retail job losses eclipse the height of the pandemic in 2020."
Time of India
25-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Time of India
Squid Game season 3 to release on Friday: 5 key things to remember from second instalment
Squid Game Season 3 is almost here. With Netflix's biggest series returning for its final season on June 27, fans are bracing for more twists, betrayals, and high-stakes survival. But before diving into the new episodes, it's important to remember what went down in Season 2. From failed rebellions to new survivors, here are five key moments you need to revisit 1. Gi-hun's rebellion tries to break the Game Season 2 ended with Gi-hun leading a group of 'X' voters against those still playing to win. What began as a fight in the bathroom turned into a full-blown rebellion. Gi-hun and his team took weapons from the guards and tried to stop the Squid Game from within but chaos took over fast. 2. The uprising fails badly Though it started with hope, the rebellion didn't last. Most of Gi-hun's allies died, and the Front Man disguised as a friend, used Gi-hun's own generosity to take out more players. Gi-hun believed his new ally had been killed, but he unknowingly helped arm the enemy. 3. Who's still alive in the Game? It's anybody's game. Pick a side. Squid Game Season 3 premieres next Friday. Only a few players are left standing: Player 333: A failed crypto trader who killed fan-favourite Thanos. Player 222: His ex-girlfriend, who's pregnant. Player 388: A marine whose breakdown proved costly. Player 120: A special forces soldier and rebellion leader. Player 149 and 007: A mother-son duo. Player 125: A timid man now seeking revenge. Player 124: Mourning Thanos, possibly spiralling. Player 044: The shaman who survived by staying quiet. 4. The Pink Guard with a secret No-eul, once a North Korean sniper, is now a disillusioned Squid Game guard. She secretly worked against the organ-harvesting ring. Her past and her quiet resistance put her in danger, even though she didn't join the rebellion. Her story is still unfinished. 5. Detective Jun-ho's hunt gets complicated decided to bless your feed GAME SEASON 3, June 27. The cop-turned-undercover-guard is still searching for the truth. He knows his brother is the Front Man. Now working with Gi-hun's team, Jun-ho tries to expose the games. But they're being played too, Captain Park, one of their own, is secretly working with the enemy.
