Mike Ashley didn't actually want a game shop, he wanted people spending £70 on each football/COD release, then buying that season's team strip on the way out of the shop.
Ashley wants two main things out of his purchases, the brand name to slap on a web store with any head start it can give into running a business in that sector, and the retail space. Any decent retail space he wants to flip into residential property while stripping any fixtures and fittings of any value, anything else will be gone or rebooted into the lowest common denominator for that area.
Some of the stores became Micromania-Zing (owned by gamestop) which amazingly enough still exists.
Yeah, those have been primarily funko pop stores for years too. Their new games are like 20% more expensive than everyone else, and their second hand games priced like everyone else's new.
The FunkoPop Store EB Games here in Canada were re-labeled to GameStop recently. They're still in every Mall in the land from what I've seen. Though they are doing better. Game selection isn't what it use to be, but the variety is growing now. I was surprised when I found Manga in our local GameStop.
Not exactly my cup of tea, but catering to "Nerd" culture, and going beyond "Merch" is something I can get behind, since it's rare to see another store not selling the same old drivel as everyone else.
I still buy physical whenever I can. I'd hate to have my entire collection beholden to one account, although I know people do that with the PS Store, or Game Pass, or Steam. I don't trust corporations, I guess. I really hope they don't make disc-less consoles the standard.
Yeah. Games are all digital downloads these days. And consoles and accessories are cheaper and easier to get online. There's no point in physical video game stores any more.
Personally, I just want Radio Shack back, and not just the cell phone and crappy toy store.
It wasn't even that long ago. I bought tons of discrete parts from RadioShack like, even up to 8 or 9 years ago. They had these drawers full of things, pots, LEDs, ICs, sensors, motors, dials.