Electronics Boutique
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Electronics Boutique is an American computer and video games retailer, established in 1977 by James Kim as a single, electronics-focused kiosk located in a suburban mall, in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, mainly selling calculators and digital watches. The Home Office (Headquarters) was located in West Chester, PA. All operations are now handled by Gamestop Corp. The retailer is a subsidiary of GameStop Corp.
As of July 30, 2005, the company operated 2,280 stores in the United States, Australia, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Italy, New Zealand, Norway, Puerto Rico, Sweden and Spain. -- primarily under the names EB Games and Electronics Boutique. The company operates an e-commerce website at http://www.ebgames.com.
Within the past few years, the corporation changed its DBA name to EB Games, but often the retailer is still called Electronics Boutique. One possible reason EB created other versions of its store may be to avoid a restriction in many malls that prevents them from having two stores of the same name. In addition, some EB Games stores are named EBGameworld or EBX or Stop-N-Save.
On April 18, 2005, Electronics Boutique and GameStop announced a proposal to merge into one company called GameStop Corp. The merger was approved by the shareholders of both corporations and completed in October, 2005, at the cost of several EB Games district and regional managers losing their jobs. Since January 29, 2006, the two companies have been officially merged. The merger was slow, but in September of 2006, the last parts came to gether, as both stores are now able to accept each others store credit and gift cards.
Contents |
[edit] International
EB began its international expansion with the purchase of financially troubled British game retailer Rhino Group in 1995 and the name of the chain was changed from Future Zone to match the new owner. Store remodels, product mix changes and used video games combined to restore the chain's finances, and promptly embarrass the USA chain with the massive success of EB UKs pre-owned programme.
In April 1999 Electronics Boutique's UK entity bought out its main rival, Game plc following Games near failure following a dreadful Christmas period. Electronics Boutique UK folded Game, Plc into its own structure, keeping Game stores open under their Game branding, and all new stores following the release of Playstation 2 in 2000 used the Game branding, as EB UK wanted to sever its ties with its American parent.
Although the EB-GAME "merger" created a company separate from the US parent, EB retained some ownership interest (24%) in the merged chain for a while and, under the merger agreement, collected substantial management fees from it until 2004, when the companies agreed to sever the remainder of their ties with a one time settlement. The "GAME" brand replaced the EB name at all former EB stores in the UK and Republic of Ireland. The new company was the biggest video game retailer in the United Kingdom. However, GameStop Corp. is once again operating in Ireland under the GameStop brand.
EB commenced operations in Australia from scratch in 1997 and rapidly became the number 1 video game specialty retailer in the country and the only one with a nationwide footprint.
On May 23, 2005, Electronics Boutique announced a definitive agreement to acquire Jump, a retailer based in Valencia, Spain that sells PCs and other consumer electronics. Electronics Boutique plans to begin introducing video game hardware and software into Jump's 141 stores over the next several months. The acquisition provides Electronics Boutique entry into the Spanish marketplace and continues Electronics Boutique's aggressive international expansion.
EB had a former presence in South Korea.
[edit] Trades
EB Games offers cash or store credit in exchange for traded video games, DVDs, video game systems, and video game accessories. Upon first glance, this seems like a great deal for many a gamer. However, in many states, EB Games is regarded as a pawn shop trading and selling used items, meaning that only those over the age of 18 may trade games. Locations such as those in Phoenix, Arizona have recently cracked down on enforcing this policy, whereas before all ages were permitted to sell games. EB Games does offer cash in lieu of store credit, however, EB Games offers cash at 20% less than the amount it would be in store credit. This offer is not valid in Canada, where only store credit is offered. EB Games usually gives 40% of the pre-owned price and $0.75 for games and DVDs not listed in their systems.
On June 1, 2006, Electronics Boutique ceased the trading in (but still sells old merchandise) of PC Games, Nintendo 64, PlayStation, and Dreamcast games, systems, and accessories. (Nintendo 64, Playstation, and PC Games are still accepted for trade-in in Canada.) Due to issues of piracy, PC games cannot be traded in, and, after they are opened, may only be exchanged for another copy of the same game.
