During this fading economy I’ve found my visits to the high street to be less and less frequent.
But, there were always two shops that would entice me back.
One of those was GAME. I loved browsing the new releases, checking the bargains that other gamers had completed so quickly the games were still fresh and checking out the game related merchandise.
A devoted reward card holder for many years, I knew the tricks in maximising my points. Preorders get double!
Not only would I preorder but I’d even turn up at midnight launches and I’ve still got my receipt from the Nintendo GameCube launch in 2001 that shows I got mine at one minute past midnight on launch day.
Those days are unfortunately now behind me and I’ll never be passing the threshold of a GAME store again.
Having preordered the collectors edition of the latest Legend of Zelda game I anticipated a Friday night in with the groundbreaking game. I even received a text message two days before hand reminding me to pop in and fulfil my preorder deal.
Well, I kept my side of the deal, but GAME didn’t.
The Legend of Zelda: Link Between Worlds game never arrived. The resolution? I can call them everyday to check whether they received them.
After five attempts, I was told that they will never receive any more! I even had to go back to the store for a refund because I’d paid a holding deposit! Then I had to wait 30 minutes because only one staff member could process refunds!
Now this is only one experience but it’s inherent of the issues concerning high street retailers who sell such items as video games and music.
The convenience of online shopping would have eradicated all of these issues.
The only shops that can survive will sell products that you feel and try on, like clothes.
So that’s it for me and GAME. What’s the other shop I usually frequent?
HMV.
