Future Uncertain For Chiswick Game Shop
However another gaming shop set to open next month
The Game Shop in Chiswick is facing an uncertain future as its parent group teeters on the brink of administration.
However gaming fans will be pleased to hear that Games Workshop which specialises in the Warhammer and Lord of the Rings series, is set to open a branch in W4 next month.
The Game group , which has nearly 1,300 stores globally, is locked in crisis negotiations with its banks and suppliers ahead of a massive second-quarter rental payment which is due on 25 March in the UK. Its shares have plummeted and 10,000 jobs are now at risk in the UK and overseas.
Recently its major suppliers, including Electronic Arts, Capcom and Nintendo, withheld their latest products from Game amid grave concerns about the group's credit worthiness. The company has been unable to source new products from alternative suppliers
Game, which has 6,000 staff in the UK and 4,000 overseas, has suffered disastrous sales in recent months and made an estimated loss of £18m for the year to 31 January. If the group collapsed, it would be the biggest administration of a UK-listed retailer since Woolworths in November 2008. It has 610 UK stores.
Shares in the group collapsed 64 per cent, or 2.23p, to 1.28p valuing the company at just £4.4m. They were as high as 62p a year ago.
The world's largest video games retailer, GameStop, has expressed an interest in Game's 291-store operation in Spain and Portugal .Like-for-like sales at Game in the UK and Ireland plummeted by 15.2 per cent for the eight weeks to 7 January .
Meanwhile the Games Workshop has announced on its Facebook Page that its new branch in Chiswick will open on April 7 th. The new manager Billy Burrows, has been writing about the opening and encouraging fans to attend the launch and enter competitions on fantasy role play and war gaming.
The branch will be based in Chiswick Business Park.
March 13, 2012