GameStop is shutting down more stores, including in Hampton Roads.
The video game, toy and collectible retailer has been struggling to find a way to thrive in a market where most of what it sells is easier to get online. It has been shrinking its brick-and-mortar retail footprint for years to lower costs.
An unofficial blog tracking store closures estimates that more than 400 GameStop locations, and more than a dozen in Virginia, have closed or are slated to close in January.
The blog list includes the store at 801 E. Rochambeau Drive in Cedar Valley Shopping Center near Williamsburg and the Virginia Beach location at 869 Lynnhaven Parkway outside Lynnhaven Mall. The GameStop website lists those two Hampton Roads stores as “closed today” and closed every day of the week in the hours section. No one answered The Virginian-Pilot’s calls to the stores on Tuesday, and Google lists the locations as permanently closed.
The closures were previously disclosed in the company’s December financial filings, though the exact number wasn’t announced. GameStop did not respond to requests for comment by multiple media outlets.
The Texas-based video game retailer’s decision to shed locations was the result of a “comprehensive store portfolio optimization review” that looked at market conditions and individual store performance, according to its December Securities and Exchange Commission filing.
GameStop closed 590 stores nationwide during the 2024 fiscal year, according to the filing.
“We anticipate closing a significant number of additional stores in fiscal 2025,” the company said in its December filing. The company’s fiscal year ends on Jan. 31.
GameStop had 2,325 U.S. stores as of Feb. 2025, the company wrote in a March filing.
GameStop has struggled as many customers download video games instead of buying physical copies at brick-and-mortar stores, the company said in the filing.
“Downloading of video game content to the current generation video game systems continues to grow and take an increasing percentage of new video game sales,” the company wrote. “If consumers’ preference for downloading video game content in lieu of physical software continues to increase, our business and financial performance may be adversely impacted.”
The company’s difficulties in staying relevant somewhat echo those of the video chain Blockbuster, which has one remaining location, and RadioShack, once a fixture at malls across America.
GameStop originated in the 1980s as Babbage’s, a computer shop in Dallas that later shifted its focus to video games. The company, which underwent several acquisitions, including by the book retailer Barnes & Noble, was later renamed GameStop.
In 2021, GameStop became the emblematic “meme” stock when investors drove up share prices during an online craze amid hopes there was a way to salvage the already struggling brand.
The company has more recently turned to cryptocurrency. Last May, it announced that it had acquired more than 4,700 Bitcoin, which Reuters estimated at the time to be worth around $513 million.
GameStop shares have been volatile over the last 12 months.
