Blockbuster, officially Blockbuster LLC and formerly known as Blockbuster Video, was an American-based provider of home movie and video game rental services. Services were offered primarily at video rental shops, but later alternatives included DVD-by-mail, streaming, video on demand, and cinema theater. Previously operated by Blockbuster Entertainment, Inc., the company expanded internationally throughout the 1990s. At its peak in 2004, Blockbuster consisted of 9,094 stores and employed approximately 84,300 people: 58,500 in the United States and 25,800 in other countries.
Merchandising is any practice which contributes to the sale of products to a retail consumer. At a retail in-store level, merchandising refers to displaying products that are for sale in a creative way that entices customers to purchase more items or products.
GameStop Corp. is an American video game, consumer electronics, and gaming merchandise retailer. The company is headquartered in Grapevine, Texas, and is the largest video game retailer worldwide. As of 29 January 2022, the company operated 4,573 stores including 3,018 in the United States, 231 in Canada, 417 in Australia and 907 in Europe under the GameStop, EB Games, EB Games Australia, Micromania-Zing, ThinkGeek and Zing Pop Culture brands. The company was founded in Dallas in 1984 as Babbage's, and took on its current name in 1999.
Xtra-vision was an online video, film and music store in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland operated by Hilco Ireland.
The Source Electronics Inc., doing business as The Source, is a Canadian consumer electronics and cell phone retail chain. The chain goes back over 40 years in Canada, initially as Radio Shack and later as The Source by Circuit City. The Source is now owned by BCE Inc., which purchased the assets of InterTAN from its parent, American retailer Circuit City, in 2009. The Source is a unit of 4458729 Canada Inc. and is based in Barrie, Ontario.
Media Play was a chain of retail stores founded in 1992 by Musicland that sold VHS, DVDs, music, electronics, toys, video games, anime, books, and board games similar to Hastings Entertainment, 2nd and Charles, and Half Price Books. Each store contained full book, movie, music, and video game sections under one roof. At their height, they operated 72 stores in 19 states with 2,000 employees. The first store opened in Rockford, Illinois, in 1992. Hundreds of stores were slated to be opened, but only 89 ever were. Media Play opened stores from 1992 to 2000.
A pre-order is an order placed for an item that has not yet been released. The idea for pre-orders came because people found it hard to get popular items in stores because of their popularity. Companies then had the idea to allow customers to reserve their own personal copy before its release, which has been a huge success.
A closeout or clearance sale is a discount sale of inventory either by retail or wholesale. It may be that a product is not selling well, or that the retailer is closing because of relocation, a fire, over-ordering, or especially because of bankruptcy. In the latter case, it is usually known as a going-out-of-business sale or liquidation sale, and is part of the process of liquidation. A hail sale is a closeout at a car dealership after hail damage.
EzyDVD is an Australian specialist home video retailer offering DVD, Blu-ray, and Ultra HD Blu-ray discs for purchase. At its peak in the mid-2000s the company had over 70 retail stores around Australia, but is now exclusively an online retailer.
Gamestation was a chain of retail shops in the United Kingdom selling used and new video games, and was the second largest specialist video game retailer in the United Kingdom until it was acquired by Game in May 2007, a group which owns many different gaming stores throughout the United Kingdom and Europe. In March 2012, the Game Group went into administration and a number of Gamestation stores, including the company's flagship store in Birmingham New Street were closed.
GameCrazy was a video game retailer based in Wilsonville, Oregon. It was a subsidiary of Movie Gallery. The stores were often, but not always, located adjacent to Hollywood Video rental stores.
A second-hand shop is a shop which sells used goods.
Slackers CDs and Games, often shortened to Slackers, is a small chain of entertainment retailers located in the Midwestern United States. The store specializes in both new and used video games and music. It was founded in 1993 in Columbia, Missouri by Kurt Jellinek and Paul Zacharias, originally as a music store. The store is known for selling local independent music, its collection of classic games, and for giving good credit for trade-ins. In 2007, the store raised some controversy for stockpiling Nintendo Wiis. As of 2009, there are 10 locations in Missouri and Illinois.
Playasia is an online retailer of entertainment products from Asia. The website sells import games, DVDs, music, CDs, gadgets, groceries, books, gaming console accessories, cables and toys. Playasia is based in Hong Kong and caters to the Asia-Pacific region, but also offers most of the products to international buyers.
EB Games Australia is an Australian video game, consumer electronics, and gaming merchandise retailer. EB Games mainly sells video games, consoles, and accessories for Nintendo, PC, PlayStation and Xbox systems as well as merchandise related to pop culture/gaming.
FuncoLand was an American video game retailer based in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, that specialized in selling new and used video game software. It is considered the first major video game retailer to allow consumers to sell and trade used video games. The chain's parent company Funco Inc. was established in the home of David R. Pomije in 1988, initially as a leaser of video games to video stores, and then as a mail-order business specializing in used video games. Upon the success of this venture, Pomije moved Funco to a Minneapolis warehouse, and began opening FuncoLand retail outlets nationwide.
Mighty Ape Ltd is an online retailing company founded and operating in New Zealand since 1999, and owned by Australian company Kogan.com since 2020. Formerly known as Gameplanet Store, it is one of the longest running online retailers in New Zealand.
Pink Gorilla, LLC is a retro and imported video game retailer with two locations in Seattle, Washington. It was known as Pink Godzilla Games until 2009. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer considers it "Seattle's best" among such retailers.
Landmark Limited, widely known as Landmark or Landmark bookstores, is a chain of bookstores in India based in Chennai, now wholly owned by Trent, a Tata Group company.
The retail format influences the consumer's store choice and addresses the consumer's expectations. At its most basic level, a retail format is a simple marketplace, that is; a location where goods and services are exchanged. In some parts of the world, the retail sector is still dominated by small family-run stores, but large retail chains are increasingly dominating the sector, because they can exert considerable buying power and pass on the savings in the form of lower prices. Many of these large retail chains also produce their own private labels which compete alongside manufacturer brands. Considerable consolidation of retail stores has changed the retail landscape, transferring power away from wholesalers and into the hands of the large retail chains.
