GameStop Confirms Wind Down of Operations in Germany
As part of its current quarterly results, GameStop has also confirmed its withdrawal from Germany. This will be completed before the end of the current financial year. GameStop does not want to rule out further, even extensive store closures at this time.
After the closure of all German branches of GameStop was revealed by employees on Reddit and various media outlets reported on the withdrawal, the US retail company has also officially confirmed the closure of GameStop in Germany. The current quarterly report of the listed company states: "During the third quarter of fiscal 2024, we initiated a plan to wind down our operations in Germany, with store operations scheduled to end by the close of the fiscal year. In connection with this plan, we recognized impairment expense of $1.0 million."
The measure is related to various efforts by GameStop to return to profitability. In this context, international business was and is also being examined. GameStop had already withdrawn from Ireland, Switzerland and Austria in fiscal year 2023. Its business in Italy was sold on November 8, with GameStop stores in Italy continuing to operate under the GameStop brand for a transitional period of six months.
In the report, GameStop also does not rule out the possibility of further, possibly even more extensive closures in the future. "We have also initiated a comprehensive store portfolio optimization review which involves identifying stores for closure based on many factors, including an evaluation of current market conditions and individual store performance. While this review is ongoing and a specific set of stores has not been identified for closure, we anticipate that it may result in the closure of a larger number of stores than we have closed in the past few years", the SEC-Filling for the Quarterly Result says.