Game Mania files for bankruptcy, stores closed from tomorrow

This article was last updated on September 3, 2024

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Game Mania files for bankruptcy, stores closed from tomorrow

Game Mania has filed for bankruptcy. The game seller’s webshop will remain up and running for the time being, but the physical stores – 21 in the Netherlands, 14 in Belgium with a total of 165 employees – will be closed from tomorrow.

On the website states that the company is waiting to see what the court decides on the bankruptcy application. “We thank our employees for their efforts, our customers for their years of loyalty, and our trading partners for their cooperation.”

History

Game Mania was founded in Antwerp in 1992 by three Belgian entrepreneurs. In 2006 the company was bought by Free Record Shop. Then that chain started to struggle financially the game stores continued independently again in 2013, under the leadership of the founders.

In 2019 Director Kris Lenaerts told trade magazine RetailTrends that the number of physical stores was taken into account. The company would close 10 percent of its stores so that it could better focus on the online store. “I would rather close a branch too early than too late,” Lenaerts said at the time. Game Mania then had 75 physical stores.

Last June, parent company Heroik applied for a deferment of payment, giving it three months to find a buyer. The management then announced in a press release that it had no other choice. The company referred to the “digitalization of the video games industry”, “the highly competitive retail landscape” and “the significant cost increases due to inflation”.

Finding a buyer was therefore not successful, and the bankruptcy application now follows.

Game Mania is the next in a series of collapsing high-profile retail chains. In recent months there have been bankruptcies at BCC, Esprit, Scotch&Soda, Perry Sport and Big Bazar. Retail experts also see the future of Blocker gloomy.

The causes put forward by the companies are fairly similar. So also be a clothing store Spirit to the increasing energy and purchasing costs. Bargain chain Big Bazar mentioned the after-effects of corona, too high rents for retail properties and declining customers due to economic headwinds. And the owner of an electronics chain BCC talked about rent, wages and energy all becoming more expensive: “To make money you simply have to make higher margins, but major suppliers refuse to move in that direction.”