It was only a matter of time before shifting market trends forced games retailer GameStop to modify its strategy. During a recent presentation at GameStop's 2014 Investor Day, CEO Paul Raines outlined a new strategy that will see the company focus less on games and more on gaming-adjacent tech fields.
Dubbed GameStop 3.0, the initiative will initially involve the wireless industry and the Apple ecosystem. Most don't know that the gaming retailer is already active in the wireless industry as it owns AT&T specialist Spring Mobile in addition to operating several Cricket Wireless locations across the country.
In fact, GameStop is the third largest AT&T dealer in the US - who knew?
On that front, the company plans to open anywhere from 200 to 250 new Spring Mobile stores and another 100 to 150 Cricket locations within fiscal 2014.
GameStop will also add 20-25 new Simply Mac stores which specialize in Apple products. The new retail locations will join the 23 existing stores and will be built in markets that are currently underserved by Apple's own retail chain.
At the same time, the company is closing a small amount of brick-and-mortar stores under the GameStop banner. In total, they plan to shutter between 120 and 130 of their nearly 6,500 locations - or about two percent of all stores.
The changes are expected to generate up to $425 million in additional sales during fiscal 2014 with all three business having the potential to be $1 billion businesses in the coming years, Raines said.