Movie Gallery, which owns the Game Crazy chain, has announced (via Joystiq) that it's planning on closing 200+ Game Crazy locations out of about 680. Regarding the Game Crazy stores located within Hollywood Video stores, the movie rental chain will remain open after their Game Crazy sections are removed.
A spokesperson stated, "Movie Gallery, Inc. is currently operating in an unprecedented consumer/retail environment. In order for us to continue to best serve our millions of customers across North America we're addressing underperforming stores and ensuring that there is sufficient [return on investment] associated with each of these stores going forward. The vast majority of our stores will be unaffected by these efforts."
The Game Crazy closings are not likely to have much impact on the game industry. There's a slight chance it could give GameStop a small boost, says Sterne Agee analyst Arvind Bhatia: "We estimate Game Crazy has a small (1% to 2%) market share in the video game industry.
Game Crazy also offers used video games. A disruption at Game Crazy is conceivably a slight positive for GameStop."
The closings, however, will benefit consumers for a few weeks. Joystiq also managed to uncover some details of the liquidation sale, which begins this weekend. From October 3-9, everything in the store will be slashed by 30%, then from October 10-16 everything will be reduced 50%, and finally from October 17 up until closing (possibly Oct. 27) items will be cut all the way down to 80%. A list of which locations are closing is not available yet.
