Gamer Grunt: The Starbucks Effect

Like all establishments which people have come to know and love, management can do something really stupid and implode in itself. Well... not physically and nothing to do with coffee beans, but the way some people are doing business, imagine ultra charging a Red Bull about 6 times the norm; well, that's what's happening out there.

Off the topic of caffeine now, this is actually to do with sporadic appearance of game stores, and some appearing in stupid places, just like what Starbucks did at one point, build a store in the middle of just nowhere. I know now is the best time to actually go and invest for the future, but there's a limit to how stupid someone must get to actually bother to build one in places people would actually think about games.

One such location... about 200 metres away from a freaking beach, close to the strip and when I say the strip, the strip that's just full of pub, nightclubs and gentleman's areas, not brilliant I must say... Another store location, in a shopping centre in the middle of nowhere, but I'll let that one slide since it isn't actually a half bad idea, though, it does become moronically idiotic to actually build it in every single shopping centre that's also located in the middle of nowhere, along with the big shopping centres less than 10km away.

I call that a problem due to many simple facts, Games are a commodity; it isn't like food where it runs out when it is done. They may have the same value as books or even more (or less if you count specialised books), but the simple fact is, if someone wants it and it is close to where they work, which would be the more suitable option? If one argues that it would be targeting people who live close to that location, think about the closest schools and people who love games.

Let's see... average age of gamers... 30-ish... 20's and up, they'd half the brain to actually either look for a cheaper place or closer to where they work if the store is still open... schools... more than 1km or mile away. Get the picture? Unless it is a remote place in the country side, then small would be deemed okay and it may do well.

What really startles me in a total whole is that idea of being very inflexible in terms of the way the entire franchise is done. This is such as the argument of the twig and sticks; stick being the big store and twig being the small. Though, places selling games cheaper than most of the other bigger stores, should take note not to tick people off.

Those believe everyone are idiots, always paying high prices, one word... "Starbucks".

Nothing is ever free, just inflated prices