John Lewis eyes more special games shops

The Nintendo Shop at John Lewis Oxford Street could be the first of many, the department store specialist has told MCV.

The Nintendo area in its flagship London shop has outperformed John Lewis’ other video gaming departments, the chain’s games buyer Robert Hennessy told MCV.

The section launched last year as part of a wider bid by John Lewis to grow its presence in the category.The Nintendo shop was a hit,” said Hennessy. We are now assessing how we take this forward.”

However, Hennessy warns that the biggest issue facing games retailers this year is generating profit in the face of severe price cutting.

The big challenge for retailers of gaming is profitability,” he added. There have been some eye watering discounts offered and these have led to very slim margins. I hope that this is not the case for the rest of 2012.”