GAME still eying up HMV store acquisitions

The boss of retailer GAME has reiterated that the chain could yet move to acquire store sites from HMV.

Chief executive Martyn Gibbs made a similar claim last month. And if it is planning a move, it had best get a move on – HMV confirmed a fresh round of store closures today that roughly halves the number of outlets it have compared to when it fell into administration.

In addition, GAME could acquire some former Jessops and Blockbuster stores, too.

We’re constantly reviewing our store portfolio, and where there are opportunities with HMV, Jessops and Blockbuster we’ll look at them,” Gibbs told Retail Week.

Gibbs added that GAME is hoping to expand its market share by 30 per cent through growing its digital games presence. The retailer already sells download codes in store and online.

The retail boss also spoke positively of GAME’s current owners OpCapita, saying that under them transformations have been completed quickly” and that there’s not been anything that I have tabled that hasn’t been passed”.

Confident of an upturn in the market, GAME is currently rolling out new store designs that will see tills pushed to the back to improve the flow of shoppers” and the implementation of demo-focused ‘challenge areas’.

180 of its 330 UK stores have been refitted in the last 18 months.