Opinion: GameStop keeps expanding at the cost of local, intimate gaming shops

As Retail & Leisure International (RLI) points out in a recent article, GameStops are a worldwide presence. The video game giant, owned by Barnes & Noble, is now a conglomeration of many different video game stores. After all, Funcoland, EB Games, Software Etc. and Babbages were all acquired and merged together on the company’s path to domination. In fact, the giant is growing even bigger, recently acquiring the French video game chain Micromania.

But, this growth also means that smaller chains and family-owned game stores may become even more rare. I can name at least seven GameStops in my immediate area but, ,when it comes to just a local game store, I find only two…