GameStop No Longer Plans to Sell Comics In Stores

GameStop no longer has plans to sell comic books in its stores, the company has confirmed to ComicBook.com. The massive gaming retailer said back in June 2018 it would begin selling comics in GameStop and ThinkGeek locations as a trial run to see how that form of entertainment performed with its customers. GameStop confirmed the latest on the comic book plans and said selling that medium in stores was not considered a “good proposition” for the company.

GameStop spoke to ComicBook.com recently about the company’s redesigned PowerUp Rewards program and other consumer-facing topics. News on GameStop’s intentions with in-store comic book sales has been quiet ever since the initial details were shared years ago, so we asked whether GameStop still planned on moving forward with selling comic books. A spokesperson for the company confirmed it does not plan on doing so.

“Our team of merchandising experts are constantly exploring what new products we should offer in our stores, based on customer demand,” a GameStop spokesperson said. “While we initially conducted a small comic book test in our ThinkGeek stores, as this time we are not planning on offering comic books inside our stores. The number of SKUs we would have to carry to ensure we offered a wide selection of comic books verses the lack of customer demand at this time simply does not make offering comic books in our stores a good proposition.”

These comics in the test stores were to be sold on spinner racks which would be stocked with comics on a weekly basis, according to details shared previously by GameStop. The company aligned with Diamond Comic Distributors to make the tests happen and said the test stores and their selections of available comics would cater largely to Marvel and DC readers.

GameStop has tested other experimental practices in recent years geared towards giving consumers more options both before and after they make purchases. One of these promotions, for example, is the “Guaranteed to Love It” trade offer where users can return a new game for the full price within a certain amount of time if they weren’t satisfied with it. The promotion started with Days Gone, and Hamlin said the company plans on having a broader rollout of that promotion later this year beyond the select stores it’s currently available in. Another example is the redesigned PowerUp Rewards program which offers subscribers a new benefit now.

Update: GameStop’s comments came from multiple people who weighed in on various topics. This article has been updated to reflect that.