Source: Radio New Zealand
Hundreds of people have lined up outside EB Games stores around the country, eager to get some last minute bargains before the shops shut down.
The gaming outlet announced on Wednesday that it would be shutting all 38 stores around NZ by 31 January. They kicked off 50 percent off sales on Thursday, with no click and collect available until Friday, so gamers flocked on foot to stores.
A St Lukes mall security guard told RNZ by about 12.15pm up to 500 people had gathered around the store waiting to get in.
“… We were not prepared for anything like this… we had to setup barriers and organise a grumpy crowd on the fly,” he told RNZ.
Klaris Phillipson and her daughter Paige waited in line at St Lukes EB Games for three hours, eager to grab some Star Wars collectibles they said were hard to find anywhere else.
“I’ve been going there [EB Games] for 30 years, from when we lived in Sydney… there’s nothing like it in New Zealand,” Klaris told RNZ.
Brothers Kartik and Shivansh Sehgal waited three-and-a-half hours to get into EB Games, a shop they said defined their childhood.
They were looking to buy Pokémon cards, Lego sets and gaming accessoreies.
“A lot of things are online, but EB Games was the first place we would visit for reliable older secondhand games,” they said.
EB Games is an Australian-based video game and pop culture merchandise retailer, owned by GameStop since 2005. There are currently 336 outlets in Australia, according to GameStop’s latest annual report.
– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
