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Would Nintendo benefit from opening up their own retail stores?

R

RiggyRob

Member
Living in the UK, Nintendo has traditionally had a limited presence tinged with a negative image compared to Sony, Microsoft and even Sega. Even in countries where Nintendo are doing relatively well, retailers are reducing the size of the 3DS and Wii U sections in their stores (even going as far to return shipments of Wii Us to show negative sale numbers), so my question is: Would it be a good idea for Nintendo to open their own stores?

Thinking along the lines of Pokemon Centres in Japan and Nintendo World in New York, and following a path similar to Apple and Disney, they could open up their own stores where they have dedicated demo kiosks for games; a platform for events e.g. Mario Kart and Pokemon tournaments; toys, gifts and merchandise for their main audience (children and nostalgic Nintendo fans), and a walk-in centre for customer support and advice.

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NintendoWorldStoreZeldaDisplay15.jpg
Click to expand...

Do you think Nintendo would consider taking this option, taking into account the time and money that would be required to do so, and would it be a success if they did?

Another thing to consider: Would Nintendo consider pulling out of third-party retailers full-stop in favour of their own store? And what do you think the consequences of this would be?
 
entremet

entremet

Member
Nintendo is very conservative fiscally. Retail is a very expensive operations--wages, rent, operational overhead. Nintendo also doesn't have Apple like margins.
 
I

iMax

Member
RiggyRob said:
Living in the UK, Nintendo has traditionally had a limited presence tinged with a negative image compared to Sony, Microsoft and even Sega. Even in countries where Nintendo are doing relatively well, retailers are reducing the size of the 3DS and Wii U sections in their stores (even going as far to return shipments of Wii Us to show negative sale numbers), so my question is: Would it be a good idea for Nintendo to open their own stores?

Thinking along the lines of Pokemon Centres in Japan and Nintendo World in New York, and following a path similar to Apple and Disney, they could open up their own stores where they have dedicated demo kiosks for games; a platform for events e.g. Mario Kart and Pokemon tournaments; toys, gifts and merchandise for their main audience (children and nostalgic Nintendo fans), and a walk-in centre for customer support and advice.



Do you think Nintendo would consider taking this option, taking into account the time and money that would be required to do so, and would it be a success if they did?

Another thing to consider: Would Nintendo consider pulling out of third-party retailers full-stop in favour of their own store? And what do you think the consequences of this would be?
Click to expand...

It would certainly be a good move for them but I don't know if they're positioned to do it right now. And pulling out of third party is basically tantamount to them shooting themselves in the head.
 
C

CrimsonCrescendo

Banned
The cost of opening up location around the world, to stock said locations, to staff said locations, and to keep said locations running versus the potential benefits are too high for this to ever happen.
 
R

Rich!

Member
Here in the UK they would be closed down within a week.

High street retail for entertainment media is dead.
 
A

Adam_Roman

Member
Only if they wanted to go bankrupt even faster. GameStop's closing a bunch of retail stores, Best Buy and Sony already did recently, and Circuit City went under a few years back. Physical retailers are being phased out. There's a reason the joke of "people going to Best Buy to test drive a computer before buying it on Amazon" exists. The reason the Nintendo World Store can look so cool is because they only have to worry about managing that one retail store.
 
F

flkraven

Member
I think it's a little too late for them now. 10 years ago, I really felt they should have gone the Disney route with theme parks, stores, and more cartoons, but they missed the boat, and now they risk falling into obscurity while a new wave of young children grow up not knowing who they are. Most kids now still know who Mickey Mouse is, even though he has been largely irrelevant for a long time.
 
S

Somnid

Member
I think operating a few boutique stores would benefit them greatly. They are very much benefited by a "come in a try it" type of place. They don't have to be huge and they don't need a lot of them but I think putting one in large cities would be a great idea. They also very badly need to have a full service online store that sells all their merchandise.
 
K

KojiKnight

Member
The better option would be to partner with big name toy companies and pay them to build a section. I don't mean what a lot of stores do where they've made their own, I mean big signs, big displays, section it off so it actually looks like it's own little section inside the store.
 
N

Ninja Dom

Member
richisawesome said:
Here in the UK they would be closed down within a week.

High street retail for entertainment media is dead.
Click to expand...

We have a Nintendo Store in London. Within John Lewis on Oxford Street. It's been open for a couple of years now. It's very small and there isn't any particular reason to buy your games from there compared to any other retailer.
 
Z

Zalman

Member
Ninja Dom said:
We have a Nintendo Store in London. Within John Lewis on Oxford Street. It's been open for a couple of years now. It's very small and there isn't any particular reason to buy your games from there compared to any other retailer.
Click to expand...
That's why such a store shouldn't just be for games. There would be toys, movies, books, plushies, shirts and so on. Launch parties, events, tournaments. Lots of opportunities.

The store in NY is successful, isn't it? I don't see why they couldn't do more. Just don't open 30 stores in a year. Do it slowly and see what happens.
 
Y

Yirba

Member
Ninja Dom said:
We have a Nintendo Store in London. Within John Lewis on Oxford Street. It's been open for a couple of years now. It's very small and there isn't any particular reason to buy your games from there compared to any other retailer.
Click to expand...
Despite that, Nintendo's shop within John Lewis was apparently "a hit", so they might open up more.
 
A

ab.aeterno

Member
RiggyRob said:
Would it be a good idea for Nintendo to open their own stores?

Do you think Nintendo would consider taking this option, taking into account the time and money that would be required to do so, and would it be a success if they did?
Click to expand...

A limited number of boutique stores scattered sparingly throughout key country markets? That could be interesting, though whether it would be successful is harder to say.

If you're imagining something at the scale of the Apple Store, then that's a resounding no, with a dash mirthful laughter.

RiggyRob said:
Another thing to consider: Would Nintendo consider pulling out of third-party retailers full-stop in favour of their own store? And what do you think the consequences of this would be?
Click to expand...
They would only consider that if they wanted a surefire way to take their business and set it on fucking fire. That would be the worst, most ludicrous and truly stupid business decision in recent history and would doom them to bankruptcy.
 
O

Origami Superman

Member
They could. People are quoting Sony's store closures as an example here, but Nintendo could make bank just by selling official merchandise. There's no reason why it has to be a dedicated electronics store.
 
J

Jackano

Member
It will be a good idea if you ask me.
Event at the Nintendo World Store are always pretty cool to see games and cosplayers.
Young japanese kids have to be sucked into Pokemon at the latest the year they go one day of holiday in the Pokepark.
It is less a store than a casual museum that communicates the values of the brand.
But they quiet don't give a s**t about that either.
 
blazeuk

blazeuk

Member
To give them some presence in the retail space, yes it would be a great idea. Even if they were just breaking even it would put them out there, Nintendo is mostly dead in the UK, even the dedicated game stores are giving them barely any space and Wii games are slowly disappearing from shelves too which would decrease their presence even more. If stores are refusing to stock their products then they're going to have to open some dedicated stores in targeted locations (we're not talking thousands of stores, more one store in some of the major cities).

Nintendo have plenty of products/merchandise that I could easily see selling well, we're not talking Wii U stores here.
 
A

Azure Phoenix

Member
Maybe not Nintendo dedicated retail stores on your typical high street, but I certainly wish they'd bring the Pokemon Centres/Nintendo World Store to more countries. Surely major cities that attract a lot of tourism, like London, would be a prime place for a large Nintendo merchandise store?
 
B

Benzychenz

Member
If their QoL stuff takes off I think it'd be a good idea.

Having gaming, fitness/health and a ton of merchandise (like the pokemon plushies in the op) would be a decent enough variety to make it viable... maybe.
 
G

georly

Member
My family went to new york for the SOLE purpose of going to nintendo world store.

One the one hand, i'd like more of them, because it was incredible for a nintendo fan. It would be nice to go to major launch events for games at a store solely dedicated to nintendo fans.

On the other hand, it would make nintendo world store less special. I'm torn.
 
A

ampere

Member
No I don't think so. It would be a large financial risk and they are already having trouble moving merchandise. They really need to find a new niche, but I don't think opening retail stores would help with that. They can and should increase their presence in retail/online marketplaces with more advertising.
 
Robin64

Robin64

Member
A proper Nintendo World in London would be slick. And not just "a shop selling games", but all the plushies and accessories and toys and games and everything.
 
S

Screamapillar

Member
It would likely be more expensive and more work than the resources and manpower they put into their hardware and software. Which is to say, they're a content and device company, not a retail chain.

They would need to absorb or partner with a major retailer to make something like that happen, and the cost would probably exceed anything they're willing to consider.

The only way I could see it being feasible is to partner with something like a GameStop and agree to invest in half of the cost of the operations of "Nintendo-only Gamestop" outlets. The problem is, of course, if those stores don't perform well enough, all the outlets get closed down and Nintendo is then in even worse shape than they are right now.

The best thing for Nintendo to do is capitalize on their most commercially-viable product on the market, and that is 3DS. Make as much money from 3DS hardware, software, and accessories as you can, while 3DS is still in it's prime, and then do whatever you can to at least turn Wii U into a break-even business, and then spend some R&D on some new and exciting devices for next-gen handheld and console.

I don't see anything else working for them. I think that Day 1 digital first-party games is a step in the right direction. No retail margin, no middle-man, huge margin for Nintendo on those digital games. They just need higher install bases of their hardware in order to sell more copies of those first-party games.

It seems like Mario Kart 8 is getting by far the most positive press and attention I've seen thus far for a Wii U title, so I think this will be a nice test to see if big first-party titles can sell enough Wii Us to keep the console afloat until 2016 or 2017. That game could easily have a 1:1 ratio with Wii U hardware sales. Given that it seems Wii U at present is basically a hardcore Nintendo fan machine.
 
S

spyroflame0487

Member
I think Nintendo could set up little stores in like malls or something.
Third party wise, Nintendo World sells Skylanders so I don't think they'd be opposed to having room for third party games.
 
C

Colombo

Member
Down Under in Melbourne, Australia, Nintendo pays for renovations and possibly rent for the 2nd floor of a city EB Games store. EB Staff run the store but it's usually just one staff member at a counter. It's called 'The Nintendo Experience' and has been around for ages now. It's definitely succesful because Nintendo do many launches there and are currently renovating and updating the store.

The game prices are just standard EB prices but there are obviously kiosks to play Wii, Wii U, 3DS and 2DS as well as Nintendo related merchandise for sale.
 
A

Albo

Member
Nope, not now. Microsoft tried it, it just closed down. Sony tried it, they're now closing many of theirs down. GAME, Blockbuster and HMV have also closed many of their stores down. I doubt it would work for ninty, especially in the UK. Maybe they could experiment with one or two like they have with the NYC store. I think they'd have had far more chance of being successful if they tried back in 2008 for example when the nintendo brand was more popular then ever.
 
Laieon

Laieon

Member
I wouldn't be opposed to Nintendo opening 2 or 3 more Nintendo Worlds throughout the US. Maybe one in California, one in Texas, and one somewhere else.
 
V

VariantX

Member
ciaossu said:
No I don't think so. It would be a large financial risk and they are already having trouble moving merchandise. They really need to find a new niche, but I don't think opening retail stores would help with that. They can and should increase their presence in retail/online marketplaces with more advertising.
Click to expand...

Yep. You're adding the cost of running stores and all of their associated costs to the problem. It would make sense if they were selling as much stuff with the same level of demand as they were in the previous generation. Its pointless to build a store centered around a group of products that dont have much demand.
 
S

Somnid

Member
VariantX said:
Yep. You're adding the cost of running stores and all of their associated costs to the problem. It would make sense if they were selling as much stuff with the same level of demand as they were in the previous generation. Its pointless to build a store centered around a group of products that dont have much demand.
Click to expand...

So most people are missing the fact that the bulk of what these types of stores sell is high margin novelty items like apparel and character goods that are very difficult to get elsewhere.
 
C

Coolwhip

Banned
I would like it. I doubt it makes financial sense though, not right now at least. Maybe when retail stores gain popularity again.

Who wouldn't want to walk in a store full of Nintendo items and a dude dressed like Mario behind the counter?
 
I

Interceptor

Banned
I think it would be a great idea. Open up a few but exclusives stores to sell software but mainly hardware and merchandise. With the upcoming QoL stuff it would be a nice opportunity to establish brand awareness.
 
R

RiggyRob

Member
Looks like the general consensus is that an electronics-only Nintendo store would be a massive failure, but a toy/merchandise store could be profitable depending on how Nintendo rolled it out. Interesting.

For what it's worth, I'd love to see more Nintendo Worlds world-wide but especially in Europe (UK, Germany, France would all have varying degrees of success). Plus a Nintendo theme park would be glorious
but very obviously Japan only.
 
Oppo

Oppo

Member
That NYC store –

it photographs nicely but it really isn't anything too special. Quite small actually. Mostly t-shirts and dumb merch. It looks impressive because it's grafted to a Toys R Us with a ferris wheel inside it.

Might not be a bad idea for them to build it out ala Disney but the other posters are right, this would be a very expensive venture.
 
C

captmcblack

Member
It'd be nice for them to have more than 1 Nintendo World Store...but there doesn't need to be a bunch of them at all.

1 in NYC, 1 in LA, 1 in Chicago or Texas or something, 1 in the UK, 1 in France, 1 in Germany. The HQs for Nintendo in the US and Japan can also have a NWS in them. That's all the Nintendo-specific retail presence they need to be operating, and that's only because these stores also serve to sell toys, candy, merch and other Nintendo paraphenalia. These stores are as much Nintendo museums as they are retail operations...and that's why the limited number works perfectly.
 
T

Tiktaalik

Member
I certainly think they should (I might have even made this same thread in the past).

Nintendo has for years been poorly served by video game retail and Nintendo has already positioned themselves as distinct and apart from the rest of the gaming pack. If they have their own stores they can dramatically enhance the shopping experience of buying Nintendo products, and they will be able to control how their products are sold.

I would second as well that Nintendo uniquely has enough licensed products that they could make their own stores interesting (ie. stuffed pokemon everywhere).

It turns out that Ron Johnson, the guy who steered the Apple stores, is available (since disastrously managing JC Penny). Nintendo should hire him.
 
EventHorizon

EventHorizon

Member
No. If retailers thought that a larger Nintendo section would make them more money then they would do it. The Nintendo section sizes are shrinking because they aren't profitable enough. Any money Nintendo would make due to increased sales from the stores would more than be made up for by the cost of those stores.
 
M

Mysterious

Banned
They should open a fully-fleshed out online store (not like eShop, more akin to Sony, Apple and Microsoft's own online stores).
 
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