GameStop plans to wind down Nordic presence, close more stores to cut costs

GameStop is in the process of winding down its operations in Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden, an exit that aims to help the company get its finances back on track.

GameStop CEO George Sherman said in a quarterly conference call that the company has only begun the process of winding down those dealings in Nordic countries, but expects doing so will lead to an earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization run rate improvement of $15 million.

Currently, GameStop leadership says the company is around 50 percent through the expense reduction process, 10 percent further along than its last quarterly call in September, with $30 million in reduction to its corporate overhead accounted for at this point. That process has seen the company execute rounds of sizable layoffs and store closures since starting down the reboot path, and unfortunately more store closures look to be on the way as GameStop continues to take inventory of its underperforming locations.

By this point in the current fiscal year, GameStop has closed around 140 stores deemed underperforming, though it notes that the rate at which it has shuttered locations this year is “very consistent” with the closure rate of years past. Ultimately, GameStop says it is on track to have between 230 and 250 fewer stores under its name by the close of fiscal 2019 than it did in the preceding year.