Yorkshire playing its part in games shop boom

CeX, which sells new and used games along with other electronic equipment, is in the process of opening new stores in York, Grimsby and Halifax and is looking at at least nine other towns in the region as it takes advantage of competitive leases in the subdued retail market.

Meanwhile, Grainger Games, which buys and sells new and pre-owned video games, plans to grow from 41 stores to up to 100 by 2013, including 40 in Yorkshire.

It has opened six new stores across Yorkshire since March, taking the total to seven, and has plans for more shops across East Yorkshire and the Humber.

CeX has 57 corporate stores and 59 franchise stores in its portfolio and is opening one new shop every two weeks with the aim of reaching 400 stores.

Its Yorkshire operations include Barnsley, Bradford, Bridlington, Dewsbury, Doncaster, Huddersfield, Hull, Leeds, Sheffield and Wakefield. It also has a store in Scunthorpe and plans to open one in Grimsby in two weeks.

There are three types of shops in CeX's portfolio: standard stores between 1,500 sq ft and 2,000 sq ft, mini stores of 500 sq ft, and midi stores, which fall somewhere in between.

Franchise director Hugh Man said: "The availability of stores and the deals we can get mean its a good time to expand for us. Twelve months' rent free is standard and very often it's more than that."

The Watford-based company, which employs 900 staff in its corporate stores, predicts a 120m turnover for 2010, up from 80,000-90,000 last year. The average turnover of each store is 1m.

Mr Man said: "Because we are in the second-hand business, we are relatively recession-proof. In today's market, when people are strapped for cash, they are more likely to offload goods rather than leaving them to sit in a drawer and, in hard times, people are more likely to consider buying second-hand goods."

Meanwhile, Newcastle-based Grainger Games, which opens its 41st store in Castleford tomorrow, is also focusing its sights on Yorkshire and has already opened in towns and cities including Doncaster, Leeds, Bradford and Selby since March. It currently employs 190 staff.

Managing director Stephen Bowyer said: "We are very pleased with both the response from our new customers to our offer and to how well the stores are trading. We have also opened in Grimsby and have more stores across East Yorkshire and the Humber."

Phil Moore, sales director, added: "Our demographic is the family and core gaming market, which opens up every town and city for us to look at."

Digital boom

CeX was founded in London in 1992 by six friends.

It buys, sells and exchanges a range of technology and entertainment products including mobile phones, video games, DVDs, HD films, computers, digital electronics, vision and

music CDs.

Grainger Games was founded by father-and-son team John and Stephen Bowyer at Grainger Market in Newcastle in 1997.

They steadily grew in the North-East, opening new stores.

Customers buy a new title, take it home and complete the game before returning it to the store, either for money or higher-value credit note. They can then choose to buy a new or cheaper pre-owned game.