From Meme Stock To Reality Check: GameStop’s Latest Moves

A few years back there was a movie called Dumb Money. A very interesting movie about a true story. A story about short sellers betting on GameStop to fail. Paul Dano, the star playing Keith Gill also known as Roaring Kitty asking his podcast listeners to buy GameStop stock. 

To my way of thinking, the movie had a very satisfying ending. (Mostly true.) And GameStop is still out there functioning. However, they have been forced now to restructure and in doing so they are getting rid of 400 stores. 

According to Consumeraffairs.COM,
‘GameStop, which became a meme stock during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, has announced plans to close approximately 400 retail stores, marking one of the most significant contractions in the video game retailer’s long and turbulent history.’ 

I think it's safe to say that this is not unforeseen. GameStop wants to remain profitable, and they have to contract in order to do so to satisfy stockholders. With up to 400 stores going away, it's pretty obvious that some stores in Washington state have to go as well. 

According to seattletimes.com,
‘GameStop didn’t immediately confirm the list of closed locations. The affected locations are marked permanently closed online:’ 

We'll get to that list of nine locations in Washington state in just a moment. 

GameStop actually netted more profits in 2025 than they did in 2024, so they must be doing something right. In 2024 their net profits were approximately $17.4 million. 

In 2025, it was up to. $41.3 million. It would seem to me that that's good news.
"Hey, Let's celebrate by closing 400 stores."  

An odd little postscript, one of the GameStop stores in Washington that's going to stay open is the location in East Wenatchee. 

Washington stores closing

The nine GameStop locations in Washington state that Seattle Times SCOM says are closed. 

The Bothell Center: 18827 Bothell Way N.E., Bothell 

 Meadowbrook Plaza: 1705 S.E. Meadowbrook Blvd., College Place 

 Federal Way Marketplace: 34512 16th Ave. S., Federal Way 

 Canyon Lakes Center: 4008 W. 27th Ave., Kennewick 

 The Village at Totem Lake: 12525 Totem Lake Blvd., Kirkland 

 Lakewood Towne Center: 5605 Lakewood Towne Center Blvd., Lakewood 

 164th Street Crossing: 1402 164th St. S.W., Lynnwood 

 Bear Creek Village: 17128 Redmond Way, Redmond 

 Westgate South: 2315 N. Pearl St., Tacoma