GAME Australia to open more than 25 stores this year

Robert Lukic, managing director of GAME Australia, has revealed that the retailer plans to open more than 25 new branches by the end of 2007.

"We plan to expand rapidly over the next three years. We'll open in excess of another 25 stores prior to Christmas this year," he told Gamespot.

"Given that property is opportunity-led, quite often you don't get the opportunity to open stores at, letâs say, three a month. We have some months coming up where we will open 10 stores at a time, and we'll have other months where we'll only have one or two stores opening."

Lukic went on to confirm that GAME Australia will be launching an online store within the next two months, and that users will be able to log in and customise their entry page.

"We'd also like to incorporate a pay-per-month downloadable game content service, and we're working on that currently. And we're working on how we would link some of our pre-owned offerings on our web site," he added.

Lukic admitted that EB Games is still dominant in Australia "in terms of their geographic locations", stating, "I think EB's leading market position will be here for some time."

He concluded, "We certainly plan to deliver, on a location by location basis, the best possible consumer experience."