Retailer Xbite concerned by “adverse effect” of indie closures

Indie online retailer Xbite has issued a pre-emptive statement following the collapse of three well known independent UK games sellers.

Grainger Games, Gameseek and Game Centre have all fallen into liquidation over the past two months, which sees more than 70 High Street shops and three online stores now lost from the UK retail scene.

A handful of independent games stores remain, including Xbite, which operates 365Games.com.

"There is a lot of negative news coming from our industry in recent months with Grainger Games, Gameseek and now Games Centre not being able to make things work," said company boss Nick Whitehead. "I am conscious that this will have an adverse affect on existing companies in the industry so I want to talk about my company and our current position."

Whitehad states that the company now employs 90 staff and posts a trading profit of just over £1m, which is 50% up over the previous 12 month period. The firm has achieved this by moving away from video games.

"We used to be 100% reliant on video games but today that represents just under 50% of our income," he states.

The company has also expanded its warehouse and office spaces. Although Whitehead admits the past two months have been slower than usual. "Our UK income has generally flat lined during April and May and we feel disappointed with this result given we are working at 100 mph to make progress," he admits. Adding: "Given the recent negative events we are clearly outperforming the market."