I'm going to preface this by saying that I've dealt with some really good GameStop employees, and won't paint the entire operation with the same brush. So, let's get to it: 

• In my experience, GameStop does not hire employees with significant retail experience, or even necessarily interest in games. I find this rather astounding, and it's based on over a dozen GameStop/EB locations around the city (of Toronto).
• The deliberate and often poorly performed initiation of a conversation about games is a deterrent for me, especially if the GameStop employee knows less about games than I do. Considering I am not involved in the interactive entertainment industry, that shouldn't happen.
• I understand that GameStop makes a slim margin on new game sales, but the success or lack thereof of their negotiating team to reach a contractual agreement that provides for more palatable profit margins is not my problem as a consumer.
• I don't have a problem with preorder bonuses either.
• While the consumer should take responsibility in tracking their retail transactions, the reservation of an item is definitely on the retailer, especially with a paid deposit to secure that reservation. A consumer should not be expected or required to constantly check on the status of their deposit or expected item; if he or she has to do that, why bother with the retailer as the middleman between consumer and distributor? The entire value of a retailer is to manage the transaction which includes (but is not limited to) ordering, tracking and provisioning the desired goods. Also, how can you assume that the consumer is an adult?
• Video gaming isn't mainstream? I think you may want to reconsider that statement, the recent launch of Halo: Reach is a good example of its impact in the entertainment industry.

• Best Buy does not drastically and consistently under order games that are widely expected to perform high sales volume. Running out of Halo: Reach Legendary Editions before release is either an indicator of artificially forcing consumer attention towards preordering before release/used copies after release, or a continual pattern of extremely poor planning.
• Best Buy does not continually push the consumer towards the used version of a game when a consumer explicitly asks about the new copy of a game and/or asks about a game while standing in the new game section and/or asks for a new game at the cashier, which has only the new games nearby in the locked storage cage.
• Best Buy does not apply its rewards program only to used games.

I feel like they are an okay solution to having a retail presence in the videogames industry.
 
However i also think they are made completely unnecessary by retailers like best buy and amazon. Even Kmart, Target, and WalMart serve this market better for new games.
 
As for used games smaller, locally owned shops are a better choice almost every time, for price, quality, and customer service. It's just a shame that the blight of gamestops across the country has made it difficult for these smaller shops to stay in business. Alternatives like ebay, craigslist, goozex, or amazon marketplace are also better altenatives for trade-ins as the value goes back to other consumers.

I shop at Amazon, 'nuff said.

At the end of the day, if you don't like Gamestop, don't shop there.  That's perfectly fine.  Please though, just spare everyone and don't attach your 'I hate Gamestop.  Here's what they did wrong to me today' blog to the forums.

Here in New Zealand, GameStop (a.k.a EB Games) muscled its way into our market, and uses its status as a fat conglomerate to steamroll over all our other retailers, with things like exclusive Limited Editions. It eliminates competition which means that EB then sells us those Limited Editions for full RRP, and consumers have no alternative if they want that edition of the game. They sell all regular games for their full RRP too, which gives our locally owned businesses a bit of room to manoeuvre, but not by much. Much like it did in the U.S, GameStop obviously intends to be the only retailer in the market, and has already brought up several other retailers in New Zealand, and turned them into EB Games'. 
 
The practice of eliminating competition - rather than being competitive - is just crap for consumers to put up with. 

It comes down to how the manager  of that store runs things. I lived in phoenix for 3 years and having 5 different gamestops within 15 minutes of an area was funny to me,  but we figured out which store was the best and drove there to browse. I also understand them pushing preorders, they were told to by their boss which is understandable from a business point of view, but I've never been grill me for not putting money down. 
 
@Anthony said:

" Gamestop  "I'd like to purchase game X" "We're out. DId you pre-order? No? You should have pre-orderrrrrrrrrred!"  Best Buy *Walks into store, sees plentiful stacks of game X ready to purchase without hassle* "

I don't expect any special treatment from Gamestop of any store for that matter, besides the average employee to customer interaction. But the problem with Gamestop, at least the ones I've been to, have always been so persistent with the pre-orders. I remember when I went to buy God of War 2 when it released the clerk asked me if I wanted to pre-order Heavenly Sword. I said, "No' but then instead of the clerk saying "OK" and ringing me up he kept on. 
  "You sure?"  
"Yeah, I'm sure." 
"It's a lot like God of War." 
"No" 
"It's going to release soon" (Which it wasn't, the game was still 5 months off and I believe the release date wasn't even announced yet.)
"No" 
I mean seriously why would anybody put up with that? I don't entirely know how I put up with it. And to top it off he wouldn't ring me up until after this whole pre-order business. Felt like I was being backed up against a wall. I didn't go back to Gamestop for awhile after that. 
 
But last year I decided to go to a Gamestop again because it was close to where I was shopping. I went in to buy Star Wars: the Force Unleashed. It was kind of old at that point so I looked around in the new section and couldn't find it, maybe I just couldn't see it I'm not sure. So, I went to the cashier desk and asked if they had it. He said yeah and went to get it. Came back with a used copy. Didn't ask if I wanted a used copy just grabbed it and started to ring me up. I had to stop him and ask if they had a new one. His response? He actually rolled his eyes and said "Yeah." in that kind of long winded way then asked if I wanted to pre-order anything. Now you're trying to shove used games down my throat along with the pre-orders? Yeah, fuck Gamestop. Never going there ever again. Best Buy and Target doesn't give me this BS so I'll be happy there.

Well, I've chewed on this a bit and came up with a few issues I have with OP's post.
 
First, you say that video game consumers aren't any different than other consumers and do not deserve special treatment. You go on to say that it's not their hangout and shouldn't waste the company's time hanging around in there.  I have a couple of issues with those statements.  Let's go into the latter first.
 
It would be in the best interest of Game Stop to keep customers in the store as long as possible, and they know it.  Many gamestop stores I've been inside often include at least a couple of consoles running new games. The purpose of those games is to tantalize the customer of what they could be playing only if they purchased that title.  It has an added benefit of getting more marketplace penetration to the potential buyer.  As an anecdote, I purchased Dragon Quest 9 and as much of DQ9's gameplay hinges on ad-hoc multi-player, which isn't so popular here in the states.  Game Stop ran a once-per month meet up on Saturdays so people could get together, play and trade maps.  The longer people stayed there, the more they purchased product, by the time I left, there were no more DQ9 game guides.  This kind-of plays into my next point which is...
 
An important part of gaming is community.  Clans, Servers, Friends, Zones, games are about grouping you with people and creating small pocket communities.  I don't know about most of you, but I grew up in the 80's and 90's and most of that time, being a gamer had a social stigma around it.  Like minded boys (and a few girls) would meet in a clandestine basement to enjoy games that were never spoken about in school.  Dank arcades, thick with gray cigarette smoke, terrifying to outsiders, but you knew everyone there.  It is that stigma we remember and hold close to our chest, it's written into our DNA as gamers; and that's why any place that is dedicated to our pastimes fascinates us so much.  Arcades and Gaming stores, in them we are with like-minded people who are ready, willing and able to help your gaming hobby along.
 
In reply to your first statement, that gamers as a customer aren't special and don't deserve special treatment, I'll have to disagrees with that one too. 
 
You see, gamers happen to be the most informed purchasers on the planet when it comes to comparing them with any other purchaser of goods.  Their knowledge allows them to automatically block out inferior products based on very few outward pieces of information.  Put God of War 3, Devil May Cry 4 and Daunte's Inferno in front of a gamer and they'll be able to tell you which is better and why.  Put them in front of a laymen, and they wouldn't be able to tell the difference.  In other industries, this type of person would be a fanatic, but for a gamer, this is the norm.   This is the main reason video game players, in general and as a customer base, require special treatment up an over a mother coming in to buy her child the new Sonic game.
 
Ultimately, you only really have to follow the money trail to see why gamers need to be treated a bit differently than your average consumer.  With all of the preorders, game protection fees, magazine subscriptions and edge card memberships, Game Stop is making quite a bit of bank of of things that aren't even video games, sometimes not even providing a real service for it (preordering money goes into a bank and collects interest until you pick the game up).  Not to mention, sales associates get bonuses based on the sale of these non-game profits and should be kissing ass accordingly.  You have to suckle on the teat to get milk, not gnash and bite.
 
Luckily for Game Stop, they have people that understand these facts and act in a way that keeps bringing people in and keeps bringing them money.
 
The only real problem I have with Game Stop is their near-monopoly of used game sales here in the US.  If they had some healthy competition, perhaps used games wouldn't be a laughable 5USD off of retail.  This would bring down the huge margin they make on used games to a more reasonable level and show game companies that people want to buy games, but not at the price that they sell them for.

The only problem I've ever had at a GameStop was an employee flat out lying to me about a warranty. When I bought a new DS to replace my old, stolen one, the clerk tried to sell me on an extended warranty plan. He said that Nintendo only guarantees their equipment for 90 days. I knew that wasn't true, having sent my old DS in for repairs around the 9 month mark. When I said "are you sure about that?" the guy looked at me with a straight face and said he knew for a fact that Nintendo wouldn't cover a system after 90 days. In retrospect, I feel like I should have walked out, or confronted the guy further about it. Instead, I just said "no thanks" to the extended warranty and finished the purchase. 
 
Aside from that, though, I've never had a problem with any of the three GameStops that I regularly frequent. The employees are friendly, usually knowledgeable, and I can almost always find a used copy of an old game at one of their stores. Even with titles on launch day, I've never had a problem picking something up that wasn't pre-ordered. Yeah, I get the slight hassle of "you should really pre-order next time," but I've never been told that they didn't have it. Maybe I'm just lucky.

I had them change my pre-order for the first rock band to just the game but the manager changed it eventually.

The only thing I do hate is selling opened games as new usually thew tell you all that's left is an opeed game so it fine but I've had them try to not tell me.

Don't blame ( most) of these employees for being pushy. Their hours and therefore how big their paychecks are depend on those pre-orders, strat guides, warranties, edge cards, and used game sales. Because of that they're forced to be quite insistent about these things, because a lot of the casual gamers/shoppers will fall for it and tack it on.
 
Mostly blame gamestop for promoting an air of competition and sales over customer experience with these mostly useless addons and price increasing items.  

But then some of the people there are just dicks and make the whole experience feel like you're being hollered at in a tijuana tourist market.

I was at a EB Games and was thinking about purchasing the new 360 Slim back when it first came out. I asked him if they had any and they said yeah, but then he went on to tell me that I shouldn't buy it because Microsoft no longer covers the red rings for the slims and that the 360 is guaranteed to die. Then he said I should pick up a PS3. I told him I already had a PS3 and he told me to buy another one. That's when my short tempered friend was like "the fuck you talking about? What asshole would buy two of the same console for his room? You're a terrible sales person" 
 
Then we left and visited my friend who works at Futureshop and we bought it there.

This is quite possibly the most ridiculous thread I've seen on these forums. I think it's also the first time I've seen someone defend GameStop with so much anger.

Not sure if someone covered this but
 
1. If a GS employee doesn't get many reservations or subscriptions they lose hours and eventually they will lose their job.
2. If you reserve or get a subscription the employee is more likely to get hours.
3. If you cancel a reservation then it counts against the person you canceled it with.
 
If you reserve a game with someone then they get more hours. If you cancel a game with someone they get their hours cut.

Just because something is a "profitable business practice" doesn't mean they get a pass and I have to be understanding and shop there.  My local hardware store or coffee shop I'm sure have practices to make money (otherwise they wouldn't be in business) but those practices are designed so I actually enjoy shopping there and return.  If I enjoyed shopping at GameStop or it was otherwise worth it for me to shop there, I would.  And that's entirely how a market economy works.  By having shitty business practices, they cost themselves customers, but apparently they make enough money that those losses don't matter.
 
To reiterate what others have said, I don't like shopping at GameStop because they heckle me to pre-order, buy strategy guides or buy heavily marked-up used games every time I go there.  Those practices might make them money, but it also makes me hate them and not shop there.  Both those things are allowed to be true at the same time.  When I can have a much more satisfactory transaction and experience online or at another generic store where I don't have to put up with that shit, I'm going to do so. 

" @hack745@Tiger_Buttercup said:

" @hack745 said:

The gamingAt a different Gamestop I went to pick up my copy of Tatsunoko VS Capcom. The clerk not only didn't know what I was talking about, but couldn't pronounce the title when he finally found it and resorted to calling it "Whatever Vs. Capcom." - 

EB Games sells open product for new prices here. Fuck that

@Tiger_Buttercup said:

" @hack745@Tiger_Buttercup said:

" @hack745 said:

The gamingAt a different Gamestop I went to pick up my copy of Tatsunoko VS Capcom. The clerk not only didn't know what I was talking about, but couldn't pronounce the title when he finally found it and resorted to calling it "Whatever Vs. Capcom." - 

 
Bro, nobody knows what this garbage is.  I'd hardly use that as an example of a game people should know.

" I just go in, buy my game, and leave.  I've been to three different ones in my area, and all I get asked is "Any pre-orders?  Guide?"  "Nope and nope."  "Ok cool, here ya go"    The used game thing sucks, but any games I really want I just buy new anyway. "

I'm friendly to my local GameStop to the point where they know exactly who I am when I call and I was offered a job there.  Even before that I never had a preorder forced on me.  All they did was ask if I wanted to preorder, and when I said "no, thanks" he mentioned a couple of preorder bonuses.  When I politely refused again, he happily sold me my game and didn't pressure me further.   
 
Retail associates don't like to be treated like shit.  At the video rental store I work at, people who treat me like shit don't get the option of paying the minimum on a late fee.  They're too busy being wrapped up in themselves and being a dick to notice.
  
However, people who are friendly and polite get reciprocal great service.  I work faster, recommend something else they might like for next time, and make sure they have a great experience and know I appreciate their service and friendliness.   
 
My point is similar to the OP's: don't be a fucking asshole at the slightest slip-up and maybe things won't go so poorly.

" @christ0phe

@Tiger_Buttercup said:

" @hack745@Tiger_Buttercup said:

" @hack745 said:

The gamingAt a different Gamestop I went to pick up my copy of Tatsunoko VS Capcom. The clerk not only didn't know what I was talking about, but couldn't pronounce the title when he finally found it and resorted to calling it "Whatever Vs. Capcom." - 

 
Bro, nobody knows what this garbage is.  I'd hardly use that as an example of a game people should know.

Bro, what an ignorant statement. The store isn't called OpinionStop. I don't care if no one likes the game( which plenty of people do) they should know it exists. Sorry you can't prestige in the game. "