Let Me Sum Up

Horrific explosion in West, Texas, is magnified by good — and bad — use of social media

It’s astonishing how much there is to sum up this morning, and how awful the lead story is.

If you live outside of Texas, you may not know how iconic the small town of West is. Everyone has stopped there for kolaches on the way to or from Austin. Everyone is fascinated by a small Texas village largely founded by Czech immigrants. That familiarity only added to the horror as we watched the news reports and read stories overnight about the fertilizer plant that caught fire and exploded.

I got much of my news from Twitter last night, and its real-time updating showed the power of the medium. That said, if you follow a lot of journalists on social media, you notice there’s always some sort of virtual fist-bumping that goes on whenever a tragedy strikes.

I don’t really care that news people worked hard delivering the story. It’s their job. The only journalists I want to praise are the folks who were unafraid to say, “Don’t know.” How many are dead? “Don’t know.” How did this happen? “Don’t know.” In the first hours after such a tragedy, sometimes that’s the right answer.

The only journalists I want to praise are the folks who were unafraid to say, “Don’t know.” In the first hours after such a tragedy, sometimes that’s the right answer.

What else should we have expected from those who brought this news to us? That they used their expertise and sources to tell us the few things that are known and provide context. The excellent environmental reporter Randy Lee Loftis of the Dallas Morning News did that, pointing to documents that showed the plant operators had previously told the EPA there was “no risk” of fire or explosions at the plant.

What should not be done in the immediate aftermath of such an explosion? Even though he may have a point, I found Dallas Morning News writer Tod Robberson's weird rant against zoning laws oddly timed. Even he says in the piece that this isn't the time to look for blame, so why post it then?

What does deserve note this morning? The heart-wrenching personal notes, remembrances and prayers that have been put out through our friends and acquaintances through social media. Example: Many reminded us to donate blood — which is good advice today and for days and weeks to come — as any surplus today will quickly disappear. (Search here for where to give by ZIP code.)

The tragedy is still fresh and ongoing this morning, and prayers or well wishes are still needed. One friend alerted his followers that his aunt, who was in the nursing home across from the plant, was still unaccounted for. Zac Crain, the D Magazine editor who grew up in West, wrote a heart-wrenching essay on FrontBurner this morning. You should read it right now, then add him and those he speaks of to your prayer list. It’s sure to grow as the day moves along.

Elsewhere

There were many stories I thought I would be focusing on this morning, foremost among them the cowardly vote by the U.S. Senate on background checks. Luckily, two people made a better statement about it than I could have: Gabrielle Giffords, in a scathing and powerful New York Times op-ed; and my friend Jim Fields, a former Navy pilot and lifelong gun owner and hunter, on Facebook.

And, oh yeah, 400 flights were canceled because of computer problems at American Airlines. To sum up: bad year for AA.

Retweets

Another post worth reading this morning.

Explosion in West, Texas - another stunning story, another test of our resilience share.d-news.co/0yow3vC

— Keven Ann Willey (@KA_Willey) April 18, 2013

If you don’t get chills or tear up, kill yourself, because you’re already dead.

This will make you proud to be an American, an outpouring during the Anthem, last night's hockey game in Boston kscs.com/common/page.ph…

— Hawkeye KSCS DJ (@HawkeyeOnAir) April 18, 2013

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SUDDEN SHUTTERS

GameStop to close 11 Houston-area stores amid nationwide cuts

GameStop/ Facebook

Long lines for video game releases are a rarity these days.

For GameStop, it’s a blood bath right out of Mortal Kombat. The Grapevine-based video game chain is expected to shed 470 locations nationwide, including 11 in the greater Houston area.

The closures were revealed in the company's newest filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that said it would close "a significant number of additional stores in fiscal 2025" ending on January 31. In its last fiscal year, GameStop shuttered 590 locations.

In addition to braving the overall “retail apocalypse,” the retailer faces the same conditions that largely decimated CD and video stores. Video games are now available for digital download in seconds and no longer require a trip to a physical store.

“As a part of our profitability initiative, we are reducing our global store base, which includes closing stores that are not meeting performance standards or stores at the end of their lease terms with the intent of transferring sales to other nearby locations,” the company wrote in its annual report. “ If we are unsuccessful in marketing to customers of the stores that we plan to close or in transferring sales to nearby stores, our results of operations could be negatively impacted.”

The current digital squeeze isn’t the first time GameStop has been thrown for a loop by contemporary internet culture. In 2021, the retailer famously became a meme stock, buoyed by users of Reddit's r/wallstreetbets. The skyrocketing increase in its stock price, followed by short selling, caused major financial consequences for hedge funds and other investors.

Since then, the stock price has been more stable but has decreased approximately 21 percent over the last year. After CEO Ryan Cohen bought 500,000 shares in the company on January 21, the price has slightly rebounded.

GameStop has not issued a formal list of the closures, and a request for more information was not returned at press time. But Ohio’s WKYC Studios put together a list of all the U.S. stores that are on the chopping block, verified through GameStop’s online store locator. The Texas closings are as follows:

Allen – The Village at Allen, 170 E. Stacy Rd
Arlington – Little School Road Shops, 1245 N. Little School Rd
Austin – Ben White Payload Center, 500 E. Ben White Blvd
Balch Springs – Lake June Plaza, 12209 Lake June Rd
Boerne – Menger Crossing, 1375 S. Main St
Cedar Park – Lakeline Plaza, 11066 Pecan Park Blvd
Conroe – Conroe Center, 1231 N. Loop 336 W
Corpus Christi – Padre Island Drive, 1805 S. Padre Island Dr
Corsicana – Corsicana Marketplace, 3811 W. Highway 31
Dallas – Glen Oaks Crossing, 4787 Vista Wood Blvd
El Paso – Alameda Town Center, 9411 Alameda Ave
El Paso – Fountains at Farah, 8889 Gateway West Blvd
Fort Worth – Clifford Retail, 301 Clifford Center Dr
Garland – Ridgewood Village, 2930 S. First St
Houston – Beechnut Street Houston, 10100 Beechnut St
Houston – Bellaire Gessner Center, 8880 Bellaire Blvd
Houston – Market at Uvalde, 13706 East Fwy
Houston – Market Square, 13341 Westheimer Rd
Houston – Oxford Plaza, 10407 North Fwy
Houston – Royal Oaks, 11807 Westheimer Rd
Houston – Wayside Shopping Center, 900 S. Wayside Dr
Huntsville – Ravenwood Village, 245 Interstate 45 N
Irving – MacArthur Park, 7601 N. MacArthur Blvd
Lake Jackson – Lake Jackson Shopping Center, 121 Highway 332 W
La Marque – LaMarque Crossing, 6408 Interstate 45
Laredo – Laredo Crossing Shopping Center, 4415 S. Zapata Hwy
Leon Valley – 5601 Bandera Rd
Lubbock – 7th St Lubbock, 1803 Seventh St
Magnolia – Westwood Village, 33020 FM 2978 Rd
Mansfield – Mansfield Crossing, 1301 E. Debbie Ln
Marble Falls – Highland Lakes, 2400 US Highway 281
McKinney – Lake Forest Crossing, 4100 S. Lake Forest Dr
Mesquite – Town East Mall, 2050 Town East Mall
Mission – Shary Plaza, 808 S. Shary Rd
Palmhurst – Palmhurst Shopping Center, 4416 N. Conway Ave
Paris – Paris Corners, 3842 Lamar Ave
Saginaw – Cross Pointe Shopping Center, 1453 N. Saginaw Blvd
San Antonio – Alamo Quarry Market, E. 255 Basse Rd
San Antonio – Blanco Road, 7117 Blanco Rd
San Antonio – Huebner Oaks Center, 11745 W. I-10
San Antonio – Northwoods Phase III, 1742 N. Loop 1604 E
San Antonio – Walzem Plaza, 5366 Walzem Rd
Stephenville – Stephenville Shopping Center, 2811 W. Washington St
Sulphur Springs – Sulphur Springs Corners, 1707 S. Broadway St
Terrell – Terrell Corner, 1888 W. Moore Ave
Tyler – State Highway 64 Tyler, 3842 State Highway 64 W
Watauga – Watauga Town Crossing, 8004 Denton Hwy

video games retail closings