It may not be in a year, or even five years, but sometime in the next decade, I seriously doubt there will be any physical GameStop stores left. That may sound crazy, but think about once-massive companies like Blockbuster and Tower Records. The former filed for bankruptcy last year, while the latter practically doesn't exist outside of a web-retailer. Both Blockbster and Tower were caught flatfooted by the digital age and paid the price for it.
As for GameStop, more major publishers release games digitally every day, and it's only a matter of time before a console releases without a disc drive, thus cutting out the need to go to the store to buy new games. GameStop is aware of this, and they're making moves to ensure their existence well beyond the next decade.
Today GameStop announced the acquisition of Spawn Labs, a company which specializes in game streaming, similar to a service like OnLive. In addition, GameStop also aquired Impulse, a digital game retailer akin to Valve's Steam service. Toss in the company's purchase of Kongregate, a Flash games site, in 2010, and you begin to notice a trend. Surprise, the future of retail is on the internet!
While it's clear that GameStop's future relies on their ability to transition to the digital age, one has to wonder if they can actually come close to the success of their brick and mortar business. After all, more than a quarter of their profits in 2010 were made from selling used games. Once games go digital, used games sales simply stop existing. On the flip side, without having to pay the employees and rent required for physical stores, that loss might balance out. Either way, come 2020, I won't have to tell someone, "No, I don't want the strategy guide with that."