Gaming retail giant GameStop has announced the opening of its 5,000th worldwide location in Jackson, CA, representing a landmark for the company who currently has storefronts in 16 countries, operates two online stores, and publishes Game Informer magazine. The company says it is on track to open between 500 and 550 new stores for 2007, distributed across its customary markets in the malls and strip centers of urban, suburban and rural areas. GameStop is the predominant worldwide specialty game retailer, and recent comments from analyst Colin Sebastian at Lazard Capital indicate that the firm may be in a good place heading towards the holidays: "Positive industry trends continue to benefit specialty retailer GameStop, in our opinion, with Halo 3 driving incremental store traffic and positive sales momentum ahead of the key holiday selling season." The company also recently allowed press to look inside the annual GameStop Expo, a surprisingly substantive event for GameStop managers, primarily focused on educating those in the retail space on which holiday games are worth recommending to consumers. GameStop vice chairman and COO Dan DeMatteo commented, “With more customers being attracted to the video game category, they will increasingly find a GameStop convenient to them. This landmark store opening underscores the strength of our business model and represents a spectacular effort on behalf of our 44,000 employees worldwide.”