Forget GameStop: This Boring but Beautiful Dividend Stock Is the Safer Retail Buy

There's a bullish case to be made for GameStop (NYSE: GME). Despite skating through four fiscal years of declining revenue growth, CEO Ryan Cohen has done a good job of playing the hand he has been dealt. With his small-box stores facing a sunset industry crisis -- as physical software distribution goes digital -- Cohen found a way to limit top-line declines by shifting to collectibles.

He leaned in on his meme stock, issuing shares at frenzied peaks. The move may have bloated GameStop's share count, but the war chest of $9 billion -- a net position of $5 billion after backing out more than $4 billion in debt -- covers nearly half of its market cap. With GameStop finally cranking out positive operating income in fiscal 2025 after six years of losses, there's a legitimate floor here. What if there was an even safer retail stock -- one that even pays out a generous dividend -- if you were looking for a more conservative way to play the growing leisure market?

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Buying the basket

GameStop stock has historically been a way to own the entire video game stock market. Instead of buying individual console makers or hardware developers, you can buy the leading specialty retailer that cashes in regardless of who comes out on top. Unless the gaming market is in a secular decline -- or in GameStop's case, a transition to direct online delivery -- it's a clever way to play the industry.

EPR Properties (NYSE: EPR) offers an even broader basket. It's a real estate investment trust (REIT) that GameStop investors may like. Unlike REITs that dabble in the overall commercial or residential real estate markets, EPR is built for fun. It owns experiential properties, including multiplexes and "eat and play" venues, and recently beefed up its amusement parks portfolio.

It doesn't run the businesses. EPR just leases out the properties, collecting a steady stream of rising rent payments that it largely passes on to shareholders in the form of a 6.3% yield. Theater chains make up more than a third of its business, aligning GameStop investors with another popular meme stock. A quarter of its business is "eat and play" establishments including arcades, high-tech golf-driving ranges, and other family entertainment centers. Yes, gamers. EPR is already making money off of you. Wouldn't you want to be on the receiving end?

EPR is a winner. It's a 21-bagger since going public almost 30 years ago, more than doubling the overall REIT market and nearly doubling the Russell 1000. Unless you think the country is going to go cold turkey on having fun -- and if you're already a GameStop investor, you probably don't think that -- EPR is a high-yielding way to benefit from the whimsy. The ceiling may not be as high, but the potential downside should also be easier to stomach.

Rick Munarriz has positions in EPR Properties. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends EPR Properties. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.