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UK games retailers go online only as country shuts all "non-essential" stores

UK games retailers go online only as country shuts all "non-essential" stores

Various games retail companies in the UK have closed all of their stores.

Yesterday, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson called for all "non-essential" stores to be closed as a result of the coronavirus outbreak. It has forced companies such as Game and CeX to go online only for the foreseeable future.

"Over the weekend it became clear that maintaining safe social distancing while running our busy stores has become increasingly challenging," said CeX managing director David Mullins in a statement, as reported by GamesIndustry.biz

"We have taken the decision to temporarily close all UK corporately owned CeX stores by close of trading today, 23rd March and move to an online-only service. We are strongly encouraging all our UK franchised stores to follow suit as it is the responsible thing to do."

In a site update, GAME confirmed it was operating online as normal but to protect its staff and the public. Its stores are closed for now.

"We are currently open as normal online. The safety of our customers and colleagues is paramount, so we have temporarily closed our stores," said GAME.

Hardware store Currys PC World is now operating online only, as is Argos. As it stands, supermarkets are the only stores in which games can be purchased in the UK.

In the US, despite claiming itself to be "essential retail," Gamestop was forced to close its stores.


Staff Writer

Kayleigh is the Staff Writer for PocketGamer.biz. Besides PGbiz and PCGI she has written as a list writer for Game Rant, rambling about any and all things games related. You can also find her on Twitter talking utter nonsense.