Game Stop: Essential retail?

[storewanderer]

https://www.nydailynews.com/coronavirus ... story.html

Interesting interpretation. Couldn't their business licenses get suspended?

They have a website, why can't they refer customers to it?

[Alpha8472]

That is a bit of a stretch. Right now Fry's Electronics, Best Buy, hardware stores, auto centers, office supply stores, Bed Bath & beyond are open. They all claim to be essential stores. Gamestop said that their wide range of products and devices are important to facilitate remote work, distance learning, and virtual connectivity.

Staples says it is needed to supply at home school learning.

Barnes and Noble is open. Half Price Books is doing curbside pick up only. Dick's Sporting Goods is offering curbside pick up while its stores are closed. Bed Bath and Beyond claims it sells baby formula and essential health items. What about Kmart stores that have no groceries and no pharmacies?

Walgreens has gone to 9 to 9. The 24 hour pharmacies will only do business via drive thru after 9 pm. CVS has not changed hours at all. They want to try to get all of the late night business even if it is an extreme 24 hours with few to no customers.

Walgreens has a good idea. They should be drive thru only during the late night hours. All of the local Walgreens have been robbed over the past few months. Drive thru is much safer for everyone and discourages robberies late at night.

[mjhale]

I guess Game Stop thinks that work from home means being able to buy the latest video game, the console to play it on, a new controller and collectables like Funko Pops to go with said game. At least at Best Buy or Microcenter I could buy a new laptop/desktop, cable modem, router, printer and accessories to outfit a new home office. None of that stuff is available at Game Stop. But if the new work from home is playing video games sign me up!

[BillyGr]

And with something like Staples, they often have (in addition to office supplies, which very well may be an immediate need for someone now working at home that doesn't usually do so) things like paper products, cleaning supplies and food items available as well, and with those being hard to find it wouldn't make much sense to cut off any store that may have some available, making those items then unavailable to those who are in need of them.

Auto centers are also important, as those who do still have to work (from medical to those supplying stores) need to be able to get to those jobs, and with some areas having less public transit, cars are often the easiest (and probably the safest as well) way to get to those jobs.

Not sure that GameStop is part of that, though.

[cjd]

Going into town today, lots of cars of course at Aldi, Publix, Winn DIxie and Walmart. Office Depot did in fact have quite a few cars, Lowes and Home Depot busy as well. At the large strip mall center, it appeared Michaels and Books a Million may actually have been open, but there were very few cars in front of them.

I highly doubt Gamestop here is still open, I'd expect the mall is totally closed down. Very few cars seen there. As of Thursday Bealls (FL) was still open which surprised me. But by Friday all clothing stores and apparently Marshalls and Ross were closed. Bed Bath and Beyond here appears to be shut down as well.

It seems Goodwill may actually still be open as of this morning, which surprised me.

[storewanderer]

Going into town today, lots of cars of course at Aldi, Publix, Winn DIxie and Walmart. Office Depot did in fact have quite a few cars, Lowes and Home Depot busy as well. At the large strip mall center, it appeared Michaels and Books a Million may actually have been open, but there were very few cars in front of them.

I highly doubt Gamestop here is still open, I'd expect the mall is totally closed down. Very few cars seen there. As of Thursday Bealls (FL) was still open which surprised me. But by Friday all clothing stores and apparently Marshalls and Ross were closed. Bed Bath and Beyond here appears to be shut down as well.

It seems Goodwill may actually still be open as of this morning, which surprised me.

Most businesses that can stay open, even by a wide stretch of the rules, are staying open, albeit with limited hours. I have heard "big box" retail is considered essential by some definitions (maybe the retail industry's definition).

As long as the customers keep coming, these places will stay open.

I am really struggling with the shorter hours. It is great for the operation and reduces the need for as much staff, but it is awful for the consumer who previously took advantage of going to stores late at night during low traffic periods. Now you are either forced to go into a crowded store (right now- nope) or go elsewhere.

[Bagels]

There's a ton of gaming geeks who'd kill themselves if they couldn't get their fix, so yeah, I'd agree it's essential retail.