GameStop views itself as ‘essential retail’ and will remain open during pandemic

“Due to the products we carry that enable and enhance our customers’ experience in working from home,” the memo reads, “we believe GameStop is classified as essential retail and therefore is able to remain open during this time.

“We have received reports of local authorities visiting stores in an attempt to enforce closure despite our classification. Store managers are approved to provide the document linked below to law enforcement as needed,” it continues with an attached flyer to hand to law enforcement.

One employee, who wished to remain anonymous, expressed dissatisfaction with the company’s policy.

“They’ve essentially said to disobey law enforcement in any state that shuts down nonessential retail,” the employee said, “as they believe we are providing an essential service to people that shop at a video game store.”

The company said in a Thursday statement to Twitter that it was “instituting multiple social distancing practices” in its stores by allowing only 10 people in at a time in addition to altering store hours. It is also suspending video game trade-ins and rolling out a “delivery @ door” policy so that customers can pick up their products outside the store.

As of Thursday evening, more than 13,150 people in the United States have tested positive for the virus, 108 have recovered, and 176 have died, according to Johns Hopkins University.