The beginning of this week saw various Gamestop retail outlets close without warning. Consumers were met with posters outside these stores stating the following:
“We are transferring all of our UK business on-line towww.gamestop.co.uk. We will honour all outstanding deposits and gift cards onwww.gamestop.co.uk please contact – help@gamestop.co.uk for further assistance.”
Naturally the sudden closure of various stores across Northern Ireland without any kind of prior notice has triggered some panic amongst consumers, particularly those who have pre-ordered future releases in recent weeks. Each seems to be being met with the above response to any queries on the matter.
Even employees were given no warning as to their being made redundant, reports coming in that staff only found out on Sunday the 22nd of January, with the closure of these retail outlets. Michael finucane, Gamestop’s commercial Director gave the following statement to MCV.
“The recent store closures in Northern Ireland are part of our plan, announced six months ago, to exit the UK market from a brick and mortar perspective. We started this process last year closing our Birmingham, Stockport and Belfast locations. The stores in the Republic of Ireland are not affected at this time”
While this comes as a shock, the words ‘at this time’ in the above statement brings the possibility that stores within the Republic of Ireland may not be safe either. With the lack of warning as to the closure of these stores in the North and the UK, we wonder if we might see the same happen down this end.
