It looks as if the video game retailer GameStop is ready to open their doors to the public as soon as possible, despite all of the reported problems the company has already experienced in regards to their handling of the ongoing COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic. The company was reluctant to close its doors at first, and as more and more areas around the globe began issuing quarantine and stay at home orders, GameStop referred to itself as an essential business and remained open.
These actions, especially when combined with reports that GameStop executives were telling store managers to ignore their government's warnings and listen to them instead, not to mention the employees who were reportedly told to simply cover their hands with plastic GameStop bags, soon caught the attention of local authorities, and in the state of Massachusetts, in the USA, Gamestop was forced to close completely following a city inspection.
Now, according to a news release from GameStop (thanks, Kotaku) it looks like GameStop is getting ready to open some of their locations back up again, even though most analysts, doctors, and healthcare professionals are still saying it's too soon for non-essential businesses to return. However, the video game retail company has already "begun the process of re-opening stores in Italy, Germany, Austria and the states of South Carolina and Georgia." Georgia's governor, Brian Kemp, recently announced he would be allowing certain non-essential businesses like movie theaters, tattoo parlors, and hair salons to re-open as early as Friday, April 24th, although many mayors throughout the state have protested his decision.
Additionally, GameStop is implementing a series of temporary pay cuts to several sections of its staff, including a 50% salary reduction for George Sherman, the CEO, as well as as 50% reduction in cash compensation to all members of the company's Board of Directors (which includes the recently-hired Reggie Fils-Aimé, formerly from Nintendo) and a 30% salary reduction for GameStop's CFO Jim Bell "and the remainder of the executive leadership team." Other, less specific pay cuts are also mentioned in the release, with "certain other employees across the Company's worldwide operating units" said to be receiving "temporarily reduced pay between 10% and 30%."
GameStop has already announced they are planning on closing at least 300 more stores in this fiscal year alone, and their botched handling of proper coronavirus saftey measures earlier this year hasn't done much to win them any sympathy. While it's surely hard for many companies to continue to make a profit right now, opening up stores so soon just seems like yet another chance for GameStop to put their employees in unsafe situations once again. Hopefully, if GameStop does indeed open their stores back up soon, they will at least be better equipped to provide safe and sanitary precautions for their employees than they were before.
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