CEX staff concerned for the safety of both customers and employees have told Eurogamer they are worried about the high street trade-in giant’s plans to re-open shops in England next week.
Workers at a number of different branches, speaking under condition of anonymity to protect their jobs, told me they had been left dismayed by their employer’s decisions to allow customer browsing and to not quarantine traded-in items for 72 hours.
CEX shops in England are due to open their doors next Monday morning, 15th June, with outlets in Wales and Scotland to follow at a later date. Some sites in Northern Ireland have re-opened already.
Yesterday, high street rival GAME announced it would also begin reopening its stores in England and Northern Ireland from next Monday, 15th June. But in an email to customers briefing them of the chain’s new working practices, GAME explained browsing would not be possible for the forseeable future – staff would instead assist customers finding specific items – and any traded items would be cleaned and left for 72 hours before being placed back on sale.
Seeing GAME’s announcement, CEX team members told me they had hoped their employer would follow the same practices – but this was not the case at present.
When CEX stores open next week, there are no plans to stop customer browsing. Members of the public will be allowed to handle stock normally throughout the store, staff told me, despite shops typically having “incredibly high touch rates” of DVDs and games.
Stores will limit customer numbers, though in some larger CEX shops staff told me this limit was more than two dozen, including workers on the shop floor.
One specific concern raised by multiple staff was the new practice of having one worker “manage the door” to limit customer numbers if necessary. Workers have told me that in some shops, social distancing will be impossible while doing so.