Essential business? GameStop remains open under ‘Stay at Home’ order in Houston

HOUSTON – During a national health emergency, it may be beneficial to be an essential business.

But, there seems to be some debate as to which businesses can stay open and which businesses must close.

GameStop, the video game and electronics store, remains operational in the Houston area, according to a corporate representative. While customers are not able to enter the store, they can pick up merchandise from online orders.

There are more than a dozen GameStop stores in the Houston metro area.

KPRC 2 Investigates visited the store at 2612 South Shepherd Drive in Upper Kirby.

We found an employee who was planning to open the store for the day but was locked out.

The employee said he was told to fulfill online orders for curbside pickup.

However, the process appears to violate the “Stay at Home” orders in Harris, Fort Bend and Galveston counties.

“My boss tells me to come in, because we’re allowing door deliveries so that’s what I’m doing,” the employee said.

GameStop representative Joey Mooring released a written statement:

With employee and customer safety as our paramount concern, we’ve closed all our stores to customer access, including those in the Houston area. We are only processing orders on a digital basis through our new curbside Delivery@Door pick-up service. Only employees may enter our stores at this time. Importantly, all GameStop employees have been assured that they do not have to work if they are not comfortable, or need to stay home to care for a family member. While GameStop is best known as a provider of gaming and home entertainment systems, we also offer a wide array of products and devices that are important to facilitate remote work, distance learning, and virtual connectivity.