Gamers, a used game store chain located in the Midwest, is shutting down its operations in one state, accusing employees of using racial slurs and yelling at customers.
While the leading retail video game chain is undoubtedly GameStop, smaller, competing used game stores can be found all over the world. One of the more prominent GameStop competitors in the Midwest is a chain called Gamers, which is based out of Nebraska. However, Gamers has decided to suddenly close its three stores located in Iowa as of last Thursday, May 3, with one of the reasons being employees who yelled at customers and used racial slurs while working.
This is according to Gamers Operations Officer Ryan Miller, who spoke with local Des Moines, Iowa news station WHO TV Channel 13 News and said employees were also known to spray co-workers with window cleaner and browse the Internet while on the clock. Besides a “lack of good employees,” Gamers also shut down operations in Iowa for a couple of other reasons as well, with Miller citing “declining sales” and “unreasonable landlords.”
At least one former employee, Heather Dickerson, agrees with Miller. Dickerson said that there was an incident of a co-worker throwing a portable phone in the store and also said the company had an issue with “laziness.”
However, other former Gamers employees have spoken out against these claims. One former employee left a detailed comment on Facebook describing her experience working for Gamers, saying, “This place was the worst company I’ve ever worked for.” This former employee claims that Gamers required her to attend mandatory unpaid meetings, paid minimum wage, offered no benefits, and had employees working overtime for no pay.
“This place lost employees left and right because of terrible management,” she said, “and to blame it on the employees is just mind blowing.”
With even retail giants like Toys ‘R Us shutting down, though, perhaps declining sales was a bigger factor than a “lack of good employees” when Gamers decided to close its stores in Iowa last week.
Gamers will continue its operations in Nebraska.
