Large-scale protests and riots have broken out all across the United States in the aftermath of George Floyd’s death at the hands of Minneapolis police. These demonstrations have included some extensive property damage and looting, particularly in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, with protesters targeting a variety of corporate-owned and local businesses. This includes aGameStopin St. Paul, which was extensively damaged.
A video has emerged onsocial media platform TikTokthat shows the aftermath of the GameStop looting. Based on the video, it appears to be the GameStop located at 1484 University Ave W in St. Paul. The video was uploaded by TikTok user Seyi_Afinni, who, based on his reactions in the clip, is clearly shocked at the extent of the damage.
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The protesters destroyed the front door of the GameStop and looted a significant amount of items. Damage was done to the various promotional stands that GameStop has in its stores, and a number of electronics were also destroyed. The video shows a lot of empty shelves, but it also shows that the protesters actually left quite a bit of items in the store. Official reports on the damage at the St. Paul GameStop state that there was “substantial fire damage” as well, but that’s not visible in the video. It seems as though the GameStop in the video has received significantly more damage in the time since it was recorded.
Click here to see the video.
In total, three GameStops were looted and damaged during the Minnesota riots - one in St. Paul, another in Minneapolis, and another still in the Twin Cities Suburbs. GameStop itself has not released a statement on the matter. It’s unclear at the time of this writing ifGameStop storesin other parts of the country have been damaged during any of the demonstrations.
GameStop is likely heavily insured and so it remains to be seen if these incidents will have a significant financial impact on the company or not. While the company has generally been on a downward trend in recent years, to the point where many thoughtGameStop was going to go out of business, it has actually rebounded a bit amid the coronavirus pandemic. GameStop will also likely see a boost in sales when the next-generation PlayStation 5 andXbox Series Xconsoles launch in the fall.
