In-Store Changes

As many of you will have seen, the Prime Minister has just addressed the nation regarding Coronavirus. As part of his address, he has asked that all social gathering spaces close, and the British Public refrain from "unnecessary social contact". Whilst enforcement of these measures is not clear, it is clear that we have a social responsibility to close JustPlay for gaming purposes. According to today's update, this closure will be for approximately 12 weeks, but possibly longer.

Therefore, we're announcing the following:

• The store will be open every day for business as usual from 1200-1900, seven days a week, but the gaming area will be closed to the public.
• With immediate effect, all events are cancelled. Please see below regarding refunds.
• Tomorrow (Tuesday 17th) we will be announcing details of our same-day new home delivery service, which will deliver hobby supplies, miniatures, card games, board games, and more to your door.

Cool Stuff Coming Up...

Unprecedented times call for unprecedented measures, and we're going to be doing everything that we can to ensure continuity of the JustPlay community and events, even if they take a slightly unusual form!

Firstly we've rebooted our old Discord server, both for the community and so that we can have more discussions with you guys and take any ideas that you may have, as well as communicate with your more effectively. You can join it here:

https://discord.gg/gpMHaum

Secondly, with our usual JustPlay-esque levels of innovation, we'll be looking at what kinds of events we can possibly run "from home". We don't know exxactly what form this may take but it may include things like Arena-based tournaments (with entry fees, and prizes delivered to your door!), live streamed Warhammer games, painting competitions, and more. We know that Wizards of the Coast are making preparations for the Ikoria: Lair of the Behemoths prerelease to run from peoples' homes, so there is also potential support coming from your favourite games manufacturers.

Thirdly, we are open to your ideas. If you have a cool idea for us, for the community, or for your game system, something you'd like to see us run or something we can support you with during this time, please let us know!

The Future of JustPlay

It goes without saying that this is an extraordinary time for many people, and we're no different. To be very honest with you, the outlook for JustPlay as of today is not great. We're a business that relies largely on our in-store trade, and that will be severely impacted by these measures.

We've never taken our customer base for granted, and we've always tried to make our store an attractive place to make your purchases over online stores and deep discounters, but for the next few months we have to ask directly for your help. If you are able, and if your own financial situation in these trying times allows it, then please continue to make your regular purchases from us. Pop down to the store if able, take advantage of our new home delivery service, or use our 24-hour Royal Mail shipping options. It is not an exaggeration to say that  without your continued custom, there will not be a JustPlay when this pandemic ends. Also, please consider similar for other local businesses; they will need your support too.

With regard to refunds from event tickets already purchased, please contact us to arrange a refund. As you may have seen today, PayPal have introduced a new policy whereby they will keep all fees from refunded payments. You may call this profiteering from the Coronavirus situation, and you'd be correct. We'd like to make a request that you consider a refund in store credit for any event tickets that you've purchased (we pay fees on all refunds, PayPal or otherwise, PayPal's fees are just much higher for us). It would be a giant help to us to not have to refund tickets right now, although we appreciate that many of you may need the cash, so please let us know what suits you best when you request your refund.

A Huge Thank You

Thank you for four wonderful years of JustPlay. It's been an amazing ride, and we won't let it end without a fight. We'll do everything we can to keep forging ahead and with your support I believe that we will get through this.

On that note, if you need support, we are here for you too. If you need to chat, we're available online. This article from MIND on personal wellbeing and the Coronavirus is a great read.

Thank you for reading this announcement, and thank you for your continued support.

Stay safe everybody, look after yourselves, and hopefully we'll speak to you on Discord or online!

Regards,

Ian, Ritchie, and Team JustPlay

PS. If you could share this in local Facebook groups, Twitter, and with your fellow gaming friends in order to get the news out, that would be a huge help to us.