Powermax Computers celebrated its 13th anniversary of opening the store today, but ironically, its doors are closed this morning.

Powermax owner Alex Clarke said they made the decision to close the shop at 5.30pm yesterday due to concerns for shop staff and customers because of the potential spread of Covid-19.

“Devices like phones and computers are vectors for the viruses and put our staff at risk every day,” he said. “We also have customers continuing to walk in and out of the store.”

Alex said staff would finish working on any devices already submitted to the shop and when the jobs were complete, staff would arrange to with have the device couriered back to customers, or arrange to have customers pick them up.

“We’ve been taking precautions, wearing gloves, while we handle devices and disinfecting them with isopropyl alcohol before, during and after service, but there’s no guarantee we can clean them completely and it puts our staff at risk,” he said.

“One of the of dangers is that we accidentally pass a viral infection from one device to another, potentially sending it out to the world and infecting the public.”

Alex said that all of the shop’s nine staff were healthy at the moment, but there was no guarantee that no one had the virus and was shedding viral particles onto a device in the up-to-14-day period before any symptoms might show.

“We are in the early stages of the outbreak, but with community infection now happening, we can’t take the risk,” he said.

Alex said the Federal Government’s newly announced jobkeeper package will keep the staff paid for the next six months.

“Our business advisors have said we will be eligible for the wage subsidies and we will be spending out of our savings to keep everybody afloat until May, when the payments are supposed to come through,” he said.

“It’s a risk we take, if we are deemed ineligible later.”

The decision to close the shop was not made lightly and Alex said he and Powermax co-owner Amelia O’Hearn has done talked about it extensively before deciding to draw a line and close the shop.

“The elephant in the room is that we are an essential service,” Alex said.

“Apple closed all its stores three weeks ago across the world and people now have few options to get their Apple devices repaired.

“People will need to mail them to Apple directly and there will be a much longer turnaround for jobs.

“People can call the Apple support number on 1300 321 456. They have repair centres in Australia and have infinite resources, unlike us, to keep things safe and sterile at their centres.”