C.E.X. Limited, trading as CeX (), is a British

retailer Retail is the sale of goods and services to consumers, in contrast to wholesaling, which is the sale to business or institutional customers. A retailer purchases goods in large quantities from manufacturers, directly or through a wholesal ...

predominately dealing in pre-owned

video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...

mobile phones A mobile phone or cell phone is a portable telephone that allows users to make and receive calls over a radio frequency link while moving within a designated telephone service area, unlike fixed-location phones ( landline phones). This radio ...

computers A computer is a machine that can be programmed to automatically carry out sequences of arithmetic or logical operations ('' computation''). Modern digital electronic computers can perform generic sets of operations known as ''programs'', ...

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

Blu-ray Blu-ray (Blu-ray Disc or BD) is a digital optical disc data storage format designed to supersede the DVD format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released worldwide on June 20, 2006, capable of storing several hours of high-defin ...

s and

consumer electronics Consumer electronics, also known as home electronics, are electronic devices intended for everyday household use. Consumer electronics include those used for entertainment, Communication, communications, and recreation. Historically, these prod ...

, established in 1992 in London as the Computer Exchange. The retailer later renamed itself as the Complete Entertainment Exchange. As of May 2025, there are 393 stores in the UK, and a further 231 internationally, with a number of its locations being franchises.

History

CeX was started by Paul Farrington, Robert Dudani, Hugh Man,

Charlie Brooker Charlton ‘Charlie’ Brooker (born 3 March 1971) is an English screenwriter, producer, presenter, author, cartoonist, and social critic. He first became known for creating and presenting satirical television shows that featured biting criticis ...

, Oli Smith and Oliver Ball. The first shop opened on London's Whitfield Street, close to Tottenham Court Road in 1992. As a second hand retailer, CeX trades with customers offering either cash or a voucher for redemption in any CeX shop. CeX offer a 5 year warranty subject to terms on all of the second hand products the company sells. The "CeX" name moved away from "Computer eXchange" into an acronym for "Complete Entertainment eXchange", and company letterheads state "CeX LTD is trading as CeX Entertainment Exchange". In 2005, CeX began issuing licences for franchising. Dudani appeared on the British

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

TV show ''

The Secret Millionaire ''The Secret Millionaire'' is a reality television show which originated in the UK, in which millionaires go incognito into impoverished communities and agree to give away tens of thousands of pounds (or tens of thousands of dollars in the Americ ...

''. This was after the business was affected by the

2011 England riots A series of riots took place between 6 and 11 August 2011 in cities and towns across England, which saw looting and arson, as well as mass deployment of police and the deaths of five people. The protests started in Tottenham Hale, London, follo ...

. In December 2013, CeX began Designer Exchange buying luxury leather goods, jewellery and handbags, with stores in

Kensington Kensington is an area of London in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, around west of Central London. The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up by Kensingt ...

, Chelsea,

Knightsbridge Knightsbridge is a residential and retail district in central London, south of Hyde Park, London, Hyde Park. It is identified in the London Plan as one of two international retail centres in London, alongside the West End of London, West End. ...

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...

and

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

. The pronunciation of the chain's acronym name was confirmed as "

sex Sex is the biological trait that determines whether a sexually reproducing organism produces male or female gametes. During sexual reproduction, a male and a female gamete fuse to form a zygote, which develops into an offspring that inheri ...

" in British commercials aired in February 2017. In November 2017, CeX launched a technology repair service called Tech Centre (formerly called CeX Clinic) in the UK. The service covers the repair of

video game consoles A video game console is an electronic device that outputs a video signal or image to display a video game that can typically be played with a game controller. These may be home consoles, which are generally placed in a permanent location conne ...

. Tech Center offers a 2-year warranty on device repairs and a no fix, no fee promise to customers. On 5 June 2025, it was announced that CeX was closing all of its physical stores in the Netherlands while keeping the online store there open. The stores in Amsterdam, Arnhem, Leeuwarden and Leiden are scheduled to be closed on 14 June 2025 with the remaining stores closing a week later. The CeX logo was designed by

Locations

Notes

References

External links

CeX Official websiteTech Centre console repairs (in CeX stores) official websiteCeX Official app
* {{Commons category-inline, CeX (company) 1992 establishments in the United Kingdom Retail companies of the United Kingdom Video game retailers in the United Kingdom Companies based in Watford Franchises Retail companies established in 1992

History

Locations

See also

Notes

References

External links