LIHU‘E — Hoards of shoppers swarmed Kaua‘i retailers late Thanksgiving night in search of Black Friday bargains. In Walmart’s parking lot, scuffles and heated exchanges erupted as shoppers fought for shopping carts. The fighting went unnoticed by the team of
LIHU‘E — Hoards of shoppers swarmed Kaua‘i retailers late Thanksgiving night in search of Black Friday bargains.
In Walmart’s parking lot, scuffles and heated exchanges erupted as shoppers fought for shopping carts. The fighting went unnoticed by the team of security guards posted at the store’s front entrance.
“It’s better to go in without shopping carts,” advised a shopper at Kukui Grove Center, Friday. “You ‘assign’ different people to get the items you are going to buy and let them go. If you have a shopping cart, you’re not going to move anywhere because there’s so much people.”
He said when he left work at 10 p.m. Thursday night, he noticed there were cars parked in the grassy areas of Ahukini Road and along both shoulders, clogging the flow of traffic and making access to the store almost impossible.
Similar scenarios took place across the country, according to The Associated Press, which reported one Los Angeles, Calif., shopper used pepper spray to “protect” her intended Xbox purchase.
In all, 10 people suffered cuts and bruises in the chaos that ensued, another 10 suffered minor injuries from the pepper spray, and the woman escaped amid the crowds and confusion. It’s not clear whether she left with the Xbox.
Near Muskegon, Mich., a teenage girl received minor injuries after being knocked down and stepped on several times after getting caught in the rush to a sale in the electronics department of a Walmart store, AP reports.
Big chain stores like Target, Best Buy and Kohl’s (none of which have stores on Kaua‘i) opened their doors at midnight.
On Kaua‘i, Walmart had Black Friday specials starting at 10 p.m. Thursday, while several stores at the Kukui Grove Center had midnight openings, including Jeans Warehouse, Deja Vu and Macy’s.
“I was real lucky,” said a late-night shopper arriving at Kukui Grove Macy’s. “This was a record. I was able to get what I needed at Walmart and be done at 10:18 p.m. I even had a good parking space. Macy’s and Kukui Grove is mellow compared to what was happening at Walmart.”
Walmart Stores, the nation’s largest retailer, has taken steps in recent years to control its Black Friday crowds following the 2008 death of one of its workers in a stampede of frenzied shoppers, according to AP. This year, it staggered its door-buster deals instead of offering them all at once.
Greg Rossiter, Walmart spokesman, told AP that Black Friday was safe at most of its nearly 4,000 stores in the U.S., but there were “a few unfortunate incidents.”
AP attributes the incidents to two converging Black Friday trends: longer hours and cash-strapped customers. Stores are opening earlier and closing later, creating bigger crowds of bargain hunters competing for deals on a small selection of the same gift everyone wants — tablet computers, televisions and game consoles.
“The sad thing is that there is no Thanksgiving,” said one shopper, who was first in line at Deja Vu. “You spend the whole day cooking, guests arrive, eat in 10 minutes and have to go stand in line somewhere. At least, they washed the dishes and I was able to leave and get here, first.”
She had arrived at Deja Vu 8:30 p.m. on Thanksgiving eve, an hour and a half before the store was scheduled to open.
Her sentiment was echoed by other shoppers and even merchants.
Nationwide, a record number of shoppers are expected to converge on retailers this weekend to take advantage of discounts of up to 70 percent, according to AP, citing the National Retail Federation. An estimated 152 million people will be shopping, either online or in stores, which is an increase of about 10 percent over last year.
Over the past six years, Black Friday has become the single biggest sales day of the year and one of the most important for retailers. The trend will likely continue this year; however, shoppers have been procrastinating more and more. The fate of the holiday season is increasingly coming down to the final few days before Christmas.
Last year, the Thanksgiving weekend accounted for 12.1 percent of overall holiday sales, according to ShopperTrak. Black Friday made up about half of that.
A shopper who was iced out of Walmart due to the parking and crowds said that’s fine, he will just wait until “Cyber Monday.”
• Dennis Fujimoto, photographer and staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 253) or dfujimoto@ thegardenisland.com.
