British shoppers see red as US shopping festival Black Friday debuts
UK retailers embrace US shopping frenzy, but fail to prepare for mayhem
PUBLISHED : Saturday, 29 November, 2014, 3:20am
UPDATED : Saturday, 29 November, 2014, 3:20am
Agencies in London
Shoppers at an Asda superstore in Wembley, London, wrestle over a television as they compete for a Black Friday bargain. Photo: Reuters
British police officers were called to stores across the country yesterday as the "Black Friday" shopping frenzy imported from the United States brought surging crowds and fights over sharply discounted goods.
The day after the US Thanksgiving holiday, which falls on the fourth Thursday of November, is extravagantly promoted in the US as the start of the Christmas shopping season.
For the first time, most British retailers have fully embraced "Black Friday" promotions this year, both in store and online.
Police were called in to control crowds that had gathered overnight in London, Manchester, Cardiff and Glasgow, drawn by cheap televisions, kitchen goods and clothes. Three arrests were made at Tesco supermarket stores in Manchester and officers were called out to four others in the area.
"The events of last night were totally predictable and I am disappointed that stores did not have sufficient security staff on duty," Chief Constable of Greater Manchester Peter Fahy said.
Queues started forming at Asda's superstore in Wembley, north London, from 5am. "There was a fight in the queue in front of us," said shopper Kristina Butts, 44, who missed out on the Polaroid 40-inch television and Xbox bundle she was after.
One woman shopper on a mobility scooter drove away from the store shouting: "I will never do this again."
In the US, the shopping frenzy was entering its second day. More than 25 million Americans were believed to have hit the stores or shopped online on Thursday, drawn by stores offering discounts on holiday gifts earlier than ever.
Vera Luo, a 19-year-old from China studying in Washington DC, came armed with a suitcase she was ready to fill to bursting with new acquisitions that she said would be more expensive in China.
She and two friends paid US$60 for a taxi from the US capital and they were in it for the long haul.
"I have no idea where my friends are or when I will find them," said the economics student, clasping a directory of the more than 100 stores in the complex.
"I have a budget of US$500 and I want to buy a bag from Coach. I don't know how long we will be here. Maybe all night."
The sales on Thursday also drew the protesters in Ferguson, Missouri, in a new tactic to vent their anger at a grand jury decision not to indict a white police officer who fatally shot an unarmed black teenager.
Kicking off their latest strategy inside a Walmart in another nearby suburb of St Louis, about 75 demonstrators protested peacefully, chanting "Hands up, don't shoot!", bemusing bargain-hunters pushing their brimming shopping carts.
Reuters, Agence France-Presse
