AuthorTopic: The Shopping Insanity that is 'Black Friday'  (Read 3616 times)

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Offline Arcademan

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The Shopping Insanity that is 'Black Friday'
« on: November 29 2008, 09:16 am »
Bad enough the day after Thanksgiving the stores lure everyone in at 4 or 5 am to get unbelievable deals, now they're killing each other over them  ::)

Black Friday brings out the worst in people

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NEW YORK (Nov. 28) - A temporary Wal-Mart worker died after a throng of unruly shoppers broke down the doors and trampled him moments after the Long Island store opened early Friday for day-after-Thanksgiving bargain hunting, police said.

The 34-year-old employee was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead at about 6 a.m., Nassau County police said. The exact cause of death had not been determined, and the man's name was not released.

A 28-year-old woman who was eight months pregnant was taken to a hospital for observation, where she and the baby were both reported to be OK, said Sgt. Anthony Repalone, a Nassau County police spokesman. He said four or five other people suffered minor injuries.
Police said the crowd of shoppers knocked the man to the ground at 5:03 a.m., three minutes after the store opened at the suburban location about 20 miles east of Manhattan. It wasn't immediately clear how many people pushed their way in. A metal portion of the door was crumpled like an accordion.

The industry's largest retail group said the incident was rare.
"We are not aware of any other circumstances where a retail employee has died working on the day after Thanksgiving," said Ellen Davis, a spokeswoman at National Retail Federation.

And then hours later,  gunfire in a Toys 'R' Us store

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2 dead after shots fired in Palm Desert toy store

PALM DESERT, Calif. -- Two people were shot to death in a crowded toy store Friday in a confrontation apparently involving rival groups, city officials said.

The violence erupted on Black Friday, the traditional post-Thanksgiving start of the holiday shopping surge, but accounts of what occurred inside the store were fragmentary or second hand and it was not clear whether it involved any shopping frenzy.

Palm Desert Councilman Jim Ferguson said police told him two men with handguns shot and killed each other and that there were 25 witnesses. Ferguson said he asked police whether the incident was a dispute over a toy or whether it was gang-related. He said police told him they were not going to release further details until the next of kin were contacted.

"I think the obvious question everyone has is who takes loaded weapons into a Toys 'R' Us?" he said. "I doubt it was the casual holiday shopper."

City spokeswoman Sheila Gilligan said police told her the shooting broke out between "two groups of individuals that have a dispute with each other."

The Palm Desert Police Department received calls of shots fired around 11:35 a.m., Riverside County sheriff's Sgt. Dennis Gutierrez said.

"We have two dead individuals inside the store," he said. "The events of why the shots were fired is still ongoing."

Toys 'R' Us officials did not immediately return calls for comment.

Palm Desert is about 120 miles east of Los Angeles. The Toys 'R' Us store is located at Fred Waring Road and Highway 111.

Ferguson said news of the shooting took him by surprise in the city in the desert resort region near Palm Springs.

"Most years we have zero homicides," the councilman said.

"Everything will surely be all right." 「絶対大丈夫だよ。」, "Zettai daijōbu da yo."
"Force without Master, heed the call of my Staff of Dreams, and become my power! SECURE!!!"
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Offline Arcademan

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Re: The Shopping Insanity that is 'Black Friday'
« Reply #1 on: December 04 2008, 11:15 am »
And without any real surprise, Victim's family files lawsuit against Wal-Mart

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GARDEN CITY, N.Y. (Dec. 3) - The family of a worker trampled to death in a "Black Friday" crush of bargain hunters at a Long Island Wal-Mart store filed a wrongful-death lawsuit on Wednesday, claiming store ads offering deep discounts "created an atmosphere of competition and anxiety" that led to "crowd craze."
The lawsuit claims that besides failing to provide adequate security for a pre-dawn crowd estimated at 2,000, Wal-Mart "engaged in specific marketing and advertising techniques to specifically attract a large crowd and create an environment of frenzy and mayhem and was otherwise careless, reckless and negligent."

Wal-Mart issued a statement saying it would cooperate with local law enforcement officials to develop stronger safety measures for the future.
"We consider Mr. Damour part of the Wal-Mart family, and are saddened by his death," the statement said. "We have been in communication with members of his family to do what we can to help them through this difficult time. Our associates know that when incidents like this occur, we take care of our own."
In addition to the retailer, the adjacent Green Acres Mall, a realty company that manages the property and a security company hired to patrol the property were all named as defendants. A spokeswoman for the realty company declined to comment on pending litigation; none of the other defendants immediately responded to phone and e-mail inquiries seeking comment on the lawsuit.

"Everything will surely be all right." 「絶対大丈夫だよ。」, "Zettai daijōbu da yo."
"Force without Master, heed the call of my Staff of Dreams, and become my power! SECURE!!!"
Neo-Geo: Come for the games, stay for teh drama!

Offline monkey

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Re: The Shopping Insanity that is 'Black Friday'
« Reply #2 on: December 08 2008, 11:26 pm »
Express the unlimited beauty, within the limited beauty. Beautifully.