The South Islands
26-11-2005, 04:16
It was a dangerous morning on Black Friday at a West Michigan Wal-Mart. Now, corporate representatives are responding to what happened.
An impatient crowd stormed the doors in the mad rush to get to those door-buster deals inside.
It was an ugly scene when the doors opened at the Cascade Township Wal-Mart. Hundreds of shoppers pushed and shoved their way into the store, trampling a number of customers, sending two to the hospital.
At 5:00 a.m. the doors opened, holiday shoppers rushed in, and immediately one customer is pushed to the ground.
"This is ridiculous. I do not want my life in danger for this," said shopper Karen Dietstra. "This is not worth it. This has been a tradition for years. I don't think that I have to get beat up to try to get a sale."
Two shoppers from Grand Rapids did. One of them, 13-year-old Deja McHerron, had to be taken away by ambulance.
"They stumbled over a pregnant lady and Deja was trying to help her get up. And they stumbled over her and they stepped on her back. And now she's going to the hospital," said McHerron's mother, Deborah.
Duretha Arnold-Youngblood, 37, was also taken to the hospital, complaining of an injured knee. Both were released from the hospital after being treated.
"It was really terrifying. If my husband wasn't there to cover me, I would not be home. Those people would have stepped on my back. They didn't care. It was bad," Arnold-Youngblood said.
Her husband, Johnny Youngblood, took issue with what he calls a lack of security. Youngblood believes Wal-Mart should hire trained uniformed security guards to help bring order to the early-morning holiday crowd and not leave those duties to Wal-Mart associates.
"They didn't have no security at all," said McHerron's sister, Sierra.
"Wal-Mart did not do enough to protect us," Dietstra said.
WalMart corporate spokesperson Marty Heires tells 24 Hour News 8 that the incident is regrettable.
Heires says that of the 3800 Walmart stores nationwide, there's trouble at only a handful of them during after-Thanksgiving shopping.
The spokesperson stressed such problems are rare, but that some stores do hire extra security for crowd control. He did not know if that was the case in Cascade Township. He did say there was staff outside directing the crowds and that next week managers will debrief the situation and assess if they could make changes to prevent it from happening again.
24 Hour News 8 wanted to explore what measures other retailers take as well.
A Meijer spokesperson says the day after Thanksgiving, they add extra sales staff but not additional security. Even with those early hour sales incentives, Meijer doesn't see those big crowds line up at closed doors because their doors are open 24 hours a day.
Managers at Best Buy tell us they began preparing for this day a week ahead. They plan where to put sale items, rope off space for lines, and assigning staff to mix with the early morning crowd an hour before doors open. They hand out coffee and doughnuts and tickets for popular items to reduce the urgency for shoppers.
"They're preselling things so you can get things you want now, so you're not so stressed out about being first in line. It controls the crowds. They know they have their items so they don't have to push and shove. They're directed where they need to be and it all flows very smoothly," Best Buy manager Bob Rose said.
How sad. Good thing I do almost all of my christmas shopping online. Joyt.
An impatient crowd stormed the doors in the mad rush to get to those door-buster deals inside.
It was an ugly scene when the doors opened at the Cascade Township Wal-Mart. Hundreds of shoppers pushed and shoved their way into the store, trampling a number of customers, sending two to the hospital.
At 5:00 a.m. the doors opened, holiday shoppers rushed in, and immediately one customer is pushed to the ground.
"This is ridiculous. I do not want my life in danger for this," said shopper Karen Dietstra. "This is not worth it. This has been a tradition for years. I don't think that I have to get beat up to try to get a sale."
Two shoppers from Grand Rapids did. One of them, 13-year-old Deja McHerron, had to be taken away by ambulance.
"They stumbled over a pregnant lady and Deja was trying to help her get up. And they stumbled over her and they stepped on her back. And now she's going to the hospital," said McHerron's mother, Deborah.
Duretha Arnold-Youngblood, 37, was also taken to the hospital, complaining of an injured knee. Both were released from the hospital after being treated.
"It was really terrifying. If my husband wasn't there to cover me, I would not be home. Those people would have stepped on my back. They didn't care. It was bad," Arnold-Youngblood said.
Her husband, Johnny Youngblood, took issue with what he calls a lack of security. Youngblood believes Wal-Mart should hire trained uniformed security guards to help bring order to the early-morning holiday crowd and not leave those duties to Wal-Mart associates.
"They didn't have no security at all," said McHerron's sister, Sierra.
"Wal-Mart did not do enough to protect us," Dietstra said.
WalMart corporate spokesperson Marty Heires tells 24 Hour News 8 that the incident is regrettable.
Heires says that of the 3800 Walmart stores nationwide, there's trouble at only a handful of them during after-Thanksgiving shopping.
The spokesperson stressed such problems are rare, but that some stores do hire extra security for crowd control. He did not know if that was the case in Cascade Township. He did say there was staff outside directing the crowds and that next week managers will debrief the situation and assess if they could make changes to prevent it from happening again.
24 Hour News 8 wanted to explore what measures other retailers take as well.
A Meijer spokesperson says the day after Thanksgiving, they add extra sales staff but not additional security. Even with those early hour sales incentives, Meijer doesn't see those big crowds line up at closed doors because their doors are open 24 hours a day.
Managers at Best Buy tell us they began preparing for this day a week ahead. They plan where to put sale items, rope off space for lines, and assigning staff to mix with the early morning crowd an hour before doors open. They hand out coffee and doughnuts and tickets for popular items to reduce the urgency for shoppers.
"They're preselling things so you can get things you want now, so you're not so stressed out about being first in line. It controls the crowds. They know they have their items so they don't have to push and shove. They're directed where they need to be and it all flows very smoothly," Best Buy manager Bob Rose said.
How sad. Good thing I do almost all of my christmas shopping online. Joyt.