Black Friday: From Burglary to Brawls

   By drodriguez  Nov 28, 2010
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Imagine camping out for two nights in a store’s parking lot in order to get your hands on some Black Friday deals just to have your purchases stolen.  This is the sad reality for three women living in West Palm Beach, Florida who had their merchandise stolen from their car just moments after making the purchase.  

A recent report from CNN tells of the women’s misfortune as well as some other Black Friday stories that show the extremes people go to when enveloped in a consumer frenzy.  The three Florida women were the first people to enter a Best Buy early Friday morning where they purchased about $1000 in Black Friday deals.  They then brought their merchandise back to their car and went into a nearby JC Penney to browse.  After returning to their car just moments later they realized they had been robbed.

It is also being reported that one Wisconsin woman’s Black Friday ended in her arrest after she allegedly threatened to shoot fellow consumers after cutting in front of them in a long line of several hundred shoppers.  The woman who was arrested, Lanessa Lattimore, was shopping for the toy her daughter wanted at Toys-R-Us when the altercation occured.  Lattimore explains, “Everybody was cutting in line.  But there was one girl who was threatening me, so I told her that I’d shoot her.  I’m not a violent person, but police charged me with disorderly conduct.”

A Target store in North Buffalo, New York was the scene of some shoppers’ worst nightmare when the row of people in the front of the line were trampled on falling to the ground as eager shoppers rushed the front door as it opened. There have been several other reports across the nation of shoppers becoming unruly on Black Friday making many wonder whether Black Friday is really worth it and if there should be more restrictions in place to lessen these types of incidents.

If you took part in Black Friday this year, did you witness any altercations with fellow shoppers?

Do you think officials should place tougher restrictions on the stores that take part in Black Friday?

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deenice22 by deenice22 | Horsham, PA
Jan 28, 2011

I live in the Philadelphia, PA metro area and I shop Black Friday every year. I have refrained from waiting lines though and figure if the deal is still there later, I will get it. I must commend Wal-Mart this year and for the past few years for stocking a much larger amount of specific sale items than they had in the past. One year I saw shoppers verbally attacking each other and pushing. Since then it looks like Wal-Wart has actively stocked more product to help alleviate these issues. This year Wal-Mart continued to bring out more special sale tvs late into the morning.

jkagattis by jkagattis | PLANO, TX
Jan 11, 2011

After staying out til around 9am and hitting up about 11 different stores I was incredibly impressed the way stores went about handling things. There was a store representative on almost every aisle it seemed and I didn't notice any altercations. Having done black friday in Boston a few years back and seeing someone rammed down in walmart with a shopping cart t.. i was very pleased. BTW.. it was in Dallas, TX.

jkagattis by jkagattis | PLANO, TX
Jan 11, 2011

Black Friday is practically a religion in my family. Coming from an all female household, and a mother who can sniff out a bargain from 3 miles away I have spent the last 10 years shopping Black Friday. So you cant even begin to imagine how insanely happy i was when we arrived @ our first destination, Toys R Us, which was opening @ 10pm.. ( not even Friday yet..) and there were guards every 20 feet. We arrived at about 8:30pm in order to get a decent spot and were after some of the more sought over items. There was only one issue the entire night, a woman tried to cut line outside Toys R Us and being that I have a very outspoken personality, made very certain that she knew it wasn't going to happen He calmly came over and removed her.

blueeyes1 by blueeyes1 | Topeka, KS
Dec 16, 2010

Give my cyber Monday over any black Friday! I refuse to stand in line for hours, be trampled upon, pushed, shoved and insulted all in the name of Christmas cheer. I enjoyed shopping for my family and friends from my home - complete with Christmas music playing softly in the background. I have heard from friends who shopped on black Friday with their horror stories. One friend had achieved her goal - obtaining the coveted gift at reduced price only to have it stolen out of her cart while in the store. She was lucky - she saw it happen - followed the person and reobtained it when his back was turned. Then she left the store immediately even though her shopping was not done.

Beautyadic by Beautyadic | San antonio, TX
Dec 11, 2010

I really hate black friday. I don't know why people go to it. The deals aren't that grew and you have a risk of being killed. So personally not for me.

wvmommyX by wvmommyX | Huntington, WV
Dec 08, 2010

I went black friday shopping, but I waited until about 730 to go. I took my 4 and 2 year olds and didnt have any problems. The sales people were friendly and most people were well behaved. I worked retail when I was younger and honestly I liked working black friday to "people watch." Yes, there are always some crazy people, but I know that and just take it in stride. The only behavior that I can control is my own, so I stay calm and try to let my kids have a fun day shopping with mommy!!!

TGRIFF7868 by TGRIFF7868 | Eastanollee, GA
Dec 04, 2010

I HAVE BEEN SHOPPING BF FOR AT LEAST 19 YEARS I HAVE ALWAYS ENJOYED THE RUSH AND WATCHING PEOPLE LOL BUT THIS YEAR IT SEEMED LIKE IT WAS DOUBLE PEOPLE THEN THE PREVIOUS YEARS AND THE STORES STARTED EARLIER THEN EVER BEFORE. I STILL ENJOYED THE HUSTLE BUT THE HOURS WERE WAY TO EARLY YOU NEED TIME TO REST BETWEEN THANKSGIVING DINNER AND SHOPPING ESPECIALLY IF YOUR SHOPPING ALL THE SALES.

shelly_noble24 by shelly_noble24 | SULLIVAN, MO
Dec 04, 2010

i am not into black friday shopping.done it once and i saw some bad stuff.like i saw someone try to steal from a woman.she was inf front of me her stuff had been checked out.she was paying and someone tried to grab her cart and run off with it.they stopped this person though stores need more security and they need to have more good really good deals in the weeks before black friday yes i know some stores do have some sales before hand but no were near as good and as many sales.also the websites of the stores should have good deals long before black friday on things people would buy.yes i know there is cyber monday to but i think it should be going on before black friday this would cut back on black friday maddness

MrsJaxGio by MrsJaxGio | Latham, NY
Dec 04, 2010

I would go with a one strike policy if you are caught with any negative behavior, you are kicked out of the store, or not allowed to enter it. I also think that they should let less people in at a time and when you are sent in, you have a time ticket you have to check out by such time or something to keep the crowds moving. I am shocked at the monsters people can turn into for "Christmas".

tokapaul by tokapaul | Acworth, GA
Dec 02, 2010

Last year, we just sat down at the computer on Thanksgiving day and logged on to Best Buy.com. We bought a T.V. at their website and got the Black Friday price. We even got free shipping! No getting up early on Friday, no traffic, no waiting in the cold, and none of Black Friday insanity!

Talk35 by Talk35 | Arlington, TN
Dec 01, 2010

I had a wonderful time shopping this year. It's my absolute favorite time of the year when BF rolls around. I've only had one crazy incident happen back in 2008, but I still got the product I was after:) Target beat Walmart hands down this year-even Sears had a great ad this year too. Walmart better step up their game, because I am considering Target to be my main spot from now on.

nunna3rd by nunna3rd | BEAUFORT, SC
Dec 01, 2010

Every year I hear about someone getting trampled. To be honest you could do better just by staying home and shopping online with coupon codes.

nicrea05 by nicrea05 | Portland, OR
Dec 01, 2010

I don't go shopping on Black Friday anymore. I hardly ever see anything that is really that good of a deal, and when it is, you literally have to camp out to get it, which I'm not willing to do. I'm a very frugal person, but that goes too far for me. Too crowded and too much drama.

CrystalBurgard by CrystalBurgard | N TONAWANDA, NY
Dec 01, 2010

Black Friday is absolutely out of control. I live in Buffalo, NY and this story has been all over the news since it happened. There was a guy who fell and people just trampled him -- I cant even imagine feeling peoples feet stepping on you and crushing you and not even caring. They walked on this man like he was a lumpy rug and not even a human! Hellooooo??!! Hearing stories year after year of grey haired grannies fighting over a $1 pair of gloves and people being injured or even killed because of a sale is really, really sad. I cant believe it has gotten to this point, but society certainly seems to have more concern for money then for fellow woman or man.

melliec by melliec | new gloucester, ME
Dec 01, 2010

This Black Friday madness is getting out of hand, I think with all news and publicity the media puts on it makes people even more insane about going out on that day, they add so much hype to it and for the most part the deals aren't any better then what you would get if you went out shopping any other day in December before Christmas, there may be a couple great deals on black Friday usually with electronics but the number of items is so limited, with the economy being so bad most of the stores are offering great deals, or so they seem after they jack up the prices to make them look better. I personally don't shop on black Friday, I have gone out the day after and avoided all the craziness!!