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Black Friday Redux: Fights, Looting, And The Danger Of "Hot Shirtless Guys"
By
Ben Yakas
Published Nov 26, 2011
Modified Nov 26, 2011
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By
Ben Yakas
Published Nov 26, 2011
Modified Nov 26, 2011
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NYC was thankfully spared the worst of Black Friday—after all, nobody got pepper sprayed or shot here. But that doesn't mean it was a walk in the park: tens of thousands of NYers across the state lugged their tryptophan-enriched bodies to stores to suss out deals. And along with them came long lines, fights, and looting. And this is exactly why one can't just go around promising "hot shirtless guys" all willy nilly.
The worst incident occurred at the Hollister clothing store in SoHo. The chain, which is owned by Abercrombie and Fitch, had promoted a Black Friday midnight opening with "hundreds of hot shirtless guys" and steep discounts, which attracted a large crowd before midnight Friday. Except there was one problem: a Hollister employee at the SoHo branch told DNAInfo their store was not one of the company's so-called "chain" stores, and therefore was not slated to open until 10 a.m.
But apparently no one told the kids—and around 1:15 a.m., approximately 20 teens grew impatient and rushed the doors, grabbing whatever they could. Witness Akeem Bridgeman, 17, gave the Post a first-hand account of the melee:
They ran in and took bundles of clothes. They were throwing things around and throwing clothes on the floor. One kid, he was being really loud and crazy and gathered up all these clothes and ran out of the store and started giving them to his friends. They were really wild. There were a couple employees there [stocking shelves], and they were shouting at people, `Stop! You’re breaking and entering and breaking the law!’ But the people looting just ignored them.
While the store has workers and security on-site 24 hours a day, they were greatly outnumbered by customers. The store had to be closed after the craziness, but security video caught the teens running wild, and police are now investigating. Martin Elkman brought some levity to the incident: "I mean, they're just clothes," he told DNAInfo. "Why would you go to [juvenile detention] for a T-shirt? That's just dumb."
Below, check out some videos documenting the chaos of Black Friday around NYC, including lines for Macy's in Herald Square, the countdown to the opening of the midtown Apple store, and shoppers accounts of the day.
Tagged
black friday
crowds
deals
fights
hollister
looting
Shopping
soho
Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
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