JOSH SWARTZLANDER / Lincoln Journal Star | Posted: Friday, November 25, 2005 6:00 pm
An angry shopping debacle at a Wal-Mart marred an otherwise lucrative Black Friday in Lincoln, shoppers and store managers said.
Electronic equipment — such as MP3 players and accessories, laptops, desktop computers, TVs and digital cameras — reigned as the main attraction for bargain hunters. But the rush to buy a cheap computer contributed to at least one ugly shopping incident.
At 4 a.m., Nate Kellison joined about 50 shoppers waiting to buy a $378 HP Pavilion notebook computer at the Wal-Mart at South 84th Street and Nebraska 2. By 5 a.m., when the sale officially started, more than 100 people had surrounded the 65 available laptops stacked on a pallet, the 25-year-old Lincoln man said.
A ring of Wal-Mart employees guarded the computers. But, when the employees began to tear back the black plastic that encased the notebooks, the crowd converged and mayhem ensued, Kellison said.
“There was no organization whatsoever,” he said. “People started pushing in toward the boxes. As soon as someone picked up a box, someone else knocked them down.”
Karl Vogel, a 40-year-old Lincoln man and a Journal Star employee, also arrived at Wal-Mart hoping to buy one of the notebooks. He was pushed aside by the crowd, which he estimated at 200.
“A couple guys went flying over the pile and dove into the middle,” he said.
One woman dove underneath the pile, grabbed a laptop and hung on as people walked over her, Vogel said.
The discount notebook computers created problems at Wal-Marts nation-wide. Fights and stampedes were reported at stores in Michigan and Florida.
However, at the North 27th Street Wal-Mart, the sale caused no problems, said Kristin Hotopp, assistant manager. At that location, staff kept the notebooks behind the counter and handed them to people in line.
Hotopp, who worked from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday, said the store did good business.
Brisk Black Friday sales were reported in Lincoln and across the country. Major retailers, including Wal-Mart, Sears and Macy’s estimated they drew bigger crowds on the official start of the holiday shopping season than they did a year ago.
In Lincoln, people lined up in the hundreds — even thousands — at Target stores, Best Buy, Westfield Gateway, Southpointe Pavilions, Circuit City and others.
Jenny Egger, 17, of Sprague, started a 13-hour shopping marathon at 6 a.m. Friday at Gateway. She also hit Scheels All Sports, ShopKo, Bed Bath & Beyond — “about every store in Lincoln.”
She emerged from the crowds with clothes — including a $10 pair of shoes — and a blanket. In keeping with her annual routine, she likes to shop to exhaustion.
“Now I like to crash,” she said at the end of the day.
But the sales continued at many Lincoln stores after 10 p.m.
The big sellers at Target, 333 N. 48th St., included poker tables, video-game chairs and iDogs, which are dog-shaped speakers for iPods, said Brandi Nedved, the closing manager.
The hottest sellers at Best Buy, 400 N. 48th St., were MP3 players, flat-panel TVs, digital cameras and computers, said general manager Reid Charpentier.
Charpentier, who worked 15 hours Friday, said Best Buy kept holiday shoppers happy and organized. Before the store opened at 5 a.m., employees led 2,000 people waiting in line in a cheer.
“This day isn’t just about shopping. It’s an event,” he said.
Reach Josh Swartzlander at 473-7120 or jswartzlander@journalstar.com. The Associated Press and Journal Star reporter Lori Pilger contributed to this story.