An Australian streetwear store was mobbed by hundreds of teenagers on Boxing Day after its founder encouraged customers to “rob” the store.
Almost unbelievable footage uploaded to the StreetX Instagram page shows hundreds of teenagers rushing into a store in Perth's central business district.
Onlookers watched the mayhem unfold as crowds of mostly young men pushed their way into two small entrances.
As one unlucky young fan stumbles on his way in, the crowd behind him tramples him in their mission to win one of the 400 free T-shirts on offer. I saw it.
Despite the harrowing scenes, label founder Daniel Bradshaw claimed that no one was injured during the chaotic dash and that police went off “without incident”.
Bradshaw is known for similarly chaotic marketing campaigns and drew the ire of city rangers and police during his brand's Boxing Day campaign last year.
Bradshaw is western australia By that date, he encouraged his followers to “rob” his stores.
“We wanted to give our customers something fun. We made the entire store free. We had 400 'steal' items,” he said.
“We always have a Boxing Day sale. Last year we did a giveaway in the back of a truck. This year we wanted something that ideally wouldn't get us into trouble.”
Mr Bradshaw maintained that administrative measures had been put in place to protect customers from the scuffle that ensued.
“I chose a shop with lots of space and it was also in a secluded area of the CBD,” he said.
“We let the kids and parents in first. Once they left, we let the young people in.”
While some customers questioned the Perth streetwear brand's marketing approach, Bradshaw praised its “run-and-gun” approach as the first of its kind.
“We've never seen anything like that in Australia before,” he said.
Boxing Day mayhem was not limited to Perth, with people flocking from all over Australia to snap up bargains.
Crowds flocked to Sydney's DFO Outlet Mall and Gold Coast's Harbor Town, with queues stretching as far as the eye could see. By 10am, the line to enter the Homebush shopping center was snaking all the way to the parking lot.
The long lines and discomfort of crowded shopping centers in the middle of summer have some online wondering if the bargains are worth it. One social media user commented: “Nothing happened on Boxing Day and I couldn't wait until the 27th.”
“That's just a violation.”
There was a similar scene at Melbourne's DFO South Wharf Shopping Center.
Wait times to enter Nike stores were up to two hours, leaving customers standing outside in 97-degree heat.
So while some may question their belief in bargain hunting on Boxing Day, free things always seem to draw crowds. However, be careful of large crowds.
