Add in the online-coupon phenomenon, which feeds the psychological hunger for finding impossible bargains, and you've got a recipe for trouble, said Theresa Williams, a marketing professor at Indiana University.
``These are people who should know better and have enough stuff already,'' Williams said. ``What's going to be next year, everybody getting Tasered?''
Across the country on Thursday and Friday, there were signs that tensions had ratcheted up a notch or two, with violence resulting in several instances.
A woman turned herself in to police after allegedly pepper-spraying 20 other customers at a Los Angeles-area Walmart on Thursday in what investigators said was an attempt to get at a crate of Xbox video game consoles. In Kinston, North Carolina, a security guard also pepper-sprayed customers seeking electronics before the start of a midnight sale.
In New York, crowds reportedly looted a clothing store in lower Manhattan's Soho district. In Arizona, at a Walmart near Phoenix, a man was bloodied while being subdued by police officer on suspicion of shoplifting a video game. There was a shooting outside a store in San Leandro, California, shots fired at a mall in Fayetteville, North Carolina, and a stabbing outside a store in Sacramento, New York.
``The difference this year is that instead of a nice sweater you need a bullet proof vest and goggles,'' said Betty Thomas, 52, who was shopping Saturday with her sisters and a niece at Crabtree Valley Mall in Raleigh, North Carolina
The wave of violence revived memories of the 2008 Black Friday stampede that killed an employee and put a pregnant woman in the hospital at a Walmart on New York's Long Island. Walmart spokesman Greg Rossiter said Black Friday 2011 was safe at most of its nearly 4,000 U.S. stores despite ``a few unfortunate incidents.''
Black Friday _ named that because it puts retailers ``in the black'' _ has become more intense as companies compete for customers in a weak economy, said Jacob Jacoby, an expert on consumer behavior at New York University.
The idea of luring in customers with a few ``doorbuster'' deals has long been a staple of the post-Thanksgiving sales. But now stores are opening earlier, and those deals are getting more extreme, he said.
``There's an awful lot of psychology going on here,'' Jacoby said. ``There's the notion of scarcity _ when something's scarce it's more valued. And a resource that can be very scarce is time: If you don't get there in time, it's going to be gone.''
There's also a new factor, Williams said: the rise of coupon websites like Groupon and LivingSocial, the online equivalents of doorbusters, which usually deliver a single, one-day offer with savings of up to 80 percent on museum tickets, photo portraits, yoga classes and the like.
The services encourage impulse buying and an obsession with bargains, Williams said, while also getting businesses hooked on quick infusions of customers.
``The whole notion of getting a deal, that's all we've seen for the last two years,'' Williams said. ``It's about stimulating consumers' quick reactions. How do we get their attention quickly? How do we create cash flow for today?''
To grab customers first, some stores are opening late on Thanksgiving Day, turning bargain-hunting from an early-morning activity into an all-night slog, said Ed Fox, a marketing professor at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. Midnight shopping puts everyone on edge and also makes shoppers targets for muggers, he said.
In fact, robbery appeared to be the motive behind the shooting in San Leandro, about 15 miles (24 kilometers) east of San Francisco. Police said robbers shot a victim as he was walking to a car with his purchases around 1:45 a.m. on Friday.
``There are so many hours now where people are shopping in the darkness that it provides cover for people who are going to try to steal or rob those who are out in numbers,'' Fox said.
The violence has prompted some analysts to wonder if the sales are worth it, and what solutions might work.
In a New York Times column this week, economist Robert Frank proposed slapping a 6 percent sales tax on purchases between 6 p.m. on Thanksgiving and 6 a.m. on Friday in an attempt to stop the ``arms race'' of earlier and earlier sales.
Small retailers, meanwhile, are pushing so-called Small Business Saturday to woo customers who are turned off by the Black Friday crush. President Barack Obama even joined in, going book shopping on Saturday at a small bookstore a few blocks from the White House.
``A lot of retailers, independent retailers, are making the conscious decision to not work those crazy hours,'' said Patricia Norins, a retail consultant for American Express.
Next up is Cyber Monday, when online retailers put their wares on sale. But on Saturday many shoppers said they still prefer buying at the big stores, despite the frenzy.
Thomas said she likes the time with her sisters and the hustle of the mall too much to stay home and just shop online.
To her, the more pressing problem was that the Thanksgiving weekend sales didn't seem very good.
``If I'm going to get shot, at least let me get a good deal,'' Thomas said.
<한글기사>
'미친쇼핑'..쓰러진 남자도 외면
싼값에 물건을 사야 한다는 일념 이외에 다른 것은 생각할 겨 를이 없었다. 한 남자가 아파서 쓰러졌는데도 쇼핑객들은 오히려 그를 피해 물건을 고르느라 바빴다.
미국의 최대 쇼핑 시즌 '블랙프라이데이'를 맞아 한 쇼핑센터에서 벌어진 이야 기다.
26일(현지시간) 미 NBC 방송에 따르면 전날 새벽 웨스트버지니아주(州) 사우스 찰스턴에 있는 한 쇼핑센터의 할인매장 '타깃'(Target)에서 크리스마스 장식을 고르 던 월터 밴스(61)가 갑자기 바닥에 쓰러졌다.
매장에는 새벽부터 쇼핑하러 온 사람들로 북적거렸지만 쓰러진 그에게 관심을 보이는 사람은 거의 없었다. 목격자들은 "쇼핑객들이 그 주변을 돌아가거나 심지어 쓰러진 그 위를 넘어가기도 했다"고 전했다.
당시 현장에 있던 한 쇼핑객도 다른 사람들의 무관심 때문에 혼란스러웠다고 토 로했다.
그러던 중 마침 그곳에서 쇼핑 중이던 응급실 간호사가 밴스를 발견하고 심폐소 생술을 실시했고, 역시 쇼핑하러 나온 비번인 응급구조원이 구급차를 불러 병원으로 이송했다.
하지만, 오랫동안 심장질환을 앓아왔던 밴스는 끝내 숨졌다.
밴스의 '마지막 순간'을 들은 그의 가족과 동료는 큰 충격을 받아야 했다.
밴스의 동료는 "착한 사마리아인은 어디에 있느냐, 어떻게 곤경에 처한 사람을 모른 척할 수 있느냐"며 "사람들이 할인행사에 눈이 멀어 그를 돕지 않았다는 것을 이해할 수 없다"고 분통을 터뜨렸다.
연중 최고의 할인행사가 펼쳐진 블랙프라이데이에는 이외에도 웃지 못할 사건, 사고가 잇따랐다.
로스앤젤레스(LA)에서는 한 30대 여성이 월마트에서 전자제품을 보다 빨리 손에 넣으려고 쇼핑객들에게 최루가스를 분사해 20여 명이 다쳤는가 하면 노스캐롤라이나 주의 월마트에선 경찰이 질서유지를 위해 쇼핑객들에게 최루가스를 분사하는 일도 벌어졌다. (연합뉴스)
![[Weekender] Korea's traditional sauce culture gains global recognition](http://res.heraldm.com/phpwas/restmb_idxmake.php?idx=644&simg=/content/image/2024/11/21/20241121050153_0.jpg)
