The Price of a Bargain: The Quest for Cheap and the Death of Globalization

Adapted from The Price of a Bargain: The Quest for Cheap and the Death of Globalization (Palgrave Macmillan, 2009)

They emerged from the darkness and gathered like pilgrims, lining up beneath floodlights in the parking lot. Well before midnight, the first shoppers had already settled into chairs and under blankets for the long, cold vigil that was being staged outside nearly every major discount outlet across America.

But only one mall would be remembered in the years to come. By 1 a.m., hundreds had gathered in front of the Wal-Mart at Long Island’s Green Acres Mall. All were there with a singular purpose. They had come for $9 DVDs and $5 Hannah Montana dolls that Wal-Mart had advertised in local flyers; others wanted the $25 microwaves and, most of all, 42-inch LCD televisions that had been marked down to $598. Everyone had a game plan for the store’s 5 a.m. opening, because when big-box stores open on the first Friday after American Thanksgiving, shopping becomes a competitive sport. Above the crowd of shoppers, in five-foot-high letters, was the promise emblazoned on nearly every Wal-Mart in the world: Satisfaction Guaranteed. As in previous years, most retailers opened for only a brief period during the early morning and offered only limited supplies of aggressively discounted products, so shoppers had come to expect lineups. This morning was different. As Naked Augustine recounted, when she arrived at Green Acres Mall at 2 a.m., the line was already two thou-sand people long. Having studied Wal-Mart’s flyer, she was keen on the Hot Wheels Barbie Jeep advertised at more than 50 percent off. As she and a friend discussed shopping strategy, there was a violent surge from behind. “It got scary out of nowhere,” says Augustine. “The crowd in the back just pushed.” Someone grabbed her pocketbook off her shoulder, ripping her coat open. Others were punched and pushed to the ground; scuffles broke out.

Above the growing melee, someone had posted a handwritten sign: Blitz Line Starts Here. As the rowdy crowd counted down to five o’clock, the fights and pushing continued. Some shoppers, already injured, left the scene. There were broken arms, bruises, and head injuries. Inside, the eight security guards assigned to the front door began to worry. On that morning of November 28, 2008, bargain-hungry crowds were staring down guards and doormen across America. Gunshots were fired at a Toys “R” Us store in Palm Desert, California, and two people were killed. Reports of fighting, damaged property, and vandalism filtered through the news. “They’re more aggressive,” one seasoned Wal-Mart shopper told the New York Times. “I’ve never seen anybody fight like this. This is crazy.” Facing a potentially bottomless recession, record numbers of shoppers turned out at ungodly early hours to save a few dollars on Christmas toys for their kids, stock up on necessities, or score a luxury television or stereo before things got worse. In the end, an estimated 172 million people – just over half of North America’s total population – would go shopping that Black Friday weekend.

If people had any chance of maintaining their standard of living and enjoying the consumer riches they had become accustomed to during the holiday season, they would need bargains – and lots of them. Retailers did not disappoint. With offers of up to 70 percent off – virtually giving products away in a calculated effort to bring in traffic – Black Friday 2008 marked the very pinnacle of discounting, one of the greatest consumer payoffs of all time.

“Five, four, three, two, one!” Beneath the blue and white Wal-Mart sign at Green Acres, the entrance doors opened a crack. The crowd surged forward with a force that knocked one of the doors off its hinges. One security guard used it as a shield against the torrent of people that streamed into the store. The door crumpled, its glass smashed, and people and workers began to fall inside Wal-Mart’s foyer as more than two thousand manic shoppers rushed in. There were screams and panic as people poured over several fallen shoppers, security guards, and broken glass.