Teddy bears panic!
Fights, nine-hour queues and children in tears as cut-price toy offer sets off stampedes across UK
if you went down to the shops yesterday, you were sure of a big surprise.
for children, there was a chance to grab a cheap teddy bear thanks to a cut-price offer. But there was nothing soft and cuddly about the stampede it set off.
Thousands of parents and youngsters queued for up to nine hours outside branches of Build-A-Bear Workshop to grab toys for as little as £1.
As stores across the country were quickly overwhelmed, fights and rows broke out among those desperate to grab a bargain.
Shoppers said they feared being crushed or drawn into a full blown riot as enormous queues snaked around shopping malls. Police were even called in to keep order at Leeds’ White Rose Shopping Centre when queues of ‘about a mile long’ formed. And a pregnant staff member was reportedly punched by an angry customer at the firm’s Belfast store.
The chaos started when Build-A-Bear Workshop launched a promotion for parents to buy a toy for the price of their child’s age. The ‘Pay Your Age Day’ offer meant bears that can cost up to £50 were offered for as little as £1.
The store is already popular with youngsters, who can choose a teddy bear style before having it stuffed by a member of staff. However, shops across the UK quickly resembled scrums as families described ‘utterly insane’ scenes. By lunchtime yesterday, many of Build-A-Bear’s 53 shops in the UK were forced to close due to ‘extreme safety concerns’.
in a desperate attempt to calm the parents of sobbing children, one store advised customers to pay now, stuff later. Hundreds arrived before 9am ready to take advantage of the deal only to find queues had already started to build.
When doors finally opened, parents swarmed the shop floors.
One mother from Bracknell, Berkshire, was so overwhelmed by the rush that she burst into tears as she waited with her four-year-old and 16-monthold. She said: ‘i got there at 8.50am and there was a queue of around 30 people in front of us. They opened all four doors at the same time and we were being crushed.
‘i gave up after 40 minutes after being told our wait was at least two hours despite the fact we were nearly at the front. it was so dangerous.’ Another mother feared a full-blown riot.
fiona O’Reilly, 31, arrived at Newcastle’s MetroCentre at 8.15am with her four children to find hundreds
‘Feared we would be crushed’
already queuing. She said yesterday: ‘it’s complete madness. i wouldn’t be surprised if there were a few riots. The store only has four staff making the bears, so i reckon people will be waiting all day. There’s already people fighting in the queues.’
At one of the company’s biggest stores at Birmingham’s Bullring shopping centre, bosses wrote on Twitter at 10.50am that stock had already run out. The chain posted on its facebook page before noon that it ‘cannot accept additional guests due to extreme crowds and safety concerns’. A spokesman said: ‘The response to our Pay Your Age Day event at all of our UK locations has been overwhelming and unprecedented in our 21-year history.
‘ The crowds have greatly exceeded our expectations and queues are at capacity and we cannot accept additional guests due to extreme crowds and safety concerns. We understand our guests are disappointed, and we are working to address the situation.’
Many families were handed £12 vouchers. US firm Build-A-Bear has long been a high street hit in Britain. Along with traditional bears, children can choose from characters from cartoon franchises including Pokemon and My Little Pony. Children can customise their toys with ‘sound chips’ and get a certificate to mark their bear’s ‘birthday’.