Mayhem at Marketplace
Imagine getting your hands on a playstation 3. Well, Johhny, Lance and I were on a mission to get the most sought out item this holiday season on Thursday. For what reason? To sell it on eBay, of course. Worst case scenario, we make about $500 if we get one of these things. Best case, we are talk $3,000 or more.
We had all the things to camp out, we had tents, sleeping bags and things to keep occupied. We went out at 5:30 PM, and it was far too late. Every place had many more people that systems. Some people had been camping for as long as a week. There was two places with no people though, Best Buy and Target at Marketplace. Both places are seperated by a Babies R' Us in a plaza.
This strip was owned by the mall and thus, mall security was in control of the gorups around the store. The mall secuirty said they would not allow camp outs, and, people would not be able to form a line until 3 AM. We formed a plan of attack and went to bed, ready to come back at about 2 AM.
We arrived at 2, and security had done a good job in keeping people out. There were constantly making sure no one was on the grounds. They had codes and tape coveirng up all the entrence ways by car. Thus, people and cars were set up just outside the area. There were 3 attack points. The one we were at was the most southern point, near target. The other two were to the East and the North. Best Buy was near the North end, and had more systems. By 2:30, there were at least 500 people in the surrounding area ready for the go.
At 2:40, everything broke loose. A group of people from the East end started running toward best buy. Seconds later, people started running from all the gatherings. Cars knocked over cones and went through to the entrance, going at least 30 in the parking lot. there of course was no line rather a mob of people on the doors near the Target and Best buy entrances. The security was able to peel people off with this premature attempt. After everyone got back at about 2:45, people were getting jittery.
At 2:50, the exact same thing happened again. This time the people were there for good. There was again no line, and push 1000 people looking for 30 systems. We had no chance, as we were no one near the mob. We called the news station and left for Denny's. Here is the story after that came, after all the action really happened.
http://www.13wham.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=41274283-14A8-4F29-89B9-CF922CB086DE
We had all the things to camp out, we had tents, sleeping bags and things to keep occupied. We went out at 5:30 PM, and it was far too late. Every place had many more people that systems. Some people had been camping for as long as a week. There was two places with no people though, Best Buy and Target at Marketplace. Both places are seperated by a Babies R' Us in a plaza.
This strip was owned by the mall and thus, mall security was in control of the gorups around the store. The mall secuirty said they would not allow camp outs, and, people would not be able to form a line until 3 AM. We formed a plan of attack and went to bed, ready to come back at about 2 AM.
We arrived at 2, and security had done a good job in keeping people out. There were constantly making sure no one was on the grounds. They had codes and tape coveirng up all the entrence ways by car. Thus, people and cars were set up just outside the area. There were 3 attack points. The one we were at was the most southern point, near target. The other two were to the East and the North. Best Buy was near the North end, and had more systems. By 2:30, there were at least 500 people in the surrounding area ready for the go.
At 2:40, everything broke loose. A group of people from the East end started running toward best buy. Seconds later, people started running from all the gatherings. Cars knocked over cones and went through to the entrance, going at least 30 in the parking lot. there of course was no line rather a mob of people on the doors near the Target and Best buy entrances. The security was able to peel people off with this premature attempt. After everyone got back at about 2:45, people were getting jittery.
At 2:50, the exact same thing happened again. This time the people were there for good. There was again no line, and push 1000 people looking for 30 systems. We had no chance, as we were no one near the mob. We called the news station and left for Denny's. Here is the story after that came, after all the action really happened.
http://www.13wham.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=41274283-14A8-4F29-89B9-CF922CB086DE