Increased Black Friday Security | Video

Rene Thibault | 11/23/2012

Black Friday is known for its great shopping deals, and it has become known for its crowds. It seems like every year we hear about someone getting trampled or fights breaking out between people looking for sale items. Businesses in Minot tried to put a stop to those problems.

Customers were walking through the K-mart doors much easier today than during last night`s Black Friday opening. More than 1,000 people crowded into the store in less than 15 minutes.

“There`s going to be issues when you have 1,000 people in a small space. So anytime we can provide a deterrent for any bad actors, we`re going to take that measure,” said manager Mike Wilson.

That deterrent was increased security inside and outside the store. People were allowed through the doors one at a time. A balance that would help keep them happy, as well as safe.

As usual, most of the big sales were on electronic devices like TVs, laptops and tablets. For that reason, the electronics department is typically the heart and soul of Black Friday. Luckily, the Minot Kmart only saw one small incident.

“The only problems we had last night were some people got a little exuberant once they got in the store, and we had the TVs reserved. And they went past our associates and started grabbing them for themselves. So we had to retrieve them and give them back to the rightful new owners,” added Wilson.

“They had 20 tickets for this TV and when we got back there looking for my son`s toy that we`re trying to get him, there were four people and they were fighting over a ticket and one person grabbed a TV and one person grabbed a ticket. So they ended up actually fighting, and I think somebody got hit. But yeah, people go insane,” said shopper Shian Kaelberer.

Although not every customer left with everything they wanted, Wilson says he was pleased with the customers attitudes.

Kmart wasn`t the only store to take safety measures, Target is another example, they had police on hand to help keep the peace.

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