13 Senior Citizens Injured in Worst Granny Pileup Since 1988
By Editor | January 2, 2008
Austin, TX - January 1, 2007 — It was a bad start to the new year for many elderly Austinites on Tuesday, as a store promotion led to the worst pileup of senior citizens in nearly two decades.
When John Spencer came to work on New Year’s Day, he had a bad feeling in the pit of stomach. Upon arriving to work at the Shop Rite department store in North Austin, the 32-year-old assistant manager noticed a large group of senior citizens jostling for position outside the store’s locked doors.
Two weeks earlier, the department store (whose product line caters to senior citizens) began promoting a New Year’s Day “Extravaganza” sale on all merchandise. Prices were slashed, promotional flyers were mailed out, and the wheels of an unpredictable tragedy were set into motion.
The premise of the sale was simple enough. The first 100 shoppers to enter the store as it opened on New Year’s Day morning would receive a $100 gift certificate. Hence, the promotion was dubbed the “100 x 100 Sale.”
But store owners underestimated the frenzy that such a promotion would create. According to assistant manager John Spencer:
“We thought it would get some folks out of bed a little earlier than usual, but that’s about it. Our customer base is mostly elderly, so we thought they would behave with some degree of restraint. But when I came in Tuesday morning and saw them congregating by the front entrance, I could tell they were getting antsy. I just had a bad feeling about it. We even talked about canceling the sale, but we thought that might make things worse … a riot or something.”
So Spencer’s boss, store manager Brian Boswell, reluctantly opened the doors at 7:59 a.m. The first injury occurred moments later, but it was only the beginning of what would become the store’s darkest day — and the worst pileup of senior citizens since 1988, when a Sunny Day Cafeteria held a similar promotion inside a Wisconsin shopping mall.
When Spencer and Boswell unlocked the two sets of glass door at the store’s front entrance, the crowd of seniors surged forward with surprising force.
“When you get that much humanity together in one spot,” said Boswell, “it really doesn’t matter how old they are. They pushed forward and it was all we could do to dive out of the way.”
Though a dozen or so patrons made it through the entrance and into the store, the majority of the senior citizens created a logjam in the space between the two sets of doors. And whatever civility the patrons had brought with them that morning soon went out the window. There were angry shouts of profanity, pushing and shoving, and even a fisticuff or two.
Image: Edith Wallburton, who was trapped in the “Granny Funnel” for over an hour, said the incident will weigh heavy on her for a long time.
“It was like hell on earth,” said assistant manager Spencer. “Worst of all, there was nothing I could do about it. I tried to climb into the foyer to break apart the crowd, but that only made things worse. They thought we were trying to close the doors and shut down the sale, so they went crazy. I saw grannies doing things you’d expect to see in one of those ultimate fighting championships. It was horrible, just god-awful and horrible.”
Police and rescue personnel arrived on the scene at around 8:24, but it took them nearly an hour to dislodge the “granny funnel,” as the police referred to it. Firefighters had to use the Jaws-of-Life (a hydraulic-powered cutting tool) to remove sections of door frame.
Image: One of the 13 senior citizens transported to the ER
All told, thirteen senior citizens were injured badly enough to warrant a trip to the emergency room. Dozens more had minor bumps and bruises. Assault charges were filed on two elderly women, who witnesses saw gouging eyes and pulling hair.
As for next year’s promotion, store manager Brian Boswell said he has different plans:
“It’s too far off to be specific at this point. But I can tell you that it won’t involve such a narrow time frame next time … or a narrow doorway, for that matter.”
Topics: Austin News |
January 2nd, 2008 at 11:40 am
This didn’t work and was dangerous to the elderly. Next year they should offer the $100 to the first 200 people so they don’t have to push as much! Come on guys, use some common sense…
January 2nd, 2008 at 10:59 pm
NEVER, NEVER UNDER-ESTIMATE A SENIOR CITIZEN. ESPECIALLY IF SOMETHING SAYS “SALE, MARKED DOWN, ONE OF A KIND, OR EARLY BIRD SPECIAL.