(ANTIMEDIA) — Though the profitability of Black Friday may be wearing off due to the growth of online retail and consumers’ desire to avoid crowds in shopping centers, 2017’s day-after-Thanksgiving sales have once again drawn hysteria and violence. The consumer holiday has resulted in at least one shooting in Missouri, multiple fights, and chaos around the world.
At the same time, many shoppers and outlets are reporting eerily empty stores in stark contrast to years past.
Here are 12 images and videos that show Black Friday is alive and well in some places — 2,500 people reportedly gathered at the Mall of America before it opened — and dying down in others:
One brawl in Alabama caused the whole mall to shut down:
JUST IN: @HooverPD say they responded to several reports of fights at the Galleria Thursday night. Here's video of one incident outside the Buckle store. More on @WBRCnews this morning. pic.twitter.com/UZEZQGykGE
— Clare Huddleston (@Fox6Clare) November 24, 2017
Stores like Best Buy started early on Thanksgiving day, drawing lines at locations around the country:
800+ Shoppers lined up outside of Best Buy in Irving. #BlackFriday pic.twitter.com/9FkEAupCkk
— Omair Siddiqi (@omair_siddiqi) November 23, 2017
A fight at an undisclosed location appeared to show a man getting thrown through an aisle for touching another shopper’s basket:
Grown men fought over a toy car:
This is by far the calmest black friday ever pic.twitter.com/EwErZ9EF1S
— djungelskog (@discountflipper) November 23, 2017
It's almost 9:30 and this is our line. I'm fine with this. pic.twitter.com/JJ5fxR0HGs
— Scott Gauthier (@ScottGauth) November 24, 2017
In other parts of the world like South Africa, however, America’s Black Friday tradition goes on:
A scuffle breaks out outside The Checkers in the Eastgate Shopping Centre. #BlackFriday @TeamNews24 Plenty of security guards on duty. pic.twitter.com/R6ihJUkCte
— Sharlene Rood (@ssharim) November 24, 2017
A view from within the mad trolley dash. #BlackFriday @TeamNews24 pic.twitter.com/0zs21J2lE1
— Sharlene Rood (@ssharim) November 24, 2017
A store’s glass doors were broken and alarm scanners were ripped up early this morning by #blackfriday deal seekers. It is understood that police were called in to control the crowd. #blackfridaydeals pic.twitter.com/4agpL7sSuR
— Times LIVE (@TimesLIVE) November 24, 2017
In Brazil, where Black Friday continues to grow in popularity, shoppers grappled over televisions (see 3:10 in video):
Veja como foi a #BlackFriday em Londres, com o correspondente @FelipeKieling e em São Paulo, com o repórter @OEltonRibeiro. pic.twitter.com/WsjHa9SGJE
— Bandplay (@bandplay) November 24, 2017
Meanwhile, in Ukraine, a lone radical feminist with “BLACK FRIDAY” scrawled on her torso attempted to trash a store owned by Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko, who the U.S. State Department once considered their “Ukrainian insider.”
She was eventually removed from the store.
Even if Black Friday 2017 doesn’t produce as much recorded chaos as it has in years past, it’s no doubt still woven into the fabric of American culture, as evidenced by this tweet:
by Carey Wedler /Creative Commons / Anti-Media /
