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Disturbances prompt cancellations of some Nike releases
[Updated at 4:13 p.m. ET] Concerns about disturbances among large crowds waiting to buy special-edition Nike shoes tied to this weekend’s NBA All-Star Game prompted stores in several states to cancel the releases, media reports say.
Of particular interest among many would-be shoppers, according to the reports, was the $220 Nike Foamposite One Galaxy, a space-themed, glow-in-the dark shoe that nods to the space legacy of Florida, where this weekend’s game is happening in Orlando.
In Orlando on Thursday night, a Foot Locker House of Hoops store at Florida Mall cancelled a special 11 p.m. opening after police were called to handle a crowd of about 1,200 people, CNN affiliates Bay News 9 and WFTV reported.
The crowd outside the mall was moved across the street before the late-night opening. But at one point, people rushed toward the store, which was to sell the Foamposite One and other All-Star-related releases, the affiliates reported.
“People tried running over the cops. People tried just getting into that line,” witness Youssef Abounouadar told WFTV. “Everyone ran to the door, and it started getting really hectic.”
Law enforcement officers in riot gear pushed back the crowd, the store did not open Thursday night, and the release of the Foamposite One there Friday was canceled, the affiliates reported. No injuries or arrests were reported.
A message on a Foot Locker website said the company was canceling All-Star weekend shoe releases at seven malls in four states Friday because of unspecified "safety concerns." Besides the one at Orlando’s Florida Mall, the cancellations included stores in Tampa and Pembroke Pines, Florida; Morrow, Georgia; Hyattsville, Maryland; and Charlotte and Raleigh, North Carolina.
The release also was cancelled at a store in the Mall of Louisiana in Baton Rouge on Friday morning, CNN affiliate WAFB reported. A witness told WAFB that authorities sent home a crowd of more than 100 people because the would-be shoppers wouldn't line up in an orderly fashion.
A call to Foot Locker's corporate offices wasn't immediately returned.
In an e-mailed response to a call seeking information about the cancellations, Nike said that it encouraged "anyone wishing to purchase our product to do so in a respectful and safe manner" and that "consumer safety and security is of paramount importance."
One of the cancellations was at Tampa’s University Mall, where police called off a midnight release because of concerns about a crowd of 800 to 1,000 people that gathered there Thursday night, CNN affiliate WTSP reported.
Kingsley Boateng, a witness, told WTSP that the release was canceled after people “tried to bum rush the door.”
At the Hyattsville, Maryland, mall, one person was arrested on suspicion of disorderly conduct after a large crowd gathered there, CNN affiliate WUSA reported Friday morning.
At the Southlake Mall in Morrow, Georgia, the Foot Locker House of Hoops store will be closed Friday because of safety concerns surrounding the shoe releases, a mall representative told CNN.
The Foamposite One was one of 17 types of shoes that Foot Locker House of Hoops stores were releasing over the weekend.
For anyone who does not think our society is doomed, this is a perfect story to illustrate it. Just look at this story and others like it.
Supposedly, people have no money to pay their rent, eat, or keep themselves warm. Yet, they have plenty of money for: Alcohol, tobacco, iPad's, iPhone's, and of course, Nike shoes.
If our society is "doomed" its because of fundamentalist religious whackos (of ALL brands)...AND commercial slave labor employers like Walmart, Nike, and high tech manufacturers (Apple) profiteers.
That's because they're all on Welfare. Living off of us hard working white people.....and yet they hate us.
Cancers on societly.
That is very offensive for you to say, it should be for anyone. It's not true that all African Americans or anyone of any other nationalites/races hate all Caucasians. Sure some African Americans may be on Welfare but so are a good percentage of the Caucasian population as well. The economy effects everyone not just a particular race.
I could have sworn this was a discussion about the ,foot ,locker stores choosing to protect their employees, customers and stores by refusing to sell shoes to people behaving badly. Good for the Foot Locker company! As for the rest of you rednecks, racists and Repulicans using the article to spew your hate and ignorance..you're pitiful but I hope you all just stay in your hidey-holes, with your nose to the screen and fingers flying as you wallow in your fear and loathing for others different from yourself. Just please don't reproduce! You're welcome to mutter,rage and rant all you want, just don't crawl out of your holes to do it. Your ignorance is not welcome and needs to be contained.
China does a fairly good job of "containing" opinion it disagrees with. I'm guessing you're good with that...
Wow, you sure don't see these people get like that for a job interview.
WOW!- Hispanic too. I am certain that these people don't act the same way for a job interview.
LOL! Job interview! That's epic!
hi
OOPS! Wanted to say I would completely support a law criminalizing the use OR the dispensing of any male medications to improve erections. Having an erection while fun is NOT NECESSARY to being a living male person. I would also support a proposal that would include proper documentation for ALL EJACULATE. Most men will scoff, as do I, however what are our fellow male contemporaries putting women through right now now with they're invasive vaginal ultrasounds prior to an abortion?
I, at 15 would not wear Nikes or Jodans. Wearing those shoes spells classless when you look at them. I am more into refinement and don't drool over some "athletic" shoe wear. These same people we see lining up to get such a ridiculous item are the same people who scream out to tax the rich, are probably on welfare, and all they do all day is wail over how miserable their life is but are not willing to do a thing about it. We should send these people to Siberia.
That was way weird how people would try and ram a police line for sneakers.
Boycott Nike!!! Boycott China!!!
A real "first world problem"!!!
Pepper spray was made for incidents like this!
How can they do this if they are having to hold their pants up with one hand?
...and while texting with the other hand
Can you imagine if they spent this much energy working? Wow, is there even ONE white person there?
Wow! This is youth at its best! I want my shoes and I will riot for them, kill, create havoc cause I want what I want and I deserve it, so I want it NOW!
I am sure Obama and his uncles had some obtained for them at taxpayer expense.