JEDDAH, 3 October — The advertisement was clear: “In the first half of the month, for half a day only, you pay for only half of your purchases”.
It was announced by the Giants Stores, which subsequently became the most crowded place in town.
Yesterday hundreds of shoppers crammed into its branch off Makarona Street.
They started to arrive as early as 7 a.m.
The hours of the sale were 7.30 a.m. to 12.30 p.m., but supermarket officials had to close the doors at 10 a.m. due to the unexpectedly large number of visitors.
Abdullah Al-Hashmi, who was standing amongst the hundreds of customers waiting to get inside the store, said he had left his work to accompany his family in the hunt for bargains.
“I arrived at 10 a.m. and found that it was very crowded. There were loads of people outside, all barred from entering because of the crowd inside,” he said.
With only one hour of the promotion left, Egyptian Ahmad Al-Masri lost his patience and decided to leave.
“There is no way we can get in, so let’s go back home to get ready for work,” he told his wife.
Customers who were able to get inside the store were later seen leaving with their trolleys overflowing.
