I frankly can’t imagine what would compel 2,000 people to mass outside a Walmart store the day after Thanksgiving, bum-rush the doors, trample an employee to death, then push shopping carts along the aisles even as medics tended the victim.
Are the bargains that good?
The tragedy in Long Island, N.Y., beggars belief in its venality and absurdity. But make no knee-jerk judgments about New Yorkers, for human behavior is such that anything can happen anywhere.
Still, on Sunday at the Walmart Supercenter at 7455 W. Colfax Ave. in Lakewood, a rampage in the aisles seemed light-years from anyone’s mind, even if candy canes were marked down to 88 cents a box and the Hannah Montana Jammin’ Electric Guitar came in authentic lavender plastic.
Blame it on spitting snow or on the frigid economy, but shoppers were positively subdued. The massive store’s grocery section was busy enough, but on the department-store side — the one packed with holiday items — the crowd was thinner than cheap egg nog.
Joey Gonzales noticed. He was shopping with his wife, Teresa, calculating what their two boys would like for Christmas.
“I told her just a few minutes ago that we’re not seeing what we normally would for the season,” Gonzales said. “You know it’s the economic crunch. Personally, we’re still in good shape, but you can still feel it.”
He stood before a shelf loaded with toy trucks. The K’Nex model caught his eye. It had snap-together parts that his 5-year-old could assemble into a variety of vehicles.
“I bet he’d like that,” Gonzales said. “It would be good for developing his mechanical skills, and it’s not a bad price for 20 bucks.”
Two aisles over, Jennifer Snyder of Lakewood shopped for her daughters, ages 4 and 12. The older girl had reached the age where presents get a tad costlier.
“The things on her wish list have a little more expensive price tags,” Snyder said.
She was appalled at what happened two days earlier at the Long Island Walmart.
“It’s astounding,” she said. “Just sickening. It was part of the reason I wasn’t shopping on Black Friday. I just couldn’t believe it.”
In the electronics section, Ronnie Baker weighed his options. He said he hoped to spring a home theater system on his family come Christmas morning, tempted by signs marked “Rollback” and “Unbeatable.”
“We’ll see,” he said. “I started tightening my belt earlier this summer, just on general principle. I just had a bad feeling about where the economy might be going. But I still want to make sure my family has a good holiday.”
Like Gonzales, Baker was surprised at the quiet in the store. Like Snyder, he could not believe what he read about the craziness at the Walmart back east.
“What makes people act like that?” he said. “Do you really need to be first through the door?”
I had no good answer.
Despite the Christmas music wafting through the air, the place didn’t seem awash in yuletide cheer. Even the in-store Santa seemed a bit undersized this year, sitting by himself on a bench.
Then out of nowhere, two beaming children came up and plopped down beside the man for a photo.
In hard times, it was good to find true believers.
William Porter writes Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Reach him at wporter@denverpost.com or 303-954-1877.
