Clearance sale goes awry as crowd swells

KUALA LUMPUR: A special offer of Apple products at the Switch Warehouse Clearance sale here yesterday, spelled disappointment for would-be customers when overwhelming response forced the outlet to close early.
The sale which offered discounts on various Apple products had gone viral over the past few days, luring hundreds of Apple fans to turn up at the MyTown Shopping Mall here since late last night.
However, due to overwhelming attendance and uncontrollable crowd, the management was forced to close the outlet after opening it for just 90 minutes!
In a move to control the swelling crowd, the management introduced a ticketing system which failed due to the unruly crowd.
As auxiliary policemen spent nearly two hours to control and disperse the crowd, the company announced the store would be closed till Sunday, leaving many, like Amirul Armin, and Nabahat Nasser from the Maldives, with gloomy looks.
A good number of them had come from far and stayed up since last night to purchase Apple's cheap products, only to return home empty-handed.
"I turned up to buy an iPad. As the crowd swelled, the outlet closed and I am left disappointed," said Amirul.
Claiming there was no system in handling the swelling crowd, a dejected Nabahat said: "We were here since 6am, and the people behind us were allowed to enter the store first. I think they were here since midnight but it was, nevertheless, unfair."
The sale offered an iPhone 5s for only RM200, high-end 9.7-inch, 32GB iPad Pro for RM1,600, iMacs as low as RM1,000 and MacBooks from as low as RM500.
A spokesman from Switch Warehouse Clearance said the clearance sale was put on hold until further notice. — Bernama