Stunning footage has emerged of the Black Friday sales, which plunged shopping centers into chaos and brought traffic to a standstill.
Ten million Aussies flocked to the shops last Friday and throughout the weekend in the hope of bagging some Christmas bargains.
The popular sales caused chaos at two of Sydney’s biggest shopping centers in the city’s west – Westfield Parramatta and at DFO in Homebush.
Not only did shoppers have to fight their way through the crush of crowds, but they also suffered major headaches getting in and out, bringing the shopping center car parks and surrounding roads to an abrupt halt.
A Sydneysider’s plan to make it a Black Friday turned into a hellish afternoon in Westfield Parramatta.
It took the pair almost 90 minutes to leave Westfield, while others said they waited more than two hours as they tried to leave the car park.
This woman’s first experience with Black Friday sales in Sydney was not a good one
“The worst part is leaving the parking garage,” the woman explained. She and her unimpressed driver spent more than an hour quietly in the parking lot watching YouTube videos.
At one point, the woman went back to Westfield to use the restroom.
“Guess what, the car is still there,” she explains minutes later.
“Didn’t move an inch!”
Fellow motorists caught up in the chaos can be heard expressing their annoyance as the non-stop honking echoes across the parking lot.
These were not better hours after the shops were closed.
It took this man almost 90 minutes to leave the Westfield Parramatta car park
The Westfield Parramatta car park was still a mess after the shops closed
“We waited an hour and a half to leave Westfield,” another frustrated shopper captioned her video of the Parramatta Westfields “parking station.”
The scenes were just as wild at DFO Homebush, where eager shoppers queued for hours to get in.
The line in the parking lot full of shoppers stretched for hundreds of meters.
The men were just as enthusiastic about the sale as the ladies and flocked to the Nike outlet in search of new shoes and clothing.
Things weren’t much better outside, with another customer monitoring traffic for miles.
Eager shoppers queued for hours to get into DFO Homebush
Traffic entering DFO Homebush was backed up for miles on Friday
The scenes of the Black Friday sale stunned viewers.
“I used to work at DFO, the sales go on all week and they’re the same sales where you don’t have to wait in line for four hours,” one woman noted.
Another added: ‘Selling with old stock that no one wants. These people don’t value their time.’
Others wondered why shoppers would go through a nightmare when the same bargains are available online.
“Stay home,” one viewer wrote.
Australian shoppers will spend $6.36 billion over the four-day Black Friday/Cyber Monday weekend, according to the Australian Retail Association.
“As the country remains in the grip of a cost of living crisis, the importance of Black Friday and Cyber Monday will be greater than ever before,” said Paul Zahra.
‘Despite a tepid spending forecast for the pre-Christmas period, Black Friday will be record-breaking this year as consumers look for bargains under intense financial pressure.
“We expect more than half of Australia’s gift shops would be completed by the end of November.”
The chaos will continue in the coming weeks as Christmas approaches, followed by the Boxing Day sales.
The Nike outlet was full of smart shoppers on the hunt for a bargain before Christmas