Linda Xi, owner of Wellmart Asian Supermarket in Hamilton is left with six injured staff members after suspected meat shoplifters started a brawl.

An alleged attempt to steal a sports bag with about $150 worth of meat from an Asian supermarket prompted a violent clash.

Punches were thrown, hair pulled, and six people hurt after staffers from Hamilton's Wellmart Asian Supermarket asked to see inside the customer's bag.

"They just went crazy," owner Linda Xi said.

LISA PARKER/FACEBOOK A customer shot this footage of a fight outside the Wellmart Asian Supermarket in Hamilton, where a girl tried to get into her car.

"It's not shoplifting, honestly, it's attacking."

Two young people, a boy and a girl, were in the shop about 2pm on Friday afternoon and Xi said she saw them with four packs of meat.

But they presented at the counter with just a $1.10 can of drink so staff asked to see in their sports bag.

CHRISTEL YARDLEY/FAIRFAX NZ A scuffle erupted outside Wellmart Asian Supermarket when owner Linda Xi asked to see inside the bag of suspected shoplifters.

They refused, Xi said, so she brought staff to the front of the shop to stop them leaving.

The boy punched a staff member, launching a melee - two more girls came to help the alleged offenders and customers tried to step in.

Xi was in the car park ringing police when a girl grabbed her by the hair and tried to knee her, she said.

Two men ran over from the nearby Countdown car park to help.

Hamilton woman Lisa Parker was pulling up with her nearly-two-year-old daughter and said she was punched by a girl trying to force her way into the car.

First she had to slam on the brakes when a girl ran in front of her, and then she noticed the fighting and yelling.

"[Shop staffers] were getting a beating from those guys and they were not letting go," she said.

She was blocked by a car behind so got her phone to record as the alleged offenders were dragged back inside.

"Two girls came busting out through the side door. One of them just headed straight for me... She opened my door, she punched me in the head a couple of times," she said.

"I felt like a lioness trying to protect her cub."

Parker fought the girl off but said she waited to make a statement to police and give them her video, hoping the culprit could be caught.

"I was just in so much shock... I kind of froze for a moment."

When officers arrived there was a scuffle going on between the proprietors of the store and a group, Senior Sergeant Damion Rangitutia said.

Both parties were being spoken to.

Xi said there had been other problems with meat going missing from her shop but nothing so violent.

Wellmart-stickered meat had previously turned up on the internet for sale, though.

Six people were hurt, Xi said, and she sent a male staff member to Anglesea Clinic for a check-up.

"They attacked one of my female staff. She just tried to talk to them."

But Xi was grateful to all the customers who stood up for her, and was trying to track down the first man to step into the fray.

"A Kiwi guy helped us a lot. He's the first person to stand up and say 'You're stealing'. When everything finished I tried looking for him but he'd gone... Next time, please come to say hello to [me], I want to give him a hug and show how appreciative we are. Also a lot of Kiwis came to help us, not only this gentleman."

As for anyone considering targeting her shop, she had a message: "I've got three young kids... please don't come to steal, and hurt us".

"If people need help... they can come to ask for help."