US retailer apologises after overcrowding causes early closure of first store in country

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

The American retailer Costco has said it will limit the number of shoppers at its first store in China after overcrowding forced it to shut early on the opening day.

No more than 2,000 shoppers at any given time will be allowed into the store in a Shanghai suburb and police will help to improve the flow of traffic near the store, it said on Wednesday.

Large crowds had flocked to the store when it opened on Tuesday, causing traffic jams in the neighbourhood.

Images posted online showed shoppers clambering to get in, jostling with others to grab roasted chickens and meat, and waiting in huge lines at the checkout.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Costco apologised to customers for the inconvenience caused by overcrowding. Photograph: Héctor Retamal/AFP/Getty Images

“We’d like to apologise for the inconvenience caused to our members on our warehouse opening day in Shanghai,” Costco said in a statement posted on WeChat, the Chinese social media platform.

It pledged to send text messages to members when the store was nearing capacity or if there are long wait times.

Long queues and frenzied buying are not uncommon when new stores open or trendy products hit the market in China.

Consumers lined up for hours to buy hamburgers at Shake Shack when it opened its first China store in Shanghai earlier this year, and touts reportedly held places in line or hawked burgers at huge markups.

The German supermarket chain Aldi also experienced long queues when it opened two stores in Shanghai in June.

Local media said the Costco store in Shanghai, unlike other supermarkets that mainly sell fresh food and daily necessities, also offered products such as handbags from luxury brands Prada and Chanel as well as high-end foreign beauty products.