On the day after Thanksgiving, November 28, 2008, Walmart held a
nationwide sale of a limited number of sharply discounted
televisions, computers, and video game sets. The “blitz sale” had
been advertised heavily in newspapers and on television. At the
Valley Stream Wal-Mart store in Long Island, New York, 2,000
shoppers lined up hours before the scheduled 6:00 a.m. store
opening, forming a line at a place marked by a handwritten sign:
Blitz Line Starts Here. The crowd became unruly...