Opening of new Glassons location descends into chaos

What was supposed to be a routine grand opening quickly turned into mayhem at Westfield Miranda in Sydney, leaving furious Glassons shoppers nursing injuries and demanding answers.

The trouble began when the popular fashion chain promised the first 20 people through the doors of its new location up to $400 worth of vouchers and freebies.

The offer had bargain hunters braving the freezing early hours, with shoppers setting up camp from as early as 4am for the store opening on August 15.

The first arrivals numbered themselves to ensure their place in line, but as the crowd grew the event spiralled out of control and social media lit up with footage of the madness.

Got a story? Contact Jo Abi at jabi@nine.com.au

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TikTok creator Holly @holli.pop captured the descent into bedlam in a nine-minute video. Having gathered her friends at 3:42 am, she captioned her post “expect it’s a nightmare” and “luckily, I filmed everything”.

Shoppers were repeatedly shuffled in and out of the centre by security before being forced to wait outside until 6:30am.

By 5:45am, mass confusion took over as the crowd swelled. When the centre finally opened, security reportedly bypassed the main entrance and opened a small side door instead, and the carefully numbered queue collapsed in seconds.

“There was one little security guard. He literally just opened the side one-metre door for basically 300 girls to fit through,” Holly told nine.com.au.

Holly said she has attended multiple store openings, including for Sephora, and has never had an experience like this.

“They had so many police, they had security guards, they had barricades, everything was organised. So, this is exactly what I expected, and there was none of that.”

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She said after the initial unrest the remainder of the event appeared to go smoothly, but admitted she had trouble enjoying it due to her experience, which she said included “verbal threats and verbal abuse”.

“I mean, we spent $300. The event was great, we all loved it. It was just the fact of what happened before, it was hard to enjoy afterwards,” Holly said.

She and a friend contacted Glassons after the event to give their feedback.

“They had a formal phone call with us, basically where they just took a bunch of notes. They really didn’t offer much else other than that.”

In her video, Holly remarked: “We were literally being bullied ... Glassons, next time you hold one of these events I want to see better security because this is s--t... security had no idea how to organise 300 angry Shire girls.”

Videos posted by creator Tiana @tt.contentstudio showed pushing and shoving on the stairs as the large group made its way up to the entrance of the Glassons store.

“Broken wrists... people falling down the stairs,” Tiana captioned her clip.

Holly reported people losing their shoes, screaming at each other, and showing off bloody leg injuries from being shoved. One of her friends showed an injury sustained to her leg.

Glassons staff eventually arrived for the scheduled store opening time of 7am and managed to track down the original 20 numbered shoppers.

Bottles of water were later handed out to those who had been waiting for hours, Holly reported in her video.

She credited the frontline staff with doing their best under siege, laying the blame squarely at the feet of event organisers.

A spokesperson for Scentre Group, which operates Westfield Miranda, has told nine.com.au: “On Saturday, our team supported Glassons with its store opening, including with additional security and queue management.

“Our team provided assistance to one customer in a minor incident during the event. Following this, the customer remained at the event. No other incidents were reported.”

Glassons has been contacted for comment.

Glassons is one of the most popular affordable clothing brands in Australia, with a cult following among millennials and Gen Z.

The brand launched in New Zealand before arriving in Australia in 1996, but didn’t ignite until much later.

A mid-2010 major corporate redesign saw the brand transition its store design and apparel into fast and trendy fashion, with the new look quickly shared across social media via influencer marketing campaigns.

Glassons now operates more than 40 retail storefronts across major Australian cities including Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane, as well as a popular digital store.