A crowd of people wait outside of the Galleria in anticipation of a limited edition Swatch collection. The store shut down Saturday morning due to safety concerns.
For days, more than a hundred people camped outside of the Galleria waiting to buy a limited supply of a much-anticipated watch created by luxury watchmaker Audemars Piguet and Swatch.
But Saturday morning, release day, eager customers were met with disappointing news: the Swatch store inside the mall had been closed.
“The crowd is getting intense,” a store employee told a crowd waiting out on Hidalgo Street. “Due to the safety of our staff and you guys, we have to shut down the store today.”
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The Royal Pop collection is the first collaboration between Swatch, the watch-making giant known for its affordable timepieces, and Audermars Piguet, the luxury watchmaker behind the high-end Royal Oak wristwatches, which sell for well over $20,000. More than 20 Swatch stores in the United States that will carry the Royal Pop collection, which was scheduled to drop Saturday.
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For those waiting outside — many of whom brought coolers of water and food and watched movies or played board games to pass the time — the news of the store’s closing was disappointing.
Shan Thomas, who had been in line since before dawn said everyone waiting was relatively calm until 5 a.m. when suddenly numerous people started skipping the line and rushing to the front. Although police and mall security were there to make sure things didn’t get out of hand, they didn’t do much, Thomas said.
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Hriday Patel, who had been waiting in line with his friends since 4 a.m., said that about 7 a.m. more people began to crowd near the front of the line and fights broke out.
“You would think the Galleria, for such a hyped up thing … you would get at least four or five people to watch the line or put up a barricade,” Patel said. “They didn’t do anything.”
Patel said in the next hour, police and store employees began taking groups of 10 near the front of the line into the mall to get a watch. But at about 9 a.m., when only three or four groups had been escorted inside, an employee announced the store was closing.
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“Because today is the first day, the hype is big,” the employee said. “Starting next week, everyday we’re going to replenish (the watches in stores.) Because of this, they’re going to wait a little bit to release.”
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The employee, who did not identify herself, told the crowd of customers that the watch would be available for a while, and that the store would be selling it for a long time.
Social media posts showed that some people were able to buy the watch before the store shut down.
Still, many who waited days for the watch’s release were upset over the news and that some people were able to buy a watch because they cut the line.
Cy Hargrove, who sat in 120th position by his count, had been in line since Thursday and was hoping to buy a watch for his mother.
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“It’s a little disappointing,” Hargrove said “If I could’ve snuck my way into the front, I might have gotten a watch.”
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Some said they were frustrated that police and mall security didn’t prepare better or do much to control the crowd, which by Friday had become more aggressive.
One newcomer Friday moved dozens of chairs to the back of the line and replaced them with his own, which he chained to a metal pole, said Edric Gray, who said he had arrived on Monday. When that person stepped away, other people cut the chains and restored the original chairs, he said.
“We had several altercations,” Gray said. “It got very aggressive.”
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“I just think it could’ve been organized better,” said John Abraham, who joined the wait on Saturday at 4 a.m.
Patel said he was frustrated by the situation as many of the people who came to buy the watches were resellers, whereas some like him simply wanted to buy the watch for themselves.
“This is Audemars Piguet, this is high-end stuff,” Patel said. “Nobody even came out here to check who’s actually in line, who’s just standing here.”
On Chrono24, an online reseller website for watches, the watch was being sold for prices ranging from $1,430 to $8,472 by Saturday morning.
Similar crowds at other Swatch locations around the country caused them to close storefronts due to “public safety considerations.”
Maliya Ellis contributed.
