As baby diapers and toilet paper rolls flew off the shelves at the Checkers Hyper in Menlyn mall in Pretoria‚ other shoppers stood gloomily in long queues waiting to get or to pay for their purchases.

By midday the mad rush to rip goods off the racks had subsided‚ along with the adrenalin. All that remained was the faint beeping of tills.

Fezile Bahula looked defeated when she left the mall after a five-hour battle to find bargains. She and her partner arrived at 9am and left at 2pm.

“I can’t believe we arrived at nine o’clock. We should have come earlier actually‚ because I could hardly move. It was horrible‚ it was so horrible. There were too many people‚ we were squashed. You can’t move around.”

Bahula said her frustration had mounted by the minute. “We mostly came for clothes. But we didn’t even get as much as we wanted. People bought everything that’s nice‚ we didn’t find nice stuff. We bought some of the things we needed‚ like electronics.”

Then buyer’s remorse started to creep in.

“I don’t think we need everything that we bought; some we bought because they were on sale. We didn’t come with a plan or budget; we just wanted to see what will happen‚” Bahula said.

At the 14th Avenue District Shopping Centre in Roodepoort‚ people woke up extra early to be first in the queues into Checkers Hyper.

When doors opened at exactly 7am‚ customers‚ armed with a trolley‚ battled their way in.

People were ready to stock up a storm. It seemed the most desired items were toilet paper‚ baby diapers‚ cold drinks‚ margarine‚ washing powder and sanitary pads.

They collided as they shoved their trolleys to the shelves and then grabbed more than three items per product.Many shoppers also queued outside shops that sell trendy men’s footwear or alcohol. The food court was also a popular spot.

But Clearwater mall‚ also in Roodepoort‚ was as clear as ice‚ business as usual. It seems the customers didn’t get the black Friday memo.