Tesco stores bear brunt of Black Friday chaos The pre-Christmas sale known as Black Friday was dubbed Black Eye Friday after fights broke out at predominantly Tesco stores that opened as early as midnight offering steep discounts. Police in Greater Manchester were called to at least seven Tesco stores and the force tweeted that two men were arrested as shoppers scuffled to grab the best bargains. "Keep calm people!" it said. Officers told the Manchester Evening News that a woman was hurt when a TV fell on her and a shopper was arrested for reportedly threatening to "smash a shop worker's face in." One shopper, Chris Roy, tweeted: "Police called out to supermarkets across manchester . . . absolute saddos fighting over £50 off non-make TVs #scruffs." "Black Friday" is an import from the US, where retailers have offered steep discounts in the past decade, on the day after the Thanksgiving holiday. This traditionally marks the day when stores start to make a profit for the year. The shopping frenzy has taken off in the UK over the past four years. It was a matter of moments after Asda in Wembley, north London, opened at 8am that the first fights broke out. As cheerleaders in black bikinis welcomed shoppers, the crowd rushed to the widescreen TVs stacked beside the door, grappling with each other and the Asda staff to secure one. Two scuffling men, who seems to have gone for the same TV, had to be separated, shouting at each other to "take it outside" for a fight. Later, a woman who thought she had escaped the brawl with a large TV in tow, was knocked to the floor. Staff tried to control the situation, shouting at customers to calm down and being pushed themselves. An Asda spokesperson admitted that at times they were "overwhelmed." Analysts were surprised that the major retailers were not better prepared. "Given that many retailers put a storm of hype around Black Friday it is surprising that a number have come unstuck with the level of demand," said Neil Saunders, managing director of Conlumino, the retail consultancy. Stores being unable to cope with the volume of people is understandable; however, having to join a virtual queue to use a website is absurd and shows a lack planning and contingency. He added that the event was now an "inevitable" fixture on the UK retail calendar. Nick Bubb, an independent retail analyst, said retailers would not necessarily benefit from Black Friday. "All Black Friday is likely to do is bring forward business from December, reduce gross margins and undermine consumer's willingness to pay full-price again before Xmas," he said. More than a dozen officers were called to a Tesco in Edmonton, northeast London, as fighting broke out as shoppers became increasingly frustrated. The shop is very close to an Ikea store that experienced a riot in 2005 when it held a midnight sale. The Metropolitan Police said that police were called to at least four large supermarkets in London. Police were called out twice to a Tesco store in Cardiff overnight after 500 customers queued from 6pm to enter the store at midnight. The website Wales Online reported scenes of "mayhem" from inside the store, with video footage showing throngs of customers grappling for cut-price TVs, tablets and coffee machines. Police also shut the Tesco in Silverburn in Glasgow when fighting erupted over luxury goods that had been significantly discounted. Tesco declined to comment on the chaos. In the US Walmart recorded its second-highest online sales ever on Thursday as Americans took advantage of the holiday and discounts to spend. This year, US retail analysts expect low oil prices and rising consumer confidence to push Black Friday sales up 2 per cent year-on-year, but a third of those surveyed expect growth to be as high as 4 per cent. Scenes of customers scuffling for bargains in shops in both the US and the UK have been augmented in recent years by online deals as retailers hone their ecommerce operations. Argos and John Lewis were among the retailer experiencing such heavy online traffic their websites were limiting the number of people who could use it to stop it collapsing.