Costco shoppers force new store to close within hours after chaos breaks out

Frantic shoppers forced a newly-opened Costco to shut early after they furiously competed for items to fill their baskets.

Aggressive customers were filmed fighting for raw pork chops and roast chickens after the American warehouse retailer opened its first store in Shanghai, China.

Shocking video shows them frantically crawling under gates and dashing through the shop to grab giant TVs, spirits, and luxury items like Hermes aftershave.

The shop was soon rammed with people angrily competing for nab a bargain.

But the chaos was too much for Costco bosses, who closed after four hours due to safety concerns.

Shoppers can spend as little as 37.9 yuan (£4.34) for a roast chicken and 199 yuan (£22) for any tops from major sportswear brands.

Customers told Sina News that they queued outside the store at 2am on the opening day and the car park was full by 7am.

A huge, snaking queue of cars could also be seen waiting to get into the car park – shutting down roads in the local area.

Local police eventually warned the public not to go to the store.

Shopper Ms Fan told Caijing News that she saw some customers eating food in the store without paying.

"They opened the goods and threw them around, someone of them are eating the food straight away," she said.

Costco today announced on WeChat, a social-networking app, that they will restrict the number of customers to 2,000 to ensure safety in the store.

The statement read: "We'd like to apologise for the inconvenience caused to our members on our warehouse opening day in Shanghai.

"Due to security concerns, we decided to close the warehouse early.

"From Wednesday, August 8 we will have traffic controls in place to limit the number of members in the warehouse to 2,000 people.

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