A supermarket in northern Indiana may have stumbled upon the next new trend in do-it-yourself grocery shopping – not only can customers there check themselves out, but they can apparently let themselves in as well.
On Thanksgiving night, when most people were resting off their turkey dinners, or getting an early start on their Black Friday shopping, some people inexplicably had groceries they needed to get right that moment. That explains why about a dozen people were shopping at the Goshen, Indiana Kroger at 10:45pm Thanksgiving night. The only problem? The store was closed at the time.
The Kroger is normally open 24 hours a day, but on Thanksgiving evening, it shut its doors early. Shut them – but just didn’t lock them. It seems that the locks on the front doors had failed, so shoppers simply walked right in.
Seemingly oblivious to the fact that there was not a single employee to be found inside, the late-night shoppers went about gathering their groceries and went to the self-checkout lanes. That’s when they realized something was wrong.
At some point, police were called. It’s unclear whether the call came from a confused customer, or a concerned neighbor wondering why people were shopping in a closed store.
“There were no signs of forced entry and no one was attempting to steal from the business,” a police spokesperson told WSBT-TV. “It appeared that the locking mechanism on the door had not completely engaged.”
The store manager was called in, “secured all of the entrances” and sent the confused customers on their way. Without their stuff. Not quite the happy ending that occurred in a North Carolina Harris Teeter a few days earlier, where customers who were unable to check out got everything for free (read: “Well, That’s One Way to Get Free Stuff for Thanksgiving!”). But at least the customers took it in stride. “The patrons in the store, upon realizing the store was in fact closed, left without incident,” the police spokesperson said.
And you can bet the next time the 24-hour store needs to close, they’ll be double checking their locks.
Image source: Sean G.
